I am reading all of these very familiar Christmas traditions and I find it absolutely amazing and wonderful to imagine how long they have survived in countries very distant from their origins. I give tremendous credit to those people who were able to keep alive the beautiful aspects of their culture for those of us, today, to enjoy. It was not an easy feat. We arrived in the "New World" in a very recent influx of Europeans - the 1950's. Yet, even then it was very difficult to gather together all the trimmings that went into having a "real" German Christmas. We kept our tradition of celebrating on the 24th, but coming up with the familiar items that made the day special took a lot of work and imagination. Canada was totally Anglo as far as traditions went. The long needled trees were popular, and we always had a short-needled tree. Santa's and decorations were readily available, but no representations of the Christkind nor the intricately blown glass ornaments which in Germany were works of art. Candles were unheard of. And nowhere could one purchase Lebkuchen, Stollen, foilwrapped chocolate tree ornaments, or my favourite - marzipan ornaments. Until the immigrants set down roots and opened businesses to cater to the immigrant market, our traditions survivied orally. Some of my warmest memories come from the stories my mother told about Christmases in Germany while we watched her create the German food that could not be bought. Life as a new immigrant was hard --she worked sometimes six days a week. But she made time for those marvellous "blaetzli" and the heart-warming stories. Besides giving honour to our common and lovely traditions and memories, let us also honour the amazing spirit of those wonderful people who kept those traditions alive for us, somethimes through very difficult and challenging circumstances. Best wishes und ein herzlichen Weinacht's Gruss from Canada Elsa Kahler