German Christmas Dinner

In Germany people celebrate Christmas on Holy-Eve-Day, Dec. 24th, in the evening. I think this tradition got started, because the children had problems to stay awake until after midnight. So they received their gifts early, which turned into everybody receiving their gifts on the 24th. Christmas Day and on the 2nd Christmas Day – in Germany there are two – everybody usually visits grandparents or other relatives. Of course there is a big dinner and gift exchange every time.
We celebrate German Christmas at our daughter’s place, all dressed up and cheery with a wonderful meal and at midnight we all open one small gift (usually after watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas – the original!).

Here is the beautiful dinner table. As you can see, our daughter loves the wonderful xmas dishes from Villeroy & Boch as much as we do 🙂