Christmas

Christmas in Switzerland is quite different than in the US, however it is still a wonderful time of the year. Christmas here is much more religiously oriented than my previous Christmas times. The Christmas season starts either the last Sunday in November or the first Sunday in December, this is the first advent. Than the three following Sundays (all before Christmas) also mark advents. Every time you are allowed to light one more candel (of four) until all are light on the last Sunday. The second advent is when Santa clause comes (read about this in amy previous blog post). 

Advent calendar:

One of the very cool things about Christmas in Switzerland is that some towns have their own advent calendar. How this works is when your family participates in the towns are assigned a day to host snacks and such in the evening. You decorate one window in your house with the date you are assigned and different Christmas related things. Than that evening people from the town can come over and have a fun evening togther. This way there are usually houses for every day leading up to Christmas. So every night you can go to a different house and celebrate. My family did not host, however we were able to go to my other exchange friends' house because her host family hosted one (explaining your relationship/how you met people is a lot more complicate once your on exchange). It was a fun evening full of traditional Swiss food (aka bread) and laughter. 

Christmas markets:

A special tradition in Switzerland is the Christmas market. These appear in December over certain weekends. In the Christmas markets you can find booths of local products, nativity plays, foods, and other fun activities. They are also filled with many beautiful decorations. I went to the Christmas market in my town with my family and had a great time. First we looked through all of the different booths. They held everything from sheep wool slippers, to pretty rocks. Later on we went to a candel making station and made... Candles (the title of the station kind of gave it away). We took a piece of string and dipped it into a large bucket of wax, than water, than dried it, than wax, than water, and so on. It took quite a while but was quite fun. Afterwards we got warm apple drinks and head over to the nativity. It was my first nativity and was really sweet with all of the little kids. My favorite part were the boys dressed up in sheep customs (I can only imagine how embarrassed the must have been, not unlike the bunny costume in 'A Christmas Story'). Once the play was over we feasted on crepes, mine was chocolate banana. Than walked around the different booths a little while longer before heading home.

 Christmas:

Christmas in Switzerland can be celebrated on a variety of days, but th main day is the 24th of December. For my family, we have three different gatherings with family. On the 19th, the 24th, and the 26th. On the 19th we had lunch with the family from my host dad. On the 24th we went into church and later had dinner with the family of my host mom. And the 26th is once again with family from my host mom. A typical Christmas dinner starts with snacks and drinks. Afterwards is a salad followed by the main course. Once the meal is finished the kid usually play a game of some sort while the adults talk. In the evening we sing Christmas carols togther in the living room, than the kids preform the music they have learned that year. Finally gifts are given and received and thank your exchanged. After gifts is dessert, where you have something delicious and Christmas cookies on the side.