Charlotta's diary #4

Christmas in America

It's Christmas time! One of my favorite times in the year. At the beginning of December I didn't feel that the Christmas time already started. A package from my natural parents arrived with German candy and Christmas candy. I was really excited and it was a nice surprise. My parents also sent an advent calendar for each of my family members and one for me. This was an amazing idea, because everybody was pleased with the German chocolate calendar.

The time in December was running so fast and it was almost time for Holidays. At the last school day before the Holidays, some students dressed up with Christmas hats, pullovers and other Christmas stuff. The same for Halloween. At Halloween also some students dressed up with costumes. That was new for me, because in my German school nobody does that.

Unfortunately, my family didn't decorate the house with Christmas decorations. It's the totally opposite of my mom in Germany. But a thing that I've learned from Taste: "It isn't bad, only different." So instead of having a lot of decorations in our house, I saw many other houses in my city which had so many Christmas lights outside. I think I'll suggest my family in Germany to have this nice light decoration outside, too. :)

Suddenly, almost 4 months were already over and Christmas was one day ahead.

We celebrated Christmas on the 24th and the 25th of December. On the 24th we had a Christmas dinner at a family's house and had a gift exchange. On the morning of the 25th we had a typical American breakfast with pancakes, and afterward we got our presents. In the evening we went to family members for dinner again.

The 26th of December isn't celebrated here in America, but New Years is a celebration day as in Germany. On New Year our family came over and we had dinner together and played a lot of games. It was a fun night! I made German treats for the family. As a tradition we usually make Berliner (a kind of a doughnut without the hole but instead with jam). In one of them is mustard and the person who gets this one will have bad luck in the new year.

I live in Oregon so it isn't allowed to have fireworks or fire crackers at New Year. It was really weird because it was silent when the clock turned from 11:59 pm. to 12am. I didn't see fireworks during New Year, but they told me that they are allowed to have fireworks at the 4th of July for the Independence Day. Every state has their own rules!
The Christmas time here in America was a great experience because I got to know how a different culture celebrates Christmas. I thought that I will get a bit homesick, but I didn't. I knew that this is only one year in which I celebrate Christmas different and I came here because I wanted to learn about this culture!