a white christmas

Our Christmas was spent in my brother in-laws home this year in a small town called Ohlenberg near Linz am Rhine. In Germany, the family tradition Christmas tradition is the evening of the 24th December, where everyone comes together for exchanging gifts (brought by the Christkind in the afternoon and placed under the tree and a myth for the Christkind to be young, blonde and angel like in appearance) then dines together. Germans don't have a traditional dish like they do in England and Australia with the roast turkey, as German people usually cook what they fancy on the evening. Our evening four course menu was compiled of an ox tail soup, turkey and mushroom soufflé, roast beef and sauteé potatoes, followed by a crepe and mango ice-cream by the efforts of Ralph and Gaby's tireless labour.

These festive days had dropped to minus 6 Celsius and the promise of a white Christmas had been certainly been fulfilled—this also came with a small challenge with the icy roads. Luckily, we decided to take our 4WD with us this particular weekend, as we were able to taxi the guests to the dinner party. Cakes made of red wine and baked apple and custard where served during these cold afternoons as a warm refill, especially after our town walks in the knee-deep snow.