Christmas holidays 2013

This year's Christmas/New Year I wanted to spend entirely at home in Germany, not flying to Italy. It is always so expensive and time consuming to do those triangle travelling flying from Norway to Germany, then to Italy (or other way round) and then back to Oslo. And now Marco and I are living together, seeing us everyday, so we decided we'll manage to not see each other during those holidays, but staying each with the own family.

I had booked my flight to Germany already for December 18th. The evening of my arrival I still went to a birthday dinner of a friend of the family. And the day after another birthday party awaited me - as surprise guest from Norway :-) So the first day after my arrival passed quickly.
However, it was not even Christmas when I actually did travel to Italy, against the initial plans to avoid the country hopping once for a while. But Marco's cousin had announced kind of last minute to get married, just a couple of days before Christmas. It didn't feel right not to attend that wedding. I know Marco's cousin relatively well and just end of September Marco had joined me on a wedding of friends of mine. So eventually I had booked some additional flights for a quick tour to Rome: Saturday 21/12 Cologne via Munich (6 hours transit!) to Rome, wedding on Sunday 22/12 and back on Monday 23/12 Rome - Frankfurt - Cologne. Click here for the post with pictures of this wedding.


After my return from the wedding in Rome it was finally time for Christmas. Christmas Eve we spent just the four of us at home, with my brother Max, my mum and her husband Engelbert.

Traditionally we had fondue before heading to church for the Christmas mass. Afterwards we were invited to a friends' place to drink "Feuerzangenbowle" (which literally translates to fire-tongs punch). "Feuerzangenbowle" is a traditional German alcoholic drink for which a rum-soaked sugarloaf is suspended over a bowl placed over a small burner (rechaud), set on fire, melting and then dripping into mulled wine. The bowl is filled with heated dry red wine spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise and orange peel. Preparing and drinking "Feuerzangenbowle" is often part of a Christmas or New Year's Eve tradition.

In the morning of Christmas Day 25/12 my brother and I went to visit some relatives from our father's side for breakfast. Later on, though, my brother went to his girlfriend's place to celebrate Christmas with her and her family. Can't really remember what I had been doing the rest of the day. Probably just relaxing.

On Boxing Day we then had Engelbert's daughters Anthusa and Lisa over with their boyfriends, having a looooong brunch, chatting a lot and enjoying a delicious dinner in the evening. 

 

That was Christmas 2013 :-)


I still stayed in Germany until Monday 6th of January. The days between Christmas and my departure back to Oslo were filled as well and passed quickly.
If I remembered well, December 27th was entirely dedicated to shopping and groceries, getting all the things bought that I would bring with me up to Norway (wine, food, loads of items from the drug store and so much more which just costs a fortune in Norway or is simply not available up in the North).

December 28th I met my friend Sarah in Bonn. It was her birthday and she was just passing Bonn on her way southwards to Stuttgart to her boyfriend.

The day after, my mum had organised a family visit in Mainz where we had some relatives living. My family with aunts, uncles and cousins is pretty big on my mum's side, but not everyone was living close by, some actually living abroad as well. So of course it was unfortunately not possible to get them ALL to meet up on December 29th, especially since this was a rather spontaneous meeting. It had just started by asking to visit one uncle and the nearby living cousins. And then comes a "let's ask also XY to join" and a "hey, why not asking also so and so"... So in the end we were some 22/25 people meeting for brunch at the "Heiliggeist", a historical building, a former infirmary from the 13th century, in the old town of Mainz. Please click here for the separate post with pictures from this family reunion.

Later in the evening I had my friend Audrey coming over. She was staying over New Year's (click here for the post) until the 1st of January.

Last but not least, Max and I finally went to meet also our father who had gone on holidays over Christmas. On January 4th we went for dinner at his place and I stayed also overnight.

 

And well, then it was already time for me to fly back to Oslo. My Christmas/New Year's holidays were over. Time to head back to daily life.