December has been a month of preparing for Jesus' birth, ice skating, birthdays, dental disasters, family time, and one beloved Star Wars Lego Advent calendar. Christmas markets have been grand and the frost has recently turned the area into a white wonderland. Oh, and the local herd of lawn-mowing sheep (it's bizarre how common-place this has become to me!) had 3 Christmas births.
And of course, New Year’s Eve.
NYE in Germany is something else. In America, at least in my experience, fireworks are generally reserved for Independence Day, and even then families typically just go to public displays instead of purchasing their own.
Oh, but Germany.
NYE in Germany is something else. In America, at least in my experience, fireworks are generally reserved for Independence Day, and even then families typically just go to public displays instead of purchasing their own.
Oh, but Germany.
Fireworks hit the stores a few days before NYE and the masses flood in to snag up their packages and champagne. The family of six in line ahead of me each individually toted his/her own 20-euro package of rockets…and more. It made me smile. Germany just knows how to do New Year’s Eve. My husband told me to double the amount I had purchased from last year, so I came home with the obligatory family bundle of rockets and assorted fireworks, but also added a box of massive sparklers for the girls, and one ridiculously large rocket named 'The Black Knight' that had copper coiling around the exterior and needed to be staked to the ground. When I displayed the loot, his face lit up like a child’s. I had apparently done well. |
We woke the kids shortly before midnight and dragged them out in snow pants to battle the chill.
There was heavy fog, but it wasn’t all cloud. Everywhere around us the air shattered with explosions and the night lit up with color. It was practically a breath away from lung disease.
And so, so fun.
There was heavy fog, but it wasn’t all cloud. Everywhere around us the air shattered with explosions and the night lit up with color. It was practically a breath away from lung disease.
And so, so fun.
Next year, I already have instructions to double the haul again. 'Twill be incredible.
I hope you all enjoy the last few days of Christmas! And happy New Year!
I hope you all enjoy the last few days of Christmas! And happy New Year!