Christmas Morning-American Style!

Okay, so I didn’t make them wake up at 5:00am…I just kinda figured that tradition may not carry the same excitement found among my American family every Christmas morning. And considering I didn’t get to bed until 4:00am, a few extra hours of sleep were greatly appreciated and I had little desire to wake up any earlier than 8:00.

 Around 9:00am, everyone sat around our table for our typical Sunday breakfast of zopf which was to be followed by “Julianne’s presents” or “The big red socks”. So with everyone seated in the living room, I carried in six red stockings overflowing with tiny packages wrapped in every assortment of wrapping paper I could find! It was a moment I won’t soon forget.  The three boys, who were squirreling around and complaining about having to sit and wait, instantly froze. Christian’s mouth dropped open. In that moment it occurred to me that since the kids had never experienced, or even seen, stockings, there were no expectations behind my “big socks”—after all, who wants over sized socks for Christmas?

I handed the stockings out and the fun began. Christian tore through his packages at the speed of light and only after everything was unwrapped did he take to time to see what exactly he had received. Samuel was SO CUTE—as usual—and after every single package, looked at me and said, “Danke Julianne!”  with a smile stretching from ear to ear and eyes sparkling with excitement.  Papa (my host dad) was only beginning as the boys pulled out their lasts gifts and took a good 15 minutes longer than everyone else because he refused to actually open his stocking. Instead, he picked up his camera and joined me in the task of capturing the moment.  The room was filled with laughter once he finally began opening his gifts only to find another camera—this one made out of chocolate J

Once all Weihing stockings were opened, the kids handed me my Christmas present from them. I sat on the sofa with the four of them crowding around me and opened the package to find Lumpi--the cutest stuffed puppy I've ever seen. 

It wasn’t America, but it was undoubtedly a Christmas morning I’ll never forget. Although receiving gifts is always fun, watching my family open the stockings that I’d spent the last month putting together for them was more enjoyable than if I’d had a stocking of my own. I scurried around the room trying to get the right angle for my pictures and seeing the smiles, hearing the laughter, and feeling the joy made me think to myself, “This is exactly what Christmas is supposed to be like.”