John, my parents were from Germany - Dad from the Dresden area; mother from Hamburg but her mother's side of the family from Schleswig-Holstein. They too told of the tree not being put up until Christmas Eve behind a closed door, not to be seen until Christmas morning. My dad didn't go quite that far but we didn't go out to get our tree until about 3 days before Christmas and we would freeze while he took us around to just about every tree lot around to find the perfect tree. If he didn't find the perfect tree he would get extra branches and when he got home would drill holes in the tree trunk and then put the branches in the holes. The decorating was perfectly done too. The icicles went on last and we didn't DARE throw one on - it had to be perfectly hung. All the decorations stayed up until Jan 6 which was the 12th day of Christmas. In Germany my mother said they had real candles on the tree too. She also said they would get the same doll every year but with a new outfit on and a plate with an orange and a piece of chocolate and I think, a few nuts. That was a REAL treat! They were not poor but it was not the commercialized event it is today in the US. My mother always made fruit cake, stollen and German Christmas cookies - Lebkucken, Pfeffernusse and a couple others that I cannot think of the name of. They were of a Lutheran background too which the majority of Germany is. The south is where most Catholics were/are. Graaf, Hartz, Gnutzmann, Sellmer, Reese, Rixen, all from Schleswig-Holstein/Hamburg. Vogel, Tienelt, Fleischer, Franke, Stelzer, Patzig, Fleischer, Beckert, Johnich all from the Dresden area. Tölcke, Pawlowicz,Kordts, Debinska all from Hamburg. -----Original Message----- From: John Rasch Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2011 3:05 PM To: schleswig-holstein-roots@rootsweb.com 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 ChristmasJohn "...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 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message