Christmas time
Of course you already noticed it, since you all have Christmas holidays. It’s Christmas time! I think it is one of the most beautiful times of the year. Here in Vienna it’s simply amazing. Everywhere in the city appear Christmas markets, and with everywhere I mean literally everywhere!
There are at least 12 Christmas markets in the city, some bigger and some smaller ones. But, they all have one thing in common: Punsch! This is a hot alcoholic drink and there are a lot of different types. To name my favorites: Beerenpunsch (with berries), Orangenpunsch (orangeflavour), Zwetschken-Schokopunsch (with plums and chocolateflavour) and the last one is the Turbopunsch with an extra shot of rum added. Another really good thing is that the punsch is not served in plastic disposable cups, but in really nice reusable cups with cute pictures on it. When you’re finished you can give them back and get some money for it or just take your cup home. Every night the Christmas markets are full of people wandering around and having a punsch, you even have a verb for it: punschen. How cool is that. After Christmas, they simply change the name of the Christmas markets to ‘Silvestermarkt’ (Silvester means New Year’s Eve) so that the markets can stay for a little longer.
Today we had an Christmas celebration in the international church. We sang Christmas carols, heard about the wonderful story of the birth of Jesus and shared some food afterwards. Everybody brought some self-made salads, pastries or cookies and it was delicious! I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a picture, but I have one of a Christmas market in the city. Beautiful isn’t it?
I wish you all a blessed Christmas, enjoy the time with your family and friends!