Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Froehliche Weihnachten








The ancestors from my family of origin, come partly from Germany and Switzerland.
Every year, around Christmas time, my family celebrates our German/Swiss heritage with a meal fit for Bavarian Royalty.
We eat things like: Spaetzle (handmade noddles cooked with sauteed onions and Swiss cheese), Sauerbraten (braised beef), fondue, Schnitzel (the kind Julie Andrew sings about in The Sound of Music), Raquelette (a cheese melted and poured over potatoes), Rouladen (beef rolls), Rotkohl (red cabbage), Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, Gurken salat (cumcumber salad), Lebkuchen (gingerbread), Bretzeln (chocolate pretzels), Birne Torte (pear tart), and Apfel Strudel ( apple streusel), just to name a few.
One of the family member that can speak the language is always asked to pray in German. I can usually understand a few words here and there, but I never became fluent. This year I did understand when our friend, Nate P., blessed that the children would stop laughing through the prayer.  It is a strange sounding language to some, especially "kinders".





This year we were invited to the O'Brien's not once, but twice to celebrate.


The O'Brien's know how to do it up right. Kelly (boy) and Kristine both served in German speaking missions for our church. They know how to cook and bake authetically. And they do know how to throw a party anytime! Thanks to all your hard work. It is good to be related to awesome party throwers! We feel so blessed when  we are included.
The first dinner we celebrated with friends who had also served European missions for our church. The second was our traditional Gygi dinner held the monday before Christmas. Just in time for St. Nikolas to arrive.
 
This is Lily (far right) at last years party when her dirndl (official German costume) still fit-barely.


This is Noah last year when his official costume still fit and he was not too embarrased to wear it for a school report on Germany.

Not only are our ancesters from Germany and Switzerland, several generations have served German speaking missions.

This is my Grandfather, Alma Gygi, serving in the German/Swiss mission from1931-1934.
Yes he is the one in "costume!" He even met Hitler face to face.
That and more stories of my family history in blogs to come.

From my family to yours, FROHE WEINACHTEN!

2 comments:

nano*ink said...

You can see I haven't been around for a while. This is a great post. I didn't know all these things. I want to do a German Christmas!

+spencer+ said...

i didn't know that about grandpa. i want to hear that story — and get a copy of that pic.