Posted by: livelovethinkexist | January 20, 2010
Photos – Spangdahlem AB, Germany – 1983-1987 (Set One Hundred Seven – Christmas 1985 & 1986 in Germany)
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For Christmas 1985, Jeff and I had a real Christmas tree that went to the very ceiling of our apartment; and I went shopping with my fiancée for traditional German Christmas ornaments to fill it up.
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That year of 1985, I purchased natural handmade wooden and straw ornaments, red apple ornaments, red glass bulbs, miniature Santas, tinsel and red candles for our tree (the candles were never lit).
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My Christmas decorations may have been a tad heavy on the color red that year; but for our apartment in the village of Bruch in 1985 it worked out very well for Jeff and I (the little red airplane behind the pinecone was a gift from the squadron).
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My wife’s mother has always had a natural talent for decorating anything and everything that she touches; and Christmas 1985 was no exception as it was a very festive celebration at their house that I was invited to take part in.
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Traditionally, Christmas trees in Germany are always natural, locally acquired and only put up on Christmas Eve…to the delight of both children and adults alike.
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German Christmas trees are often very natural in appearance – with only white lights and lightly decorated with ornaments that are either handmade by the family or specially collected – with candles that are lit for a brief time on Christmas Eve (if safe and appropriate for the room).
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My wife and I were married in January of 1986 and we moved into a new three story townhouse in a little village called Heckenmünster – situated all by itself in a beautiful long narrow valley – and here is a Polaroid picture of our Christmas tree in 1986.
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Our rented townhouse in the village of Heckenmünster in 1986 was our first real home together for my wife and I; in what would become a very long list of home addresses for our little family in three different countries over the next 24 years.
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This was our first German light pyramid, with red candles and accents – photographed with the 1986 Polaroid technology of the day.
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At Christmas in 1986, I photographed my wife’s parent’s home in the snow in their village of Bruch; a house that the two of them designed together and built mostly by hand – in the German tradition.
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My father-in-law did much of the construction work by himself; all the while working as a school teacher and principal, a band leader for two villages and as a private music instructor.
