Tag Archives: Christmas trees

Hessen, holidays, trip planning

Waste not, want not?

Here’s a quick photo dump of some scenes around my neighborhood this week. It’s been bitterly cold, so Noyzi and I didn’t take a walk on Tuesday, even though the sun was shining. It was just too cold and windy for me and my old bones. However, we did go out yesterday, because the wind had stopped. I took a few photos…

It’s time for everyone to get rid of their Christmas trees. I have never had to do this myself, because I have never had a “real” Christmas tree. My mom was a “no fuss” type, when it came to our personal Christmas decorations. We always had a fake Christmas tree, and as soon as I was old enough, it was my job to put it up and decorate it. I used to enjoy doing that. 

We didn’t even have stockings for most of my growing up years. I remember having them when I was very young, but they were made of felt and sized according to family rank. As the “baby” of the family, I kind of got screwed. My stocking was the smallest. I don’t remember my mom ever filling it, anyway. Ironically, she knitted stockings for Bill and me when we got married! I put them out every year, although we don’t always fill them. My stocking got damaged by Zane, the wonder beagle, when he was still basically a puppy.

Anyway, because I never had a real Christmas tree, I wouldn’t know how to take care of one. So we have fake trees. But our neighbors don’t. Behold…

People have dumped their trees in the Dorfplatz.
It’s freezing cold!
I would hate to fall in the creek.
Cat was watching us.
Forsythias are showing up…
It’s a little early.
Kind of sad… how long did that tree grow before it was chopped down for a couple of weeks in someone’s living room?

I’m glad Christmas is over, although this time of year is pretty bleak, and Christmas decorations at least make things look festive. We have had some rare sunshine this week, though, which is nice. And the backyard is frozen, which makes picking up Noyzi’s poop easier.

We’re still deciding about exactly where we’re going when Bill’s mom comes here next month. I’m half tempted to cancel our tentative plans to go to Bamberg and nearby cities, and just go somewhere sunny and warm. But we’ll have sunny and hot weather before we know it, so we might as well stick to Germany. I wish we were going somewhere for MLK weekend, but Bill has been working in Bavaria all week, and we never got a chance to plan anything. He will be home tonight, though, and says he’s taking tomorrow off. Maybe we can go have lunch or something. I feel like I haven’t left the neighborhood in weeks.

This is kind of a boring post. I used to write more interesting stuff, but I feel like I get diminishing returns lately. Maybe I’ll be more motivated later. Nine years in Germany causes the novelty of being here to wear off somewhat. It’s actually kind of bizarre. Germany feels almost as familiar as home, while the USA is becoming a place I no longer recognize, nor do I feel welcome there. And yet, I don’t speak German worth a damn.

SIGH… maybe that should be a New Year’s resolution.

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holidays

Christmas 2021 is officially history…

We had a cold, but sunny morning yesterday, so I took the dogs for a walk and took a slightly different route home. While I was out and about, I noticed that my neighbors who had real trees had put them out to be collected.

The rest of the message offered local information and the advice to make sure all of the ornaments were off of the trees.

I read in our local Facebook group that this is usually an annual fundraising event done by the youth fire brigade. Unfortunately, due to the escalating cases of COVID-19, that event was canceled. It wouldn’t have affected us, since we have fake trees. It definitely looks like Christmas is officially done in our little town.

It amazes me how quickly time passes. This was our eighth Christmas here since we moved back to Europe, and our tenth overall. It was a little less weird than last year. At least we got to go to a Christmas market in 2021. Still, this COVID-19 lifestyle is a bummer. Even though I got a booster last week, and am “legal” to do as much as anyone can right now, the prospect of going out and doing things is unappealing. So I spend my days at home, hoping for better, less restrictive days soon.

Below are a few photos from yesterday’s walk around the neighborhood. It was nice to see the sun, at least. It’s pretty cloudy today, and I’m feeling kind of blue. But maybe we’ll get out for some fresh air. Bill just had some bloodwork done and was told he is deficient in Vitamin D. I’m not surprised. Vitamin D is the “sunshine vitamin”, and there is precious little of that in Germany this time of year.

The big tree in the Dorfplatz is down.
Arran was tempted to pee.
Breckenheim has some interesting houses.
I rarely see kids in the Spielplatz.
A new way home.
Lots of rain lately.
The brook is very high.
I kind of wish we had access to the brook.
Near our house. We live at the end of the road.

I look forward to better weather… and lower incidences of COVID-19. Someday, I want to travel again, and enjoy our long weekends.

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anecdotes

All the trees are down…

and the sky is… actually sunny right now. For once, it’s not cloudy and gray outside, but I fear that will change in a few hours, when it starts snowing again.

We had snow in the wee hours of the morning, and sadly, the other crepe myrtle in our backyard was a casualty. Bill and I slept in, enjoying the ability to snooze through the dark hours of the morning. I got up to let Noyzi out, and beheld this sight…

We had two myrtle trees in our backyard. One of them mysteriously died a couple of years ago and we basically cut it down ourselves. The other held on for a bit longer, but was looking somewhat peaked this year. I noticed it wasn’t handling the very light snow very well. We’ve also had lots of rain lately, so the ground is very soggy and messy. I guess the snow that fell early this morning was too much for it. Bill was up at about 3am, letting the dogs out for a nocturnal whiz. He said it was really coming down then. But now it’s already melting, as the temperature isn’t very cold.

When I broke the news to Bill about the tree, he was feeling a bit traumatized and full of dread, given our harrowing experiences dealing with the landlady in our last house. But he went out and shoveled the common area, and when the landlord eventually made an appearance, he told him about the tree. The landlord said, “Okay, I’ll come take a look at it later.” Then he drove off in his car to go pick up a new battery.

I set about taking down the two Christmas trees. I’d actually kind of been looking forward to taking them down… The smaller tree had a dead string of lights on it that gave me the excuse to get rid of the other strands like it, which for some reason had about 30 feet of wire for about ten feet of actual lights, and huge boxy plugs that made it hard to plug them into a power strip. I don’t know why they were like that, but boy, were they annoying. But they did last eight Christmases, so I guess that’s pretty good.

I do like looking at the lights… and I will miss their colorful, homey glow in the living room, which is not very highly furnished. But once January comes around, it becomes necessary to dispense with the holiday decor. Oh… I guess I could just leave it up… I did have a friend whose dad left up the beautiful Christmas tree her late mother had put up many years ago. It was actually very pretty, even though it was a holiday relic that had been turned into art.

My friend was an artist herself, and is now a psychology professor at the University of South Carolina, which is where I attended graduate school. I met her in the early 90s when we both worked at a church summer camp in Virginia. She had New Year’s party one year in her hometown of Grottoes, Virginia, for all of us camp folks. That’s how I got to see her mom’s tree… and the beautiful farm her dad owned. I remember it snowed then, too, and we went sledding! Later, we played “Spin the Bottle”, which was weird. But it was also fun! Sometimes, I miss being young.

The landlord just rang the doorbell and he and Bill went out back. He took one look at the tree and said, “Maybe it’s too old. Does it bother you now?”

Bill said it didn’t, but he just wanted to let the landlord know.

The landlord said, “Okay, we’ll just leave it for now, and then when the weather dries up a bit, we’ll remove it and maybe get a gardener to come in and plant something else.”

This probably means Bill will have to re-lay the boundary for the lawnmower robot again. But maybe we’ll get a fruit tree or something.

Wow… the difference between landlord/landlady responses to falling things due to acts of God is astounding. Bill is relieved that went so smoothly. So am I. I don’t know that crepe myrtles were the best idea for that spot in the yard, anyway. The fence that separates our yard from our neighbor’s is overgrown with ivy in the summer. That probably had a lot to do with why the trees died.

Anyway… now we have a reason to plant a real garden, if we can keep Noyzi out of it. I will miss the shade in the summer, though… and the privacy. It’s sad when trees collapse. Rest in peace, crepe myrtle. I’m sure our dearly departed Zane will be happy to lift his leg on you once again, up there over the Rainbow Bridge.

Edited to add: The tree that inspired this post actually came back during the spring. I guess it just needed a severe pruning. I was shocked to see beautiful purple blooms when the weather warmed up. The other myrtle, sadly, really did die on us, and is now just a dead stump that regularly gets consumed by ivy in the summer.

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