"A German Christmas in Colorado, New Mexico and Germany"

by JoSele Swopes
(Albuquerque, NM, USA)

I was born in Colorado and moved to New Mexico. My parents are both German and my first husband was half Black German. We were stationed in Germany for a time and 1 of our 4 children was born in Furth by Nurnburg.

Christmas was my dad's favorite time of year. He made it very special and so did my mother with all of the pastries, and cookies. She would make cabbage rolls which was one of our faves. There is so much that is special about that time that I miss.

When my children were in Germany, I would take them to the Kris Kindle Mart and we would have an absolute blast. I would have the Gluhwein and the children the Aphel Juice, and all the goodies and shop. It was even more special when it was snowing.

We would make our own decoration, like popcorn, cranberries, hang Lebkuchen on the tree, though I would get up the next morning and find little bites out of them . . . AHHA! Two legged mice . . . LOL!

I would fix Sauerbraten and potato dumplings. Christmas we would have a goose, red cabbage, potatoes, pecan yam dish. Dessert was pumpkin pie and pecan pie.

I made apricot cheese strudel, lebkuchen, Schneeballen, Americanish Mini Cakes, Gebrannte Mandeln, divinity, fudge, double decker fudge, Gluhwein, Roggenbrot, Rouladen, fresh German apple kuchen . . . . I am sure I missed some . . . . . . . . . . .


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Hi JoSele,

You certainly have wonderful Christmas memories to recall. How blessed you are to have had parents that made this time of year special. It sounds like you also made Christmas something very special for your own children!

I love the list of Christmas goodies that you make. So many I recognize, but some are new for me. It's an interesting mix of German and American :-)

Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Frohe Weihnachten,
Gerhild