Borken & Muenster

Okay everyone…. I hope you all had a very very Merry Christmas. The 23rd, 24th and the 25th we were in Borken with Clemens’s family. After lunch on the 23rd we all went into a town (about 40 minutes away) called Muenster. Muenster is a very beautiful town with old buildings and expensive boutiques (just my style J). Also, they have a huge Christmas Market. The Christmas Market is set up throughout the entire city, with little booths set up everywhere selling everything from Gluewein (a very good hot red wine with herbs and sugar) to Christmas ornaments to expensive presents to handmade crafts. It was really interesting and fun to wander through the streets of this city.

After lunch on Christmas Eve, dad, I, Lynn, Anton, Clemens, Benedict, Felix, Max, Johanna, and I piled in two cars and drive to two castles nearby. We unfortunately could not go inside the castles because they were closed (probably because it was Christmas Eve), but it was still fun to look the castles and the property from the outside. Then, when we had returned home Mechthild & Otto had placed all the presents in the living room. So, once everyone else had their presents wrapped and downstairs we started to open presents. It was so fun because everyone opened one gift at a time. Like, I opened my present, picked up a random one, and gave it to the next person. It was fun to open gifts like that. Then, after the gifts and a quick snack for supper we all got ready for Christmas Eve mass.

Just to let everyone know, I am not catholic. I am not a big fan of catholic mass, but on Christmas Eve dad and I were taken to a catholic mass spoken entirely in German…. It was a very beautiful church and the choir sang very nicely. I did not understand a single word, and I prefer my one-hour protestant Christmas Eve service…. 9 a.m. to midnight in church is soooo long…. Then, unlike Christmas Eve at home, we all went to a pub. Clemens, my dad, and his brother Max went to a church party where they had some drinks and then met up with Felix, Benedict, Johanna, and I at the pub. Everyone goes out for a few drinks on Christmas Eve. A very good German tradition I believe….

This is a picture of Otto (Clemens' dad lighting the candles on the Christmas tree)

We celebrated the 25th a lot different from my tradition at home. The tree had real candles on it that we lit before we opened presents on Christmas Eve and then again at lunch on Christmas day. Also, Clemens parents are not divorced, so I didn’t have to go back and forth between two houses. Due to not going to bed until after 7:00 a.m., Felix and I slept until nearly 2:00. I think it was perfect timing because we were up just in time for lunch. The lunch that we had was a very nice Christmas dinner with goose and all kinds of other traditional German foods. Later in the evening, Clemens’ aunts, uncles, and grandparents came over for coffee and dessert. All in all, we had a very nice and enjoyable Christmas.