German Christmas

1. You get more sleep: You don't have to wake up insanely early to run downstairs and see what Santa brought you in the night. As a matter of fact, I slid out of bed at about noon today. Christmas eve is present time, so there are no sugar plums dancing in anybody's head when they go to sleep that night. Actual Christmas day is mostly just there for an excuse to eat more food.

2. Charlie Brown and The Grinch are dead: Any references to Charlie Brown's wilting little Christmas tree, or Cindy Lou Who will not register. Nobody is gonna join in on "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch". I know, it hurts.  But, for some reason, Home Alone (Kevin-Allein zu Haus) is really big here. In fact, my host family was more familiar with the storyline than I was.

3.  But Christmas Cinderella has got your back: Another really big Christmas movie is "Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel" ("3 Hazelnuts for Cinderella"), which is a co-production from a German studio, and a Czechoslovakian one. It has actors from both countries who spoke their own languages when it was made. However, when it shows in Germany, the whole thing is dubbed in German. The story is basically Cinderella, but this time round she gets 3 magic nuts to grant her wishes instead of just one fairy god mother. I think she also has an owl friend that helps her out, so the animal element is still present. Anyway, there is snow everywhere and she still finds her prince and all that. Very festive.











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