December in Wien

Punsch trinken mit mein Austrian Buddy!

The beginning of December brought the Christmas spirit front and center. The whole city was decked out in its finest decorations. Punsch stands and Christmas markets sprung up over night. The snow began to fall and didn't let up. It was perfect. I explored the Christmas markets and tried every kind of Punsch. Vienna with a blanket of snow is beautiful. I even went ice skating on an outdoor rink. Since the country is Catholic, advent calenders are everywhere throughout the city.

Things I have learned about Austrian Christmas. There is no Santa Claus. There is a Christkind (Christ child) who brings the children presents. Its a little child, still debated here whether a boy or a girl, who flies from house to house. Also, Christmas Eve is a much bigger deal than Christmas Day. Gifts are opened and the big family dinner occurs. Of course the night ends with the church service. There are also a lot of mini holidays before the 24th. One the 5th of December, children put out their shoes. Saint Nikolaus and his side kick, Krampus, come and visit the children. Krampus is a scary little man who comes from hell. He hits the bad children on the legs with a bundle of sticks. The really bad children are taken back to hell with him. The good children on the other hand get candy and presents in their shoes from Saint Nikolaus. Well, the Austrians really like this day. Many people dressed up as Krampus and jumped out at children on the street. I was laughing until someone jumped out at me and starting tapping me on the legs with sticks. I screamed so loud! Luckily I ran into Saint Nikolaus minutes later and he gave me chocolate.
 

Pretty Snow!

These past two weeks just flew by. I have been squeezing every last drop from Vienna. Classes wrapped up and then final exams came. I said goodbye to my children. They threw me a going away party. It was so cute. They all wrote me notes and hugged me goodbye. Before I knew it I was done. I completed my last college quarter. Weird. And scary. Many ups and downs this past week. Happy to be done and happy to see my family again. Happy to be going home and happy to have accomplished so much. At the same time I'm sad to be leaving. Sad to be saying goodbye to so many great friends. Sad to be ending a wonderful chapter of my life.
  
But I'm going to stick to the happy and the excited. Right now I'm on the train heading to western Austrian to meet my family. We are spending the holidays traveling through Austrian and Lower Germany. I'm so excited to see them and so them the country I have lived in for the past five months! This is not the end of the blog! Get excited to hear about the Wilson Family Shenanigans!


Schönbrunn at night



Me with Heilige Nickolaus