WHEN I WAS A CHILD
AT CHRISTMAS
Written by Baroness Elke-Martea von Schlosser
2017
Woodcuts
by Ludwig Richter ~ Dresden, Germany 1803-1884
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS …
The 24 days before
Christmas which we call Advent was a time of magic and wonder in our family
home. As each week of Advent passed, it was punctuated by a family gathering every
Sunday to prepare for the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child.
Our gatherings took
place in the late afternoon as twilight set in.
A dreamlike sense of mystery permeated the air in the stillness of the
cold evening.
It was a time when we truly felt the Holy
Spirit of God all around us.
We would look up into
the cold crisp sky, the setting sun casting a rosy glow upon the clouds and a peaceful
sense of timelessness would fill us. It
seemed like the heavens opened up to smile upon the earth and we could feel the
resounding joyfulness of Christmases that had passed before.
We could almost hear
voices of our ancestors in distant times joyfully singing and praying.
We felt in those moments that we were
strangely tied to Christmases that had happened long ago.
We wondered what it was
like to celebrate Christmas in my grandmother’s time and she always spoke of it
with a gleam in her eye.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS …
An Advent wreath was
the central focus of our gathering, made of evergreen boughs and decorated with
four red candles. Each Sunday we lit
another candle, first one and the next Sunday two and so on until they were all
lit in joyous celebration on the fourth Sunday of Advent.
The Advent table was
festively bedecked with a cloth embroidered with pine boughs and pinecones and
red berries. We sang songs by firelight
and read poems and stories.
We read the Bible story
about the coming of the Christ Child.
(Luke 2; 1 – 20)
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
My mother would decorate
our home in the most beautiful ways for the coming of
Christmas. Green wreaths with red berries and red ribbons were hung on all the
windows, and large silver bells were hung on the doors.
Candles were nestled in a bed of
fresh green pine boughs and bowls of unshelled nuts were placed here and
there. Our preparations were simple, yet
lovingly prepared as we looked forward with growing excitement to the great
event to come. A cozy fire would be lit
every night and we would know that this was a sign that Christmas was coming!
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS …
My mother told us about the Christmas Angels, and
how they come down from heaven each year beginning on the first Sunday of
Advent.
They prepared the way for
the visit of the Christ Child, and are the harbingers of the great joy to
come.
They cannot be seen, but
one can see their reflection as they cast a rosy glow upon the clouds in the
midwinter evening sky. At twilight they
bounce and play on the clouds.
Have you seen them too?
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
The Christmas Angels would
leave little treats in our shoes which we had carefully placed on the
windowsill for them before we went to bed each evening of Advent. In the morning, if we had been good, we would
find a beautifully decorated chocolate or a small ornament in our shoe. If we had not been well behaved the Angels
would leave a note instead, bidding us to improve our ways. We knew that the Christmas Angels were all
around us during the Advent season, and so we were especially careful to be on
our best behavior at all times.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
My mother and grandmother
read us Christmas stories and poems.
My
mother always had a bowl of mixed nuts with lots of nut crackers for everyone
to enjoy!
We enjoyed cracking the
different kinds of nuts while we listened to stories by the fireside.
The crackling fire and popping nuts added to
the festivity of the cozy evening.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We spent countless hours
making ornaments for our Christmas tree.
We listened to Christmas
music and stories while we made paper and popcorn chains.
We decorated Styrofoam
balls with sequins and glitter, and painted wooden
shapes.
We cut out animals from
pieces of felt, and made Angels from cloth and ribbon to decorate our
tree.
My grandmother saved used
Christmas cards for us to make into ornaments or homemade holiday cards.
We also made little vignettes from the cut
out figures, creating 3 dimensional wintertime forest or village scenes. How we loved cutting up the colorful images
and shapes, adding sparkles and glitter; creating all sorts of tableaus
containing forest animals, elves, Santa’s and Angels.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS…
My mother told us about the
poor children who would not have as happy a Christmas as we would have. This made us very sad and we wanted to
help.
So my mother allowed us to choose
a gift which we wrapped up and delivered to our
church. We also collected canned foods
that would make a nice Christmas meal.
It made us feel so happy to do so.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We heard about the Christ
Child, who wandered about the earth at Christmas time in the company of the
Christmas Angels.
The Christ Child was
looking for all the good children to bestow blessings upon them (we always
hoped that they would be presents) during this Holy time of year. We read bible stories about the birth of
Jesus, and we came to love the child who would someday grow up to become our Savior.
WHEN
I WAS A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS …
We sang carols each Sunday of Advent during our
family celebration.
We loved to sing the age-old melodies that spoke of
this Holy Christmas time, when Angels were all about and magic was in the
air.
We sang carols around
the Advent wreath aglow with candles, which warmed our hearts and touched our
souls.
My favorite song was
“Am Weinachtsbaum Die Lichter Brennen” (The candles glow upon the Christmas
tree).
Here are the words:
The candles
glow upon the Christmas tree as it shines festively and peacefully.
Do you
see the hope of truth in this peaceful scene?
O happy
and blessed splendor.
Children stand in wonder with laughing eyes and glad
hearts, while their elders look upwards towards heaven.
Two Angels
enter, unseen by human eyes, and go to the Christmas tree and pray.
Then
upon departing they quietly say:
“Blessed are you and blessed is your little gathering.
“Blessed are you and blessed is your little gathering.
We bring God’s benediction
today, to both young and old.
To good
people who love one another the Lord sends us as messengers.
And if
you remain faithful we will come again next year”.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS …
My mother took us out for
a special evening one night each Christmas season. We were each allowed to choose one ornament
from the vast assortment at the stores.
Back and forth we went from shop to shop agonizing over the choices. These ornaments would be hung on the tree and
would eventually be ours to use in our own homes when we grew up. We would write the year we bought them on
each one. Each year we would unpack our own ornaments from
our “Christmas Box”” and laugh and remember the wonderful times we had when we
bought them.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS
…
We would decorate a Christmas tree for the birds.
We wanted our little friends to enjoy the
holiday too.
We had saved aluminum baking tins throughout the year and we cut them into
festive shapes like hearts and stars. We spread peanut butter on them and
dipped them in birdseed.
We hung them with bright red ribbon from a tree in our yard so we
could watch the birds enjoy their Christmas feast.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We would put on a
Christmas pageant every year in our home.
Each of us children played a part in the pageant, taking on the role of
members of the Holy Family, Angels and shepherds.
Even our pets were included in the
performance.
We would improvise costumes
and use overturned chairs covered with blankets to create a stable. We
performed for the adults after Christmas dinner to loud applause.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
My grandmother kept a
special crystal jar filled with Christmas candy in her cupboard during Advent.
Each of us was allowed to pick out one candy
each evening before bed time.
My favorite was the ribbon
candy.
It was always difficult to choose
just one from all the lovely colorful shapes and sizes.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We ate homemade cookies
and treats that were only eaten at Christmas time. The cookies were made from age-old recipes and
tasted of vanilla and chocolate and gingerbread and candied fruits and nuts. We looked forward to baking Christmas
cookies. We cut out all sorts of shapes
and decorated them with lots of green and red sprinkles.
We made our cookies the
first weekend of Advent, so that we would have cookies to enjoy for all of our Christmas
gatherings. We looked forward to eating
them each Sunday afternoon when our Advent gathering began, accompanied by hot
chocolate.
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ADVENT SPICE
COOKIES
Cream together: 1 cup butter ~ ½ cup sugar ~ ½ cup molasses ~ 2 eggs
Combine: 1 tsp salt ~ 1-½ tsp ginger ~ 1 tsp cinnamon ~ 1 tsp
nutmeg
1 tsp cloves ~ 1 tsp vinegar ~ 1 Tablespoon hot water
Add:
to butter mixture.
Add: 3
cups flour to make dough
Directions:
Drop
by teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake
at 375º for 10 minutes.
When
cool toss in cinnamon sugar (sugar combined with ground cinnamon).
ENJOY!
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ZIMTSTERNE
(CINNAMON STAR COOKIES)
Ingredients: Beat 3 egg whites until stiff
Gradually
add ½ pound powdered sugar & a dash vanilla
Reserve
4 Tablespoons of this mixture for topping
Add
1 teaspoon cinnamon to
¾ to 1 pound finely ground hazelnuts or
almonds
Directions:
You want to make a thick dough
so the amount of nuts will vary depending on the size of your egg whites. Refrigerate until cold.
Roll out dough on a board
sprinkled with powdered sugar to about ½ inch thickness and cut into star
shapes. Slightly moistening the cookie
cutter & rolling pin helps keep them from sticking to the dough.
Place cookies on greased
baking paper. Brush with reserved
topping.
Bake at 325º for about 10 minutes.
Store in air-tight tins.
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GERMAN
CHRISTMAS COOKIES
Ingredients: ½ pound butter (250 g)
½ pound vanilla
sugar *** (250g) or (1 ¼ cups)
2
eggs
A
dash vanilla extract
2
– 3 Tablespoons rum
A
pinch of salt
1 pound flour (500g) or (3 1/3
cups)
Directions: Cream butter, sugar &
eggs. Add rum & flour. Knead very well. Refrigerate overnight. Roll out thinly. Cut out using cookie cutters. Decorate if you wish. Bake 325° 15 – 18 minutes. Enjoy!
*** Vanilla sugar is a must in a baker’s kitchen. Make it yourself by storing sugar in a
jar with a few pods of vanilla bean.
The vanilla flavor permeates the sugar and is great in all sweet
baking recipes.
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WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS ...
We were taught about Saint
Nicholas, who lived many centuries ago.
He was a priest and a bishop
and was renowned for his good deeds, especially towards children.
We were often privileged
to have a priest with us at dinner and his prayers for our family at our Christmas
celebrations made us feel very blessed indeed.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS
…
We bought a small tree the
night before Christmas Eve.
Our tree would be placed
on top of our piano or on a special Christmas table.
First we decorated it with unlit white lights
in the shape of candles, and then placed a shiny Star of Bethlehem on top. Next came lots of homemade ornaments and
plenty of shiny glass balls. Silver
tinsel which we called “Angel hair” was used to decorate each branch.
Finally it was lifted up to its place of
honor. It was a beautiful sight.
Then we
locked the parlor doors…not to be opened until Christmas Eve!
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We set up a beautiful
crèche under our Christmas tree. There
in the shelter of its branches, we placed each character in the Christmas
story.
We children were allowed
to arrange them any way we wanted, and we spent many hours arranging and
rearranging the shepherds, villagers and wise men along with their
animals.
It was wonderful.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We would take a trip to the
garden to decorate the crèche.
Twigs,
grasses, moss, stones and hay were all collected.
We thought that the little
sheep would appreciate the nice fresh grass which we cut into tiny pieces and
laid under their feet.
A bit of hay was placed in
the manger, and the shepherds always had a few good rocks to sit on or rest
their tired feet while they waited for the Angels to appear and sing:
“Glory to God in the highest…
And on earth Peace to men of good will”
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We had a tradition at my Convent
school.
In the weeks before
Christmas the Nuns would set up a lovely crèche, and each of us children was
given a tiny lamb to be part of the display.
Each week, if we behaved
and had good grades, our little lambs would be allowed to progress a little
closer to the stable.
But the lambs of the
children who were not well behaved were not allowed to move towards the
stable. Needless to say we all wanted
our lambs to arrive at the Nativity on time so we were quite well behaved
during the weeks before Christmas.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We thought a lot about the
coming of the baby Jesus and the Christmas Angels who sang him to sleep. We loved to think of him in his warm manger
bed, with the animals quietly munching on their hay and the doves cooing all
around him.
My mother used to sing
this song about the friendly beasts.
Jesus
our brother, kind and good,
Was
humbly born in a stable rude,
And the friendly beasts around Him stood,
Jesus
our brother, kind and good.
“I”
said the donkey, shaggy & brown,
“I
carried His mother up hill and down,
I
carried her safely to Bethlehem town.”
“I” said the donkey, shaggy & brown.
"I,"
said the cow all white & red,
"I
gave Him my manger for His bed;
I
gave him my hay to pillow his head,
"I,"
said the cow all white and red.
“I”
said the sheep with the curly horn
“I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm”
He wore my coat on Christmas morn.”
“I”
said the sheep with the curly horn.
"I,"
said the dove from the rafters high
"I cooed Him to sleep so He would not
cry;
We
cooed him to sleep, my mate and I."
"I," said the dove from
the rafters high.
Thus
every beast by some good spell,
In the stable dark was glad to tell,
Of
the gifts they gave Immanuel,
The
gifts they gave Immanuel.
Dreaming about this
was a very peaceful way to fall asleep.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We saw the Christmas tree
aglow with soft white lights for the first time on Christmas Eve. When the time came, we gathered outside of
the parlor, whose doors had been tightly locked so that the Christ Child and
Christmas Angels could work their magic.
We waited in expectation until we heard a tiny bell rung by the Angels
from inside the parlor. That was our
signal that all was ready and that the Christmas Angels had been there, putting
the finishing touches on the tree and bringing the gifts.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We would gather around the
Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. We entered the candle lit parlor where the
Christmas tree stood in all its glowing splendor singing “O Come All You Children”, a German
carol. The Christmas story was read from the Holy Bible;
tears streaming on my
mother’s cheeks. We sang “Silent Night”
and then each child recited a short poem. Finally we all greeted one another
with kisses and “Merry Christmas” wishes.
The glow of candlelight and the shining tree topped by the silver Star
of Bethlehem, the crèche under its branches, the crackle and sparks from the
logs on the fire and the warmth of family made it all seem magical…and it was!
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
When the parlor lights
were turned up we children began the happy task of opening up our Christmas
presents while the adults sipped on eggnog reserved only for Christmas Eve.
GERMAN EGGNOGG:
Make several weeks before Christmas
13 egg yolks (save whites for meringues)
A dash of nutmeg
A dash of vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
1 bottle (5th) vodka
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
3 washed wine bottles and corks with labels removed
Mix all ingredients
and pour into wine bottles. Cork &
decorate with attractive labels. Refrigerate.
This very unusual
eggnog will be quite thick if prepared in advance.
This is to be served
in cordial glasses.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS
We celebrated all Twelve Days
of Christmas, from Christmas Eve through Epiphany on January 6th. Epiphany was the day the three wise men and
their camels arrived in Bethlehem, to pay tribute to the Christ Child and bring
him gifts. We would celebrate every
night until Epiphany, so our Christmas celebration lasted for a long, long
time, especially compared to most of our friends and neighbors.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
We had salmon in aspic and
sauerkraut soup for Christmas Eve dinner.
Can you imagine that? These
were traditional foods from my parent’s country. My grandmother would scrape the scales off of
the salmon and would give each of us some silver scales placed in wax paper to
keep in our coin purse during the coming year.
The scales were said to assure that there would always be money in our
wallet. We weren’t sure if it was true,
but we never took the chance of not having them there.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
After our Christmas Eve
Celebration we would attend Midnight Mass.
I remember how mysterious
the chapel looked at midnight. Lit by
candlelight, we processed into the chapel singing carols and carrying
candles.
On Christmas Eve, the whole
world seemed to us to have taken on a hallowed quality, and the chapel was
mystical and magical.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
On Christmas Day we would wake up excitedly to survey the gifts that
we had received on Christmas Eve.
Our mother always kept
some gifts aside that had been mailed to us by our family in “the old country”,
to be opened on Christmas morning. So we
had some fun opening curiously wrapped packages from far off lands.
Of course we attended
Christmas Day Mass which was always festive with everyone arriving in their
holiday finery. Just as we had done on
Christmas Eve, we put on our special Christmas outfits to attend Mass.
Usually our mother had
made us our Christmas dresses.
Weeks before Christmas we
had carefully picked out patterns, fabric (usually velvet) lace, buttons,
thread, zippers & notions together with our mother, who had stayed up late
on many a night to sew our festive frocks for us. Even my brother had a
little matching suit made for him!
After Mass it was time to
go home for leftovers and some fun followed by a traditional Christmas Day
dinner!
WHEN I WAS A CHILD AT
CHRISTMAS …
I remember looking out
into the clear cold night at Christmas time.
The air seemed to sparkle as we gazed long and hard to catch sight of
the Christmas Angels that we knew were all around us.
We watched as the North Star rose far above
the horizon, its bright light shining through the misty clouds. We would watch and ponder the wonders of the Star
above Bethlehem long, long ago.
It may seem to you that
when I was a child at Christmas the world was quite different from what it is
today. Yet the celebration of Christmas
can be made of all sorts of lovely traditions.
Make your own for your family to treasure, and teach them to your own
children.
Then you can tell them about what
it was like …
…When
you were a child at Christmas.
“May
you always enjoy the blessings and magic of Christmas”
Elke-Martea
von Schlosser ~ December 2017
The Birth of
Jesus (Luke 2; 1-20)
In those
days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the
entire Roman world. (This was the first
census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
And everyone went to their own town to
register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of
Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he
belonged to the house and line of David.
He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to
him and was expecting a child. While
they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to
her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger,
because there was no guest room available for them.
And there were
shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at
night.
An angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be
afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the
people. Today in the town of David a
Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign
to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a
great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and
saying,
“Glory to God in the
highest heaven,
and on earth peace to
men of goodwill.”
When the angels had left them and gone into
heaven, the shepherds said to one another,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this
thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph,
and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been
told them about this child,
and all who heard it were amazed at what the
shepherds said to them.
But Mary
treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
The shepherds
returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and
seen,
which were just as they had been told.
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