My Favorite Christmas Memory
By Maria Jane Begeman
(written in 1994 and revised in 2001)

   My favorite Christmas memory is from a time when my family was stationed in West Germany in the early 80’s with the US Army.  As my mother was German and my parents wanted to help us integrate into the new culture, they enrolled my sister and me in a German school in the small town of Gersfeld (my mother’s birthplace) in the Rhön mountains, close to the former border with East Germany.  We were the only two American children in the school, and in our attempt to fit in soon became very involved in the school’s choir called the “Rhönlerchen” (Rhön Larks in English). 
      I remember the Christmas of 1981 very vividly as I felt that I was no longer an outsider; our German classmates and friends had made us feel very much a part of their community.  Our choir performed many Christmas concerts in the local area, which always helped to put us in the Christmas spirit.  On one evening just before Christmas, our choir performed at the Gersfeld Christmas market.  Anyone who has been in Germany at Christmas time knows about the special “Weihnachtsmärkte,” where vendors set up booths in the town square to sell their goods:  hand-knitted sweaters, hats and mittens, wooden toys, candles and many other crafts.  I remember walking around the market before we were to sing, smelling the hot red wine sold at one booth and hearing the crunching sound my boots made in the snow. 
      As our choir gathered to sing, the townspeople moved closer and stood around us to listen.  We were all school children, only nine to sixteen years old, and yet loved by the whole town as we kept alive the traditions and memories of this little community through our music.
      A hush fell over the crowd as our young voices began to carry the sweet sounds of German Christmas carols to the hearts of the people.  I’ll never forget standing there, my hands and toes numb from the cold, and yet so happy and warm inside.  We had only sung a few songs when the flakes began to gently drift down from the sky ? snowflakes the size of cotton balls.  I had never seen such large snowflakes, and, as they came down and we continued to sing, our heads were soon covered by a soft layer of fresh snow.  I looked at the crowd and noticed that the trees behind them, which had before only been covered with simple white lights, now also had a blanket of snow on them.  It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, and I wondered if there would ever be another peaceful Christmas memory like this in my whole life. 
      I don’t think I have experienced one quite like it since then, but I try each year to stop and create a quiet moment or two to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas and to thank God for the gift of his Son.  I haven’t spent Christmas in Germany since we returned to the U.S. in 1984, but I’m hoping to take my husband to Germany with my family next year.  Even if I never get a chance to spend another Christmas in Germany, however, the memory of the Christmas of 1981 will live on in my heart.  Merry Christmas and Frohe Weihnachten.