Christmas in Duisburg
First of all we would like to give you some impressions from Duisburg´s Christmas market:
The next thing on our agenda is an advent diary, handed in by pupils from form 7a
Form 7A: Our Advent Diary
Sunday, 31st November
Robin: Today is the first Advent Sunday. On the table in the living room we have a lovely advent wreath with four candles, one for each Sunday before Christmas. We put up Christmas decorations so that our flat looks really nice.
Monday, 1st December
Dominik: This morning I opened the first window of my advent calendar. There are 24 little windows and behind them are little chocolates.
Some children have advent calendars made by their parents with a little present for each day before Christmas, and some have just pictures. But I like the chocolates best.
Saturday, 6th December
Svenja: It’s ‘Nikolaus’ day! All children cleaned their boots yesterday and put them outside the door. This morning there were many sweets, nuts, chocolates and fruit in my boots.
Sunday, 7th December
Svenja: Today we lit the second candle and opened the seventh window of the advent calendar. Kids who play an instrument practised Christmas carols. All houses and flats are full of Christmas decorations and it’s time to buy presents.
Wednesday, 10th December
Vanessa and Kathrin: We love the Christmas market in Duisburg. It is in the city centre and there are lots of little stalls where you can buy sweets or pancakes or other food. But you have to be careful – don’t eat too much! We went to the Christmas market with our families and we even saw ‘Nikolaus’.
Thursday, 11th December
Maike: Today I went to the Christmas market to buy some presents and have fun. It was very nice there. I bought some toys and sweets and a scarf because it was very cold.
Tuesday, 16th December
Carina: Today I must buy presents for Christmas. My family and my friends do the same for me every year. I often buy present on the Christmas market.
Tuesday, 23rd December
Carina: Today we decorated the Christmas tree with lots of red balls and other things. We put the crib next to the Christmas tree.
Wednesday, 24th December
Benja: It’s Christmas Eve! In the morning we opened the last window of our advent calendar and had a big breakfast. Then we cleaned the house because everything had to be perfect. In the afternoon my mum made dinner, but we didn’t eat until later. First we went to church. After church we had some chocolates. Then we opened all the presents, which were waiting under the Christmas tree.
Robin: After dinner we all sat together around the Christmas tree and unwrapped our presents.
Thursday, 25th of December
Maike: Today all our family met at our house and we had dinner together. Then the children played with their presents
What is Christmas without gingerbread, Christmas cakes and other goodies?
Well, here are two examples of special Christmas recipes:
1.)
MY RECIPE (Leonie M, 7f)
(chocolate) STOLLEN
Ingredients:
125 ml milk
15g fresh yeast
275g flour
25g butter
40g sugar
a little bit of salt
1 egg
oil to oil the form
icing sugar
1 bar of chocolate
1) Put the oven on 180°C and knead the dough to a 2,5 cm fat area.
2) Put the small grated chocolate pieces into the dough.
3) Knead the dough again.
4) Role the dough to a role
5) Put the role onto an oiled baking sheet.
6) After 30 minutes put it into the oven.
7) Then you must bake it 30-40 minutes.
8) After it cooled up, put icing sugar onto the finished stollen.
2.)
Our favourite Christmas recipe: Caramel Cubes
Ingredients: (from Clara, Katharina and Rebecca, Form 7f)
100g butter
200g butter biscuits
100g dried + shredded coconut
125ml + 9 tablespoons of condensed
milk with sugar
375g Toffees
280g small marshmallows
Some oil for the baking tin
It takes about 30 minutes to prepare caramel cubes. When they are in the oven it takes 90 minutes to get them finished.
First you melt the butter in a small pot and let it cool down a little. Then crumble the butter cookies. Mix them with the shredded coconut, the condensed milk and the butter. Then you need a square baking tin (ca. 21 x 30 cm) which you paint with oil. Put the crumbs into the tin and flatten them. Allow to cool for one hour .
After that you unpack the softie caramels and cut them into two pieces each . Dissolve the caramel in 9 tablespoons of heated condensed milk. Put the mini marshmallows on top of the crumbles . Use a spoon to put the caramel mass on the marshmallows. Allow to cool down for 30 minutes and cut the solid mass into cubes.
Hint:
Keep the cubes in a cold place, but not in the fridge, because the icing can draw moisture and the cubes become wet and sticky.
But there are more things about Christmas than meet the eye (or your tummy).
So, for example, there is Franziska´s (7f) text about why we celebrate Christmas as Christians:
JESUS IS BORN
It was December 24th .It was a very cold night, as herdsmen looking for a hideout saw a falling star.
Mary was expecting a baby and she and her husband were looking for a room where she could give birth to the baby.
But nobody had a free room.
They were tired. Suddenly a man came to them and said :" Well, I haven´t got a room, but a barn. Is that enough for you?"
They both were happy and answered:" Oh yes! That´s enough for us...thank you very much!!"
They went to this barn. There were many animals (donkeys, oxen).
All of a sudden Mary gave birth to a boy called Jesus. They all were happy.
The shepherds from the fields nearby saw the star. They came and brought little presents for the baby.
Some days later three kings (Caspar, Melchior, Balthasar) came to them and gave presents to Jesus.
(Text submitted by Franziska, Form 7f)
But the general idea is that Chjristmas is a lot of fun. The decoration of rooms and Christmas trees is part of it as you can see here:
Christmas Decoration
We in Germany use a lot of Christmas decoration. Everyone has got a Christmas tree and we decorate it with tinsel, Christmas globes and candles.
This is an example:
To make the time of waiting for Christmas more exciting, you have got an Advent wreath. There are four candles on it. Every Sunday in December you light one more candle. The advent wreath is also a wonderful piece of decoration.
This is an example:
At Christmas time many people decorate their windows, gardens and also the entrances.
Examples: ,
This is made by Tamara and Leonie (Form 7f)
WE WISH YOU A MERRY Christmas!!!
The absolute climax, of course, is Christmas Eve. This is the time when chilThe absolute climax, of course, is Christmas Eve. This is the time when chidren (and parents) in Germany unwrap their presents and no sound can be heard in the streets
Christmas Day
In Germany people celebrate Christmas on 24th of December.
In the morning we eat breakfast. It is very special, because we eat our self-made gingerbread. Then we tell each other our ideas of what we want to do next and usually it is the following:
1. Get nice clothes
2. Make dinner
3. Sing Christmas songs
4. Go to church
5. Read a Christmas story
6. Have dinner
At last: Now the children are very excited, because they want to unpack their presents.
They are lying under our Christmas tree which could look like that: