The “hardest Christmas that the post-war generations have ever experienced” is over. With his statement, Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, set a monument for himself. A non-representative survey in the Karlstadt area shows that many did not find it that hard.
“It was very nice,” says Barbara Seufert from Stadelhofen, looking back on Christmas, “albeit differently than usual.” Usually there is a hustle and bustle at the party with ten adults and seven children between the ages of three and twelve. Already on the fourth Advent the Seuferts went to dinner with Barbara’s parents. Barbara Seufert felt that there was more of each other in this small circle. On Christmas Eve she, her husband Wolfgang and the three children only celebrated with their family.
“Not so loud”
The mother asked the children how they experienced Christmas. Paul (12) didn’t think it was bad that it wasn’t that loud. He is the oldest of the children, and Paul has had more time to try out his presents and play. However, he misses his friends of the same age a little. Leo (8) thought it was stupid that not everyone was there at once. On the other hand, he enjoyed that it was a little quieter. Emma (3) would “rather celebrate with Aunt Christa” the next time, but otherwise thought Christmas was good.
Brigitte and Robert Krafft used to be the parents of the youth hostel in Retzbach. They have been living in Himmelstadt for a long time and have always visited a few relatives in their home town of Fürth in Advent. This time she was the only one with her mother. Brigitte Krafft found it good that the pre-Christmas hype was canceled this year. “This time it was rather deeply relaxed.” In previous years the family had sometimes organized a bonfire just before Christmas. Obviously that wasn’t possible this year.
“Not a disaster”
And Christmas itself? “Not a catastrophe, I won’t classify it as a special Christmas later,” says the mother of three adult sons and adds: “But I don’t know if we think like the average.” All year round, however, she has been missing the freedom of spontaneous visits to friends. “It already makes me think that it was so natural before.”
This year it was not possible to visit Grandma in Sinngrund, regrets Christian Keller from Karlstadt. She found it sensible in this particular year: “It is best for your health if you avoid contact.” That is the attitude of his grandma. But she hopes that it will work again next year.
For Christian Keller and his wife Lisa, Christmas was more peaceful this time than usual. “In fact, I see it in a rather positive light, it was different.” It was already quieter in the run-up to Christmas because the usual celebrations and meetings did not take place. Instead of the “schnapps hike”, during which his clique usually goes from house to house with friends on the 23rd, this time the hard core organized a “video conference”.
<!–
Neighbors gave an open air concert
Peter Deinzer from Karlstadt missed meeting the families of his three sisters. In the past few years he was also occasionally on a bus trip with his mother Theresa Deinzer. None of that happened this year. Other contacts were also reduced. In this respect, Christmas was less beautiful for him than usual. A small highlight, however, was a concert that neighbors gave in the open air at 8:20 pm. Other residents in the street also stepped outside the front door and listened.
The fact that Christmas could only be celebrated together until 9 p.m. was not so nice for Theresa and Raffael Romero’s family. The young mother says her mother-in-law still had to work that day and couldn’t come to visit until around 5 p.m. At the age of one and two, the two children were just whining. They later had to be put to bed.
After that, the young couple would have liked to sit down with their mother-in-law, but she had to go home. So it became a Christmas Eve with a certain time pressure. Theresa Romera also missed the Christmas markets. The “big one” could have noticed a lot of it. Their conclusion is nevertheless: “We didn’t really find any of that bad.” Normally, Christmas would have been celebrated in a much larger group.
–
Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe to the newsletter for the Main-Spessart region and receive the most important news from your region by email twice a week.
–
The following catchphrase for ?? my topics ?? Add:
–
–
–
–
