a love for fabric

i felt right at home. standing in a little fabric store. in a big, red ashland sweatshirt. a new skirt pattern in my hand. glorious. marie’s mother is an exceptional seamstress who even owns her own fabric store. she was excited to hear that i loved sewing, as her daughter thought is was just a long and boring process, while i was thrilled to have her show me her new project. i told her how much i missed sewing. how i missed walking inside the fabric store. how i even missed the ironing part. and then she asked. asked me if i wanted to sew something while i was in germany. and of course, you know my answer.
so after brunch on new years day marie’s mother, peitra, took me to her shop. she sat me down at a table and handed me pattern books. the shiny pages glistened in the light just like they had this summer. i quickly turned to the skirt section feeling the pages slip through my fingers. and then spent a while trying to pick out my favorite skirt. oh, it was heavenly. i soaked in every moment. once i had the skirt pattern in hand (whose instructions are only in german, french, and italian) i walked around the shelves of fabric feeling their texture. studying the patterns.

aided by my hands, the scissors sniped the fabric on the dotted lines. the iron warmed and straightened out any wrinkles. my foot pressed down on the pedal and initiated the humming of the needle. and the invisible zipper (my favorite) slid right into place. peitra and i sat together chatting in broken language. being connected through our love of fabric. and i felt right at home. what a beautiful way to spend new years day.

Christmas Around the World

The Wasem family came and picked me up from the airport on their Christmas Day. Nope, I didn’t fly into Germany on the 25th of December, I flew in on the 24th.

The Christmas in Europe is so different from Christmas in the states that I barley recognized it as the same holiday. Here are the two differences that really surprised me.

In Europe there is a special day designated to put up the Christmas tree. In Italy, the Catholics decorated their tree on the 8th of December which is the national holiday called 'Immaculate Conception' which of course celebrates the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. In Germany I was told that most families put up and decorate their tree on the 24th of December, not a day before. Before this date the tree is kept outside or in the garage. For both Italy and Germany the tree is not taken down until the 6th of January which is the day that Santa comes to Germany and a witch named Bufana comes to Italy to give the children candy in stockings and wrap up the Christmas season.

In Europe Christmas is celebrated on the evening of the 24th. On that night, an angle or Santa (depending on the country you live in) comes into the living room while the family is at church and puts gifts under the tree. The children do not receive stockings on the 24th only presents. Stockings are reserved for the 6th of January.

The European children are spoiled with two Christmases: One for presents and one for candy in the stockings. Just imagine growing up with two Christmases. How cool would that be?

My First Christmas Away From Home

Marie and I in front of her Christmas tree on the 24th after we opened gifts.

I stepped off the airplane into the snowy Germany and my eyes filled up with tears. I was so happy to see Marie. Marie was a foreign exchange student at Ashland High School last year and was my best friend in my French 1 class. It felt so good to be with a person I had known in the states. It was so fun to remember the times we spent together at school and the funny things about Ashland. I loved every minute of being with her.

I arrived at the Wasem house on the 24th and loved seeing a freshly decorated Christmas tree. The Christmas excitement and spirit echoed throughout the home. Marie’s Grandparents came over to the house in the evening just in time to walk to church with us. We listened to a Christmas sermon given by the pastor (listened is the key word because I didn’t understand anything) in a beautiful, old little church in their neighborhood. Even though it was freezing cold outside everyone in the town walked to church and walked home after the meeting.

At home Marie’s Mother treated us to a delicious dinner of potatoes, salad, and bread. After dinner was cleaned up, Grandmother brought out a HUGE plate filled with dozens of homemade cookies. She must have been working hard all afternoon because there were more than ten different kinds of delicious cookies on the platter piled high. While sitting around the table in the glow of the lamp we began to open gifts, sneaking a cookie every once in a while. The Wasem family was too kind to me giving me beautiful and thoughtful gifts such as a travel kit and a guide book to Berlin.

Christmas morning the family slept in and for lunch we met up with the cousins, aunt, and uncles at a Greek restaurant. After lunch we drove to the Grandmother’s house where instead of being greeted with cookies, we were greeted with five different kinds of pies. The whole day was spent eating, talking, and relaxing on the couch.

The highlight of my Christmas day was talking with my family. The Wasems let me call my family in Oregon and I was able to talk to them while they were all around the Christmas tree. I was sweet to hear their voices.

My German Christmas was very different from Christmas in the states, but I still loved and enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you Wasem family for taking me in like a daughter.

Marie, me, and Eva (Marie's twin sister)

First Things First

First I have to thank the dear Wasem family for making this the best Christmas away from home as possible. There were too sweet to me. The entire family (including the Grandparents) took me in and made me feel loved. The Wasem family did a great job humoring my desire to see all of Germany. They took me to castles, showed me the Berlin, Munich, and Trier. They dove to the airport on their Christmas day to pick me up and when seeing me off woke up at 4am to make me breakfast. They even let me spend one day feeling like I was in Ashland again (that post coming soon). And above all, they went on too many long and cold English tours.

I love this family. My heart is filled with gratitude to have them as a permanent part of my life now. I cried so hard when I had to leave them. They really went out of their way for me. They have a special place in my heart and I will never forget the true kindness they showed me on my first Christmas alone. Thank you Wasem family for being examples of selflessness and true love to me.

This Thanksgiving...

we bought avena, and burro at 'sma'.
we danced in the kitchen.
we made apple crisp.

we sang to ‘journey’.
we made a huge mess.

we told the story of the pilgrims.
we made a gratitude chain: counting down the days to hanukkah.
we learned to say ‘oats’ in Italian (avena).
we did a lot of cleaning.
we ate cornbread with honey-butter.

we had a good day.