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holiday season

German Christmas Carol Service in SoCal

December 3, 2022 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Christmas Carol Service 2022

It’s become a California holiday tradition

Christmas Carol Service at St. Luke’s Lutheran

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in La Mesa is holding a
German Christmas Carol Service on Sunday, 18 December 2022 at 7:00 pm. 
All are invited.

Address:

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church
5150 Wilson Street
La Mesa, CA 92942
www.st-lukes-la-mesa.org

Here is how to get there: Map

Weihnachtsmesse am 18. Dezember um 18:00 Uhr

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in La Mesa hält am 18. Dezember 2022
(Sonntag) um 19.00 Uhr wieder einen deutschsprachigen
Weihnachtsgottesdienst. Wie in vorigen Jahren besteht die
Gottesdienstordnung hauptsächlich aus Lesungen und Liedern, die die
Weihnachtsgeschichte erzählen.  Nach dem Gottesdienst gibt es kleine
Erfrischungen.

Sie und Ihre Familie, Freunde, Gemeinde- und Vereinsmitglieder,
Studenten/innen, und Schüler/innen, usw. sind herzlich eingeladen.

Die Adresse der Kirche ist:

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church
5150 Wilson Street
La Mesa, CA 92942
www.st-lukes-la-mesa.org

Einen Fahrplan zur Kirche findet man per diesen Link:

http://www.st-lukes-la-mesa.org/maps.php

Filed Under: German Traditions in CA, Life in California, News Tagged With: California, CaliforniaGermans, Christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Christmas carols, German Christmas Carol Service in California, Germans in California, Holiday events, holiday season, Weihnachten

Weihnachtseindrücke (Ein Gedicht)

December 17, 2017 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Weihnachtseindrücke

(Ein Gedicht von Julia Eichberger)

.

Die Engel singen sanfte Lieder,

leise fällt der Schnee hernieder.

Glöckchen klingen überall

Fröhlich Klang im Weihnachtsschall.

Knirschend versinken meine Füße

in der watt’gen weißen Decke.

Süßer Duft  – in jeder Ecke

verteil‘ ich weihnachtliche Grüße.

Lichter leuchten meinen Weg,

auf den ich mich stets begeb‘.

Zart zerschmilzt der Stern,

bleibt mir für immer fern.

.

©Julia Eichberger

————————————————————————————————————————

Julia Eichberger,  was born 1987 in Stralsund as the oldest kid out of three and lives now in Brandenburg near Berlin with husband and daughter.

She has enjoyed writing since her childhood. In 2012 her first poem was published by a small publishing house (https://www.sperlingverlag.de/). Several poems followed.

A trained banker, Julia is currently working for an insurance company, but since writing is a passion of hers, she still finds time to write short stories and poems.

———————————————————————————————–——————–——-

 

 

 

Filed Under: Lese-Ecke Tagged With: Christmas, holiday season, Julia Eichberger, Weihnachten

Celebrating Saint Nicholas Day. How did you behave all year?

December 6, 2017 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Today is Saint Nicholas Day (Sankt Nikolaus). How did you behave all year? He will know!

Perhaps you were good and could start out your day already with a full boot full of treats. Or you are still waiting until tonight when Saint Nicholas himself comes by and pays you a visit.

Many German families celebrate this beloved tradition the way that they have their children put out a boot overnight from the 5th to the 6th of December so that Saint Nicholas could fill it with oranges, nuts, chocolates, and even small toys. This would, of course, happen only if the child had behaved well all year. Surprisingly, they always had!

In some families, like mine, Saint Nicholas would actually come by in the evening of the 6th of December. Every year it was a big affair. We had friends with their children over to await the honored guest. O my, was I nervous as a young child!

Around 6 pm we would hear little bells and heavy footsteps crunching through the snow towards our patio door looking out onto the black pitch garden. And there he suddenly was! Standing in front of our patio glass door knocking with his white-gloved hand. Saint Nicholas!

All of us kids would huddle together, while my dad would open the door and beckon the honored guest in. Every year we were awed just the same!

Saint Nicholas and his Golden Book of Truth

Saint Nicholas entered our living room. Dressed in a bishop’s robe with a red cape and a Mitra he had a heavy burlap sacket over one shoulder and a huge golden book clasped underneath his other arm that was also holding a golden staff.  After we all had greeted him he took a quick glance at the half circle of children asking one of us to come forward to hold his precious crozier. We were all excitedly terrified and intimidated at what to expect next.

He sighed and slowly leafed through his golden book when suddenly stopping at one page, he announced a name and looked at us children with questioning eyes. The one, who had been named, timidly stepped forward and Saint Nicholas looked at him or her with a friendly look and exclaimed in a deep voice: “Now, let’s see what my little angels have written about you over the past year.”

He started reading out of his big golden book all, that he or she had achieved over the year, and what the parents were so proud of. Saint Nicholas would approve with little nods here and there or even utter some words of admiration.

With gleaming faces, we listened to his every word wishing just that the end would not be too embarrassing since everyone else was listening. We were aware that most likely, not everything had been perfect over the year and knew that Saint Nicholas would close by mentioning something we could thrive for and do better in the following year.

Every child had finally been addressed and received a little burlap sacket filled with treats, that Saint Nicholas retrieved from his big one. But this wasn’t the end. No!

Now it was time for entertainment! The parents would ask Saint Nicholas to take a seat and enjoy a glass of red wine while he would listen to our, the children’s presentations. Relieved, we children moved to this more relaxed part and recited our poems, played holiday music on our flutes and the piano.

After a short social time with Saint Nicholas, we finally accompanied him back out to the garden where he vanished into the dark, leaving us with the noise of the crunching footsteps in the snow and the jingling of bells in the air.

Exhilarated we ran back inside the house to indulge in unpacking our presents at last.

 

Image: Title image ©CaliforniaGermans , Pixabay.com


Filed Under: Culture, Editorial, German Traditions in CA Tagged With: Christmas, Germany, holiday season, Saint Nicholas, Sankt Nikolaus, Traditions

Happy First of December! Countdown to Christmas has officially started!

December 1, 2017 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

The story of the Advent Calendar

Germans love Christmas. In fact, for Germans, it’s the most important holiday of the year!

Many traditions help us Germans prepare for and enjoy the Christmas season to the fullest, like Saint Nicholas Day on Dec 6th or the four Sundays of Advent, Christmas cookies and much more.

One tradition, however, stands out since it is equally loved by children and adults. The Advent Calendar!

Who doesn’t like a countdown to a highly anticipated event?

Apparently many don’t want to miss it. In places all around the world, one can now find these magic Advent Calendars that hide chocolates or little toys behind their secret doors. Even beer calendars are available or calendars filled with a variety of liquor filled chocolates. The possibilities seem endless…

In the old days, just a beautiful little picture behind a door would make kids happy. Today some Advent Calendars made it even online, published by companies that discovered it as another tool to engage customers.

The first Advent Calendar originated in Germany in 1904 when Gerhard Lang published a simple one as an insert in a newspaper in Stuttgart. It was a raving success! So Lang decided to print a new one every year. The designs became more and more elaborate from calendars that worked like a dial to calendar houses filled with chocolates to even a calendar in Braille for the blind.

But how did he get the idea to make a calendar that would count down the days to Christmas in the first place?

The idea of counting down to Christmas Eve already existed in different ways. Some families used to mark the days to Christmas with chalk on their doors, in other families children were putting one piece of hay every day into a manger in which Baby Jesus would be laid on Christmas Eve.

Gerhard Lange’s mother however handcrafted a calendar for his then little son that would be filled with a little meringue for every day in December leading up to Christmas Eve. That caused a lasting impression and, as an adult, inspired Gerhard Lange to expand on his mother’s idea of an Advent Calendar.

The ‘modern’ Advent Calendar was born and started out to conquer the world in all kinds of variations!

Wir wünschen eine schöne Vorweihnachtszeit!  

Happy Holiday Season!

Images: Pixabay.com


Filed Under: Culture, Editorial, German Festivals, German Traditions in CA Tagged With: advent, Advent Calendar, Christmas, December, Expat, Germany, holiday season, Tradition

Frohe Weihnachten – Happy Holidays

December 24, 2015 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Merry Christmas –

Wir wünschen ein Frohes Fest !

2015-Xmas

HEILIGABEND

(A Poem by Dieter Kermas)

.

Nun war der Heiligabend da,

und ich fragte meine Omama,

was sie bekam als kleines Kind,

und sie sagte darauf geschwind,

dass eine Puppenstube war ihr Traum,

und die stand unterm Weihnachtsbaum.

Ihr Bruder sah dann voller Stolz,

eine Ritterburg für sich aus Holz.

Wie haben sie sich da gefreut,

doch ganz anders ist es heut.

Nur neuste Technik wollen die Knaben,

und auch schon die Mädchen haben.

Schicke Handys, Spielkonsolen,

muss der Weihnachtsmann nun holen.

Computer sind auch heiß gefragt,

hat der Weihnachtsmann gesagt.

Manche von den Techniksachen,

findet Oma recht zum Lachen.

Wenn ein Stoffhund nur dann bellt,

wenn er eine Batterie erhält.

Der Kinder Freude hält nicht lange,

da wird der Oma jetzt schon bange.

Bald sind die Batterien leer,

dann ist es auch kein Spielzeug mehr.

Sie waren kurz nur drauf versessen

Schon liegt es rum und ist vergessen.

Viel länger hielten Puppenstuben

und auch die Burgen für die Buben.

.

© Dieter Kermas

Photo: © CaliforniaGermans

—————————————————————————————————————————
Dieter KermasDieter Kermas, CaliforniaGermans Guest Author and a true Berliner, turned to writing after he retired from his profession as an engineer. Family and friends urged him to document his many experiences during his childhood in wartime Germany. This made for a collection of various essays which have been published here at CaliforniaGermans. Apart form his childhood memories he is also sharing some of his short stories and poems on CaliforniaGermans. Dieter Kermas, who loves to write, is currently working on his first novel. Some of his work has been included in anthologies.

To get in touch with Dieter Kermas, please send an email with subject line “Dieter Kermas” to: californiagermans@gmail.com
———————————————————————————————————————–

Filed Under: Lese-Ecke Tagged With: Christmas, deutsches Gedicht, Dieter Kermas, German poem, Heiligabend, holiday season, Weihnachten

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