Our First Christmas in Europe

We are very excited to report on our first Christmas in Europe!  We knew it would be hard to be so far away from our friends and family but we were eager to explore and learn about Christmas traditions on the Continent.  One of the things we really wanted for the "real" European holiday experience was a White Christmas. It had not snowed in Basel for a few weeks, so we were pleasantly surprised to look outside our window shortly after we woke up on Christmas Eve to see snowflakes, and the action did not stop for 36 hours.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, we took a walk down to the Rhein.  Everything looks so beautiful when it is covered with snow!  We even let Austin off leash at this little park, because we figured the Swiss authorities would be in the Christmas spirit and allow us to ignore the "no dog" signs.  Aussie even played with another off leash dog whose owner we could not communicate with.  That's okay though, dogs are a universal language.

One of the biggest traditions here for the holidays is Glühwein.  This is basically what the English call mulled wine.  You take some cheap red wine (preferably Don Julio!) and then add some water, sugar, honey, cloves, oranges, cinnamon, and lemon juice.  You let it stew for at least an hour (the longer the better and don't you dare let it boil!) and then you ladle it out, put a splash of spiced rum on top and enjoy!

According to Veronica, this is the only receptacle worthy of the delectable beverage of Glühwein.  In order to acquire this mug, we went to the local Christmas market (Basler Weihnachtsmarkt) where there are lots of little stands that dispense Glühwein.  You pay 3 Swiss Francs deposit for the cup, so if you want to keep it, you're out only a few bucks.  Things got complicated, however, because we were given the "boring" white mugs for our wine.  After finishing said beverage, V insisted on asking the clerk for a mug switch-er-roo.  The guy was pretty grumpy about it, but as you can see, V scored us some sweet mugs using some of her burgeoning German and some pointing.

Another truly Swiss winter tradition is Raclette!  Raclette is both a type of cheese and the way of eating it.  Our Christmas gift to each other this year was a raclette oven. Here, you can see the oven, the cheese a-waitin' to be heated, and the obligatory plate of pickled goodies, including gherkins, onions, and corn. 

You put the slices of cheese in your little pan and stick 'em in the oven.

Once the cheese is a bubblin' to your liking, you get that sucka outta there.

And pour it all over your baby potatoes.  We decided to add our own little touch by steaming some broccoli to add cheese to.  The dish is completed by grinding some fresh raclette seasoning over the top.

Gifts in Switzerland are not delivered by Santa.  Instead, they are delivered by the Cristkind.  This is essentially a cherubic angel that delivers the gifts and then rings a little bell telling the children that it is time for presents.  Gifts are always exchanged on Christmas Eve so we adopted the practice.  Here, Aussie is wearing his Christmas hat and awaiting delivery of his scrumptious holiday treat. 

All Jon wanted for Christmas was gummis and scotch.  V kicked it up a notch by giving him the most delicious gummis in the world served in a nice pilsner glass.  Now he doesn't have to drink out of used pasta sauce jars anymore!  There is an entire shop here dedicated to gummis.  They make cakes and pizzas entirely out of gummis and coincidentally, don't go around asking for "gummis" here with a German-sounding long "u".  That is the word for condom.

Oh, man! The sweet smell of 15-year Glenfarclas single-malt scotch.  Life is good!

Veronica got a guitar for Christmas!!  Now she can finally compose those Chronicles of Veronicles!

We had a wonderful first Christmas in Basel!  It was just the three of us, but we had a great time learning about and adopting some local traditions.  Speaking of which, Jon learned from a friend about a great local Alpine tadition that he wants to bring back to the States.  This is the tradition of the Krampus.

This is the Krampus!  He comes along with Saint Nicolas and punishes the bad children with his switch.  He also chases the kids around with rusty chains and bells.  If you are really bad, he puts you in his basket and carries you off.

We hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday, no matter what you did.  As long as what you did doesn't anger the Krampus.  He lives a lot closer to us than is comfortable, and we simply can't associate with those that anger the Krampus.

Schöne Weihnachten!!

The EuroFadoks