Author: Ann Laemmlen Lewis

We came in to work after a fun weekend to find that a crew of volunteer elves has been hard at work here at the Phoenix Haus!  We are preparing for a big Open House celebration this Thursday for VIP guests, and Saturday for all of the employees and their families.

This week all the decorations are going up, and it’s no small thing!  In addition to the common area decorations and trees, each department has been decorating their own spaces however they like.  It’s festive and it’s fun and it’s really putting us all in the holiday mood.

Each of these stars has a name for Jesus Christ on it.  The rods below will hang in the doorways and hallways (shower rods painted gold and decorated, so creative!).

The large tree is being installed by the multipurpose room and the decorating has begun.

Progress on the tree:

Here’s a glimpse of the tree from the 4th floor:

I think more than 30 trees have been set up throughout the building.  Missionaries and church employees have been helping with all the decorating.

Some of these missionaries, like Sis Ella Romney have been working tirelessly.  They have transformed the building into a Christmas wonderland!

Each floor also has an Advent calendar like this one.  Each jar has slips of paper with suggestions from the Light the World campaign, daily ideas of things we each can do to make our world brighter.

Here is my workspace in our communication department.

We are so lucky to be here.  We are so lucky Jesus came.  We are so lucky.

This afternoon we had another delightful German class at Frau Enger’s home.  We were greeted by her beautiful collection of Christmas ornaments, each with special meaning to her.

Today we learned about Advent and how advent calendars and candles are used to celebrate Christmas here.  Advent is the four week season in the calendar when we anticipate the arrival, or “advent,” of Jesus of Nazareth, the long awaited Messiah and King.

Many families celebrate Advent with an Advent wreath that has 4 special candles, one lit each week before Christmas.  Fr Enger showed us her wreath and then explained the history of this tradition.

A man named Johann Heinrich Wichern in Hamburg who created the first Advent calendar.  He was a kind man who created a school to take care of orphan boys.  During the holidays he was always pestered with the question, “How many more days until Christmas?”

In 1838, he took a cart wheel and put on it 4 large white candles for Advent Sundays and small red candles for weekdays.   He hung this wheel  in the prayer room of the orphanage so the boys could see in a glance how many days were left before Christmas as they lit one candle each day.

The original Advent wreath Wichern created is still in use today at the school.  You can read more about him here or here.

When I was a little girl, my German father prepared a long tall red or green candle with a mark on the side every 1/2″ or so.  Every night we got to burn the candle down to the next mark.  We’d all sit around the candle and watch it burn as the wax melted and dripped down the tapered candle.

Then we learned about Gerhard Lang, who in 1908 published the first Advent calendars with little windows that opened.  By the end of the 1930s, his publishing house had produced 30 different Advent calendars in 40 versions.  Some had pictures behind the windows, some had chocolates, some had verses.

Fr. Enger then presented each of us with our own Advent calendar with little windows and chocolates so we can begin our own countdowns until Christmas.

Years ago, Fr Enger, her husband and their son made special Advent calendars like the one below to secretly deliver to neighbors and friends.  They rode their bikes on the 30th of November in the cold and dark evening to put these special gifts on the doorsteps of  friends needing a little Christmas cheer.  She happily told us that even after several years, they were never discovered!

Another popular tradition here is sending an Advent card with tiny windows that open each day.  Here are a few cards she showed us, received from friends:

We also learned about Saint Barbara, who is celebrated on the 4th of December.  Here is her interesting and tragic story:

We finished our class by reciting this Advent poem.  Children are often asked to perform some small talent on Advent Sundays.  Now we are also prepared!

The words here mean, “Advent, Advent, a small light burns, first one, then two, then three, then four, then the Christ Child stands at the door.”

We love Fr. Enger and her kindness to us.  Every week we look forward to her classes and all the beautiful cultural things she teaches us about Germany.  She is so dear.

One more thing, mostly in honor of John:

As we left the beautiful chapel, the bells in the tower began to chime.  It was glorious.

After our visiting with cousin Fred’s family, we drove about 30 min over to Eppstein, another quaint old town with a castle up on top.  We got there as the sun was setting and spent some time wandering and exploring this charming town set in a small narrow valley.

The castle, built in the 1100s, hovered over the town.

We hiked up to it and wandered around the outer walls.  The gate was locked, but the views were free!

As it got dark, the lights came on the castle.

Such a picturesque little town!

Here are the 2 churches we went into–Protestant and Catholic:

The Catholic church:

It was too dark inside to take pics or see much.

This was interesting–a trash bag holder.  Waiting for pick up in the morning.

Here’s the old Friedhof  with a few stones left.  We also saw memorials for the soldiers from Eppstein lost in WWI and WWII.

History and people are remembered here.  I like that.

We had lunch and a great visit today with John’s cousin, Fred Lewis and his family who were passing through town. We took them to our favorite Cafe Klatsch for some traditional German food.

Cousin Fred has a very special place in our hearts because in 1990 he and my Dad came up with the idea to line John and me up on a blind date. They lived in California. We lived in Orem and Salt Lake. It took John a year to finally call me, but after 2 back to back dates, July 3rd, and a family BBQ on the 4th, we knew what we needed to know. I left on a trip for 2 weeks on the 5th. A week after I returned, we were engaged. Yup. Just like that. Best line up EVER.

A fun tradition in John’s family we call, “The Flight of the Turkey.”  Every year, the turkey flies across the kitchen, squawking, even here in Frankfurt!  John is our turkey and stuffing Meister, I’m not really allowed to help.  He has his ways.  I stay out of his way.

But he happily hands over the neck and giblets for me to add to the stew pot.

This afternoon we traveled to Nieder-Wöllstadt, where Dinis and Silvia Adriano and their family live.  Dinis and Silvia both work with us at the office and we love them.   Dinis is from Lisbon and Silvia is from Madrid.  They and their 3 children now live here in the Frankfurt area.  They’ve learned to love American Thanksgivings.  They invited us, the Garbers and the Irvings to their home today, what a treat!

I love these people.  And we loved being together this afternoon.  Everyone helped with the food prep–we had every good part of Thanksgiving right here–turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy,  baked ham, green beans, carrots, salad, rolls, and even pumpkin pie made from a real pumpkin!

Dinis and John worked together for WordPerfect many years ago.

We really enjoyed the meal and the wonderful company.  It makes missing our own kids a bit easier.  Today Adam was working in the St Louis Hospital.  Heidi and the grandkids went to Kansas City to be with her sister and the cousins.  Claire and Graham flew to Florida for a beach vacation, and Aaron and Abbey hosted Abbey’s whole family in our home in Orem.

I am so grateful to be here, to be with friends, to have good food and to enjoy the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who influences all we do.  What a gift!