Almost Christmas

Here we are, just a few days before Christmas. Most of us have done our shopping and baked the cookies. Perhaps food shopping for the big day is pending but the shopping lists are probably close to complete. I have left Paris for Helmut's family's family manse, the Mill, or le Moulin as they call it in French. A lovely home with lots of land, a stream and the mechanism of the original mill (the mill stones are long gone, but the family can redirect the water to the mechanism and it actually works!)

Of course, they have a real tree. Here, though, no one worries about watering the trees ("Why?" Asked Helmut). I love a real tree even though I never had one until I moved out of the house and into my own apartment. One thing they do have that is very German, but is part of their family's tradition is real candles on the tree. Yep. With actual flames. In my mind it seems like a really bad combo: a live,dry tree with small flames on it. Yes, you watch it, but things happen. In fact we had a ribbon catch fire. Not a major event and it was out in a few seconds. Still, with a wooden ceiling... Just saying. 

I remember a Christmas when I took my mother to Germany. My father had died and it was a way for me to break tradition and do something interesting for my mother. I remember when I proposed it to her in the summer she almost said no because she was scared. Her sisters convinced her to go and she loved it in retrospect. I think it jangled her nerves a bit, though. To prepare, we took a language class in the fall. She had never taken a language other than English and so we took an emersion program in upstate New York. Since I had had seven years of German, we were in different classes. I had a great time but she was a bit freaked out. She did pretty well and I had high hopes for the trip. 

When we got to Europe, I don't think she let go of my arm for three weeks. She enjoyed herself, but the challenges of going to another country for the first time I think we're a bit difficult for her. Things she didn't understand were disdainfully dismissed. It was a bit hard for me not to see her expand into the experience but sort of harden her heart against it.

Anyway, on this trip we went to a concert in a small hall in Munich. They had a live tree, again lit with candles. I don't remember the concert much, but I do remember staring at the tree thinking it was lovely, but where is the fire exit, because if this goes up I want to get out quickly. 

It is lovely though.