Christmas greetings, John and list members, In our family, we celebrated Christmas Eve with my maternal grandparents in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, suburb. My grandmother's ancestors were from Schleswig Holstein and from Bremen. They had settled in New Holstein, Calumet County, Wisconsin, in the 1850s. [Surnames: Luehr, Groth, Boie, Hachez] I remember the era right after World War II. The family would gather for a delicious dinner in our maternal grandparents' diningroom. The archway into the livingroom was covered with a large cloth so we little ones could not see the tree. Our tradition was that Santa arrived while we dined, and afterward we were allowed into the livingroom to enjoy the tree - yes lit with candles and decorated with beautiful glass ornaments -- and open our presents.  Then off to church. [Christmas dinner was at my paternal grandparents' home. What wonderful times those were!] Foods that I especially remember around Christmas and New Year's at their home were Christmas cookies such aspfeffernuesse cookies, stollen cake and pickled herring! Pickled herring is traditional in Schleswig-Holstein and northern Germany. I think stollen is a  German bread more generally. People from many parts of Germany settled in Milwaukee and brought their traditions that then were shared. For fun, here is a link to Christmas dishes from Germany>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christmas_dishes#Germany And links to websites with foods from Schleswig-Holstein:>> http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/facts/schleswigholstein.cfm >> http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/recipes/recipes_schleswigholstein.cfm >> http://www.german-recipes.com/recipes/traditional-german/schleswig-holstein/ Stollen information & recipes>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christstollen >> http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/1206/ Information and recipes for pfeffernuesse cookies >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfeffern%C3%BCsse >> http://www.food.com/recipe/pfeffernusse-german-pepper-nut-cookies-79103 Thanks for your great question, John. Sure stirred wonderful memories for me. Merry Christmas, all, Barbara ________________________________ From: John Rasch <jlrasch@yahoo.com> To: schleswig-holstein-roots@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2011 12:05 PM Subject: [SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-ROOTS] How was Christmas celebrated? Christmas Greetings, Can anyone direct me to a website or other documentation of how the people of Schleswig celebrated Christmas? Did they have predominately German cultural practices or Danish?  My family, who were Lutheran, settled initially in Western Iowa.  My Great Aunts and Uncles told of how they were not allowed to see the Christmas tree or the gifts below it until Christmas morning. In fact I do not believe that the tree was even put up until Christmas eve. They had real candles that they lit on the branches too. I assume they went to mass that morning but am not sure as religion and faith were not talked of any more than politics. My Grandpa was a baker and so I assume there were lots of baked goodies to be enjoyed.  My Dad was rather particular as to how the whole tree decorating happened too. I am wondering if this was a result of the depression era or if it has roots in his heritage. (Rasch, Pieper, Thomsen, Thomssen, Lorensen, Evers, Trede, Thiedemann, Hitscher) John Rasch (Rootsweb Family Trees: Bartley2007 // Schleswig towns: Kiesbyfeld, Lindaukamp, Kius, Boren / USA: Davenport, IA; - Scott Co. IA; - Minden, IA; Denver, Co; - Herrick, SD; - Greeley, NE; - Milwaukee, WI Merry Christmas John "...which He prepared..." Ephesians 2 ==== SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-ROOTS Mailing List ==== Technical Terms and Rules of the S-H-ROOTS: http://www.genealogy-sh.com/faq-sh-roots/index.htm