Christmas in Holland - Robbert van Tilborg: International Christmas

Christmas

As soon as the first winter winds blow through the city and as soon as the night begins early I start looking forward to the day I can get the Christmas stuff out of the cabinet. The great thing about Christmas is that it makes such a big part of the world feel connected. Both people in New York as people in Amsterdam or in Paris think of delicious food, a warm fire and Christmas trees with colored lamps. These countries might all celebrate Christmas, but all in a different way off course. Sometimes as different from each other as the name of the celebration might sound in different languages. Christmas, Weihnachten, Kerstmis, la Navidad and le Noël are the words that make people happy in many countries.
In the Netherlands Christmas is an extensive celebrated party as well. However, we celebrate it in many different ways. Some families come together to enjoy each others presence, others celebrate the day Jesus Christ was born and some wait till Santa Clause comes by to bring them some nice presents.
I celebrate Christmas with my friends and family, to give my way of Christmas as an example. In December we visit musicals, movies, big shopping malls and restaurants. From the first of December we’re all very busy with shopping and buying presents for each other. Every time anyone of us bought a present we put it under the decorated Christmas tree. The piling up heap of presents is getting bigger and bigger, and at Christmas eve we open all the presents and give them to its new owner. We wear neat suits and dresses, listen real Christmas music, drink glühwein and Champaign and eat the most delicious food. Though, for many Dutch people Christmas in Holland isn’t enough! We often visit the huge markets in Belgium or Germany. The number 1 holiday spots during Christmas are Paris for shopping and culture, Bern and Vienna for winter sports or the Dutch Antilles to get some sunshine during the winter!
In the past this celebration gave people hope in the dark nights, warmth in the cold winters and company in lonely days. Since the amount of religious people in the Netherlands decreased, this certain need to celebrate Christmas disappeared as well. Anyway, the Dutch winter still makes people rather grumpy, as it makes me grumpy. But when the first lights decorate the shopping mall and the well known commercials are on TV again this grumpiness makes place for a feeling of warmth. The feeling of Christmas.