Christine Burgmer, Author At Christine Burgmer

C … is for Christmas Cake, Cards, Carols, Crackers, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day

by Christine Burgmer | Dec 3, 2014 | Allgemein | 0 comments

My Christmas preparations usually start with the making of the Christmas cake about six weeks before Christmas. It’s a fruit cake (link to bbc.co.uk), fed with brandy, covered with marzipan and icing, and then decorated with ribbons, marzipan trimmings and little edible silver balls.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Christmas without Christmas cards. I start writing mine at the beginning of December. And, in the traditional way, I hang the ones I receive on the wall (I don’t have a mantle piece!). If you like the idea of decorating your place with them too, you might like to look at sas interiors for some inspiration.

A Christmas carol is a song traditionally sung on Christmas itself or during the surrounding holiday season. My favourites? Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Deck the Halls, O Christmas Tree and God Rest You Merry Gentlemen. But I also like listening to some of the old Christmas songs, like Santa Baby and White Christmas!

Christmas crackers are cardboard tubes, wrapped in brightly coloured paper and twisted at both ends. They are placed on the table at Christmas and are traditionally pulled by two people either before the meal starts or some time during the meal. When a cracker breaks, it goes ‘bang’ and the contents fall out. You’ll normally find a crown made of tissue paper, a little gift (usually a cheap plastic thing) and a slip of paper with a motto or a joke. And, what German people really can’t understand, people wear the paper hats during the meal! 😉 Take a look a this wonderful video clip to see Christmas crackers in action and for a bit of Christmas etiquette (link to: youtube.com)!

Christmas Eve is on 24 December. This is when presents are exchanged in Germany. In England, this is done on Christmas Day. That’s 25 December. (We don’t have a 1st day of Christmas!) On Christmas Eve, people might go out carol singing, go to church or even go out to the pub. And, of course, it’s the time for children to hang up their stockings before going to bed, hoping that Father Christmas will come in the night with all the presents.

B … is for Baubles and Boxing Day

by Christine Burgmer | Dec 2, 2014 | Allgemein | 0 comments

Those shiny glass balls that we hang on the Christmas tree are called “baubles” (in German: Weihnachtskugeln). We don’t call them “~~Christmas balls~~” in English!

And, the 26th of December (known in Germany as the “2. Weihnachtstag” is called “Boxing Day” (and not “~~the 2nd Christmas Day~~“). 😉

A … is for Advent

by Christine Burgmer | Dec 1, 2014 | Allgemein | 3 comments

December means that Christmas will soon be upon us. And, I’ll be posting an A – Z of Christmas vocabulary you might need when speaking to foreign customers and colleagues. So let’s get going with A ….

The time before Christmas, what we call the season of Advent, is a bit different in England. And, of course, every family has its own traditions. Our family, for example, has a mix of English and German traditions.

There are advent calendars (which are used to keep track of how many days are left until Christmas) and wreaths (though they are often without candles and hung on the front doors) in England. And people also have Christmas trees, but these are often set up indoors at the beginning of the Advent season. Quite different to what people do here in Germany.

The Portuguese

by Christine Burgmer | Nov 30, 2014 | Allgemein | 0 comments

If you do business with the Portuguese or are thinking of travelling to Portugal, you might like to look at this free Kindle edition I found on Amazon.de called “The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Portuguese“. It covers all kinds of topics from attitudes and values to culture, humour and customs – and a lot more.