Philosopher raised his concerns yesterday that Deutsch Fraulein is missing the German pre-Christmas period. If you have ever visited Germany in Advent, you will know what he is talking about. Christmas is the winter feast of warmth and comfort in the midst of cold and darkness. If you look past the commercial side of it, it is really something: The snow, the glittering lights in the dark, the spice filled air. The Germans are one lucky folk in that they don’t have Sunday trading yet (or at least they didn’t have it last time I was there). Sundays are still days of contemplation, particularly in winter when the body wants to go into hibernation.
Here Downunder we call the pre-Christmas time the ‘silly season’. I always thought it is because you have to go to an endless line-up of barbeques and office parties, which of course goes hand in hand with drinking copious amounts of alcohol and being silly. I only recently found out ‘silly season’ is an historic newspaper term from the Northern Hemisphere and it describes the time of year when parliament is in recess and the newspapers have to come up with other (less important) stories to fill their pages. Of course Christmas and the long summer holidays coincide here. And come to think of it in terms of newspapers, silly season is all year round here.
For me personally, Christmas in the sun has lost its meaning. It is totally debased and what is left is one gigantic commercial feast. Needless to say it passes me by. I am out in the sun enjoying life. Come next winter and the coldness, I am back contemplating.
But I do understand Deutsch Fraulein (German Girl). She reads all these German blogs and gets terrible cravings for a good solid Christmas. So I thought as consolation I will buy here a ‘Stollen’, which is a special German Christmas cake with marzipan in it. To keep it fresh I put it in the fridge. Somebody must have told her. Next time I looked in the fridge, there she was, attacking the Stollen with a fork. She was so keen she hadn’t even taken the plastic off. She obviously found the perfect dark and cold place and is now devouring the comfort food. I hope she doesn’t forget to contemplate and that she leaves a piece for me.
dedepuppets 
These dedes are a handful. I love that scene- stollen/strawberries.. and is that alcohol next shelf down? I wonder if Pig knows about that stash??
Oh, you are an eagle eye. Yes that is the cold beer. So don’t tell pig.
You’re lucky she was the only one – you could have had the entire crew in there! ;)
I think I am save. Deutsch Fraulein loves Stollen so much., she won’t let anybody else in on the secret. It would get pretty crowded, if they all wanted a piece of it ;)
I can understand how Fraulein and you feel about Christmas. I once lived in Germany and enjoyed their interpretation of the holiday which wouldn’t work very well in the heat of summer time. The German version of the holiday at least still preserved some atmosphere. In America, it’s all being buried in an orgy of ultra-consumerism.
While I was still living in Germany I thought as well it is ‘consumerism pur.’ Only now that I have had Christmas in summer plenty of times, I can appreaciate the ‘atmosphere’ the Germans are creating.