This time of the year...

It’s 8.30 and I try to get out of my bed. The sun is shining and it’s rays dazzle me, unusual for this special day of the year. Normally the country resembles a Winter Wonderland but not this year. My thoughts are wandering. What will this day be like? Hopefully not like last year where I was lying in bed with a cold. Oh no, I forgot to wrap the presents. Well, I have some hours left. Finally I get up and see a beautiful laid breakfast table. Of course, it’s my brother’s-in-law birthday. Must be odd to have your birthday today. He seems quit okay with the fact that he gets tons of presents on one day. Who wouldn’t? After the breakfast I start decorating the tree. Gold or Red, that’s the question. I go with red and put all the delicious sweets on the tree. My mouth is watering. Unfortunately I can’t enjoy one of them due to my huge amount of intolerances but there is worth in the world. In the corner of my eye I recognize my dad sitting in front of the TV. Needless to say that he is watching “Licht ins Dunkel”. This programme lasts the whole day, where famous Austrians are raising money for a good cause. Occasionally I watch some minutes of it, but I can’t deny that it is to long-winded for me. Now it’s time for my surprise. Hopefully my family likes the thing I have prepared for them. You should have seen their faces when I started the diascope.  For one hour we enjoy old pictures of us and scoff at our style missteps. In the background I can hear my sister’s stomach growling. I guess it’s time for some food. My whole family starts to prepare our typical dish – Raclette.  After some time everyone is eating except me. Why is my cheese not melting? I get upset but then I realize that you shouldn’t be angry about food at this day of the year. Shortly after I have enjoyed my cheese we gather around the tree and start to sing some traditional songs like “Silent Night” and my mother read out the story of Jesus birth. I already heard it like thirty times but I always get tears in my eyes whenever I hear it. After some minutes of silence my dad says: “It’s time for presents!” Oh no! I forgot to wrap them. I should have done it in the morning. As fast as I can I run up the stairs, grab the presents and wrap them with the newspaper. You probably wonder why I used newspaper. The answer is that we decided to wrap all our presents with newspaper years ago, to avoid wasting wrapping paper. My parents are shouting my name and I run down to them with my beautifully wrapped presents. My mum has a smile on her face and says: “Every year the same.” That is quit embarrassing I have to admit. Now it’s time for our traditional movie. We gather around it the living room and start to watch “Love actually” like we did last year and the years before. It became something like a rite for us. In my opinion this movie is a masterpiece. Whenever I watch it I feel happy and satisfied. Beside “Love actually” we have another tradition. At nine o’clock we meet relatives and people from the village and go to the Christmas Mass by foot. After a one hour walk we reach the church. The priest holds a beautiful mass like every year. At home I go to bed straightaway and reflect the day. I feel satisfaction and happiness. This has been a really emotional, peaceful and tender Christmas, with these thoughts and with a smile on my face I fall asleep.