In seven days, it’ll be Christmas Eve. In Germany, the 24th of December is known as Heiligabend, which means holy evening. While traditions vary slightly, it is usually the time when the candles on the tree are first lit and presents are exchanged. Some families go to church in the late afternoon to see a nativity play, which allows the person at home to put the finishing touches on the glittering tableau that awaits everyone when they come in from the dark and cold. Others shoo their children into a separate room with strict instructions not to appear until a bell is rung. (Yes, just like in the Nutcracker!) And in some families, Heiligabend is the evening when the tree is first decorated - this is actually the most traditional, though I believe it’s no longer the most common.
I was lucky enough to spend many years celebrating Christmas with our German friends who lived across the landing from us in Berlin. Christa, who comes from Hamburg, was a traditionalist: She decorated her tree on the 23rd, with a strict decor policy that included only white porcelain bells, polished red apples (real ones), Wendt & Kuhn angels, white candles (real ones) on brass holders and clear glass balls. She served roast goose, potato dumplings and red cabbage for Christmas Eve dinner, insisted we all dress to the nines and taught us that no gift could be given without a rhyming poem for the recipient to read aloud and use as a clue for guessing what the present was. We were allowed to enter the room with the tree and the presents and the candles and the music only once a little bell was rung and it was magical, magical, magical, magical, even long after we grew up and understood where the magic was coming from.