The Christmas holidays were truly a time to rest this year. Now of course I hadn�t done all of my shopping months in advance, but I had done the majority of it before leaving Germany so I had time to sit back and do very little worth reporting in this, or rather, any forum. Needless to say, I did a little shopping to fill in the gaps on my gift list, and thoroughly enjoyed doing it after 4pm, one of life�s little luxuries which remains beyond the grasp of the German shopper.
Given the tangle of regulations, complex taxes and high social security costs, companies are loth to create new jobs and to expand their businesses. Too many have concluded that they would be better off setting up shop in Central Europe. Retailers (not to mention shoppers) are hampered by absurdly antiquated restrictions on opening hours and even on how they may compete with one another. Other service firms are choked by red tape. Many regulations were brought in years ago, for what then seemed like good reasons. Now, they just protect the established firms, prevent newcomers emerging among Germany's famed small and medium-sized firms, maintain the strength of trade unions and existing employees, and stop new jobs and businesses being created. (Stoiber v Schr�der Jan 17th, 2002. The Economist)
Christmas itself is always a fantastic time to be home. My mother had been busy baking in the days leading up to the big event and the tree was up and decorated when I arrived. We even decided to get a fire going this year. Earlier tries had resulted in a house filled with wood smoke, but after having somebody clean out the chimney and in the process dislodge a large amount of collapsed stone from construction work long ago, we were ready to try again. After getting past the timeless question of whether or not the flue was open the hard way, we had a beautiful roaring fire for Christmas.
Now, my family doesn�t have a lot of traditions, but we have developed a bit of a ritual for the Christmas season. On Christmas eve, my Mom makes a big tourtiere which we quickly devour before moving on to something which we all consider to be Christmassy, whether that be watching a movie, listening to music or most likely, wrapping up all that last minute shopping.
When we wake up on Christmas morning, we open our stockings before setting into a pancake breakfast. After exchanging gifts with each other we ready the house in anticipation of the huge dinner we�ll have with the rest of my family, from grandparents to cousins. After our feast of stuffed turkey with cranberries, potatoes, turnip and homemade Christmas pudding, we retire from the table for one last round of gift exchanges.
