Adventures in being more German

Potsch grew up in Germany. He is a complete German sans the accent. It's quite exciting being married to a foreigner but it can also be confusing. We have it in our minds that this may be our last holiday time just the two of us. By next year we are hoping to be able to spend our Christmas time with our baby in arms or at least belly. This idea has got us thinking about what kind of traditions will we pass on to our family? The German Christmas is a bit different. There is no Santa Clause but rather a baby Jesus who decorates your house x-mas eve whilst you are away at church. You spend you x-mas eve eating goulash or pichlesteiner and open presents till the wee hours of night and then go to bed.
My childhood was spent looking forward to that early early morning rise on dec 25th when I would creep into my parents bedroom to tell them I was awake and ready to find out if Santa Came to our house and not only left gifts but also eat the cookies and drank the milk I left for him. To my surprise he always did. I was allowed to check out my Santa gifts, which were always unwrapped, and play a little. Then we had a xmas morning breakfast, that you could always bring to your spot on the floor or couch, as your gifts were piled around you. Then one by one we would open our gifts. We had all day to play with our new stuff. My favorite part.

So, Potschi and I have some combining to do. Not to mention the fact that neither of us subscribe to any organized religion. So, how do we balance celebrating Christmas with out Jesus?

Luckily we have some time as traditions are not built in a year.

In honor of Potsch's German traditions I made my first Goulash. He usually would have this on xmas eve but I was worried it would be horrible so I made it this weekend. It turned out yummy but could definitely use some tweaking over the next years.



My first time browning beef. Very exciting!



A little paprika. A dash of vinegar. Some bell peppers.


Potsch set up our little fake tree and strung the lights. We were able to decorate our tree while the goulash cooked for hour and half.
Yummy egg noodles. Perfect for Goulash.

Simmer down, class. Simmer. Simmer.

Home made (a little soupy) Goulash! With Bavarian style bread on the side and a glass of sweet red wine. Delicious!
This is a tradition I don't mind carrying on.
What are your traditions? Have you had to combine yours with theirs? How did that go?