Sharing Your Talents Whatever They May Be
Bro. Bauman & Daughter
This was a free day for us because Christmas holidays in Germany are the 24th-26th. We got up early and made our special candied yams. Elder Walters spent most of the day working at the project house while I took the day to relax and wrap presents for Sister Rosendall's 4 little boys. I wanted to get them books but Elder Walters said, "They are boys, they don't want books", so we got them a hot wheel track set. Each one had two cars each. We also got Arial a scarf and a framed picture of the Heidelberg castle, which is our favorite.
At 5:00 we traveled to Buddigen for our first Heiligabend (Christmas Eve) celebration. This is there big night of gift giving. We spent the night with the Bauman family. I think you remember me telling you about Elder Kopischke who is the 70 over this area of Europe? His son is married to one of the Bauman daughters and they were also there, as well as Elder Christensen & Elder Spellman. The Baumans have 9 children but only 5 of them are still at home. One married daughter lives in Austria and she makes violins. I was really interested in knowing how she got into that profession as I played the violin for 10 years before I was married.
We arrived early and we gave them our candied yams. They had never heard of them before, but both of the full time missionaries, who were from the states, were excited to have a little taste of home. Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best. I noticed that the front room was partitioned off with a drape so you could not go in. Bro Bauman explained that it was a tradition for the mother and father to purchase and decorate the tree the night before Christmas Eve and have all the presents wrapped. Sister Bauman started to play Christmas carols and when she played a certain song ,that was the cue for everyone to open the curtains and come into the living room. The children were so excited. We each took a seat and Brother Bauman read the account of the Birth of Christ with Christmas carols sung at the appropriate times. We sang every verse of each song in German. The entire program was in German, but we still felt the spirit. Of the 8 songs that we sang we were only familiar with five of them. Three we had never heard, but I loved them. I asked Sister Bauman if she would give me the music for those songs so I can teach my family when I go home.
Then we heard a loud knock on the door and Bro Bauman escorted there 10 year old son disguised as the Weinachtsmann. The equivalent of our Santa Claus. His outfit was 10 sizes too big but he presented himself as big as the outfit he was in. He sat in the head chair and proceeded to call out peoples names to come receive their present. Before they could get that present, however, they had to share a talent. My goodness what a talented family they are. One girl played the oboe, two more played a flute duet and the oldest one sang a song opera style. When it was the missionaries turn, I knew we would be next and we came ill prepared. The missionaries had no prior knowledge of this either so both played a set of Congo drums that were sitting in the corner of the room. One Elder did a pretty darn good job as I thought I was having Christmas with a tribe in Africa.
Then the dreaded time when they asked us to share a talent. Elder Walters immediately says, "Sister Walters is very talented, she plays the piano, violin, Bass Violin and the guitar." Good grief, now they are expecting to hear something great and I had forgotten everything I knew. Sister Bauman brings out her guitar and the only thing that came to my mind was "Puff the Magic Dragon". I didn't sing along but did manage to pick out the tune. Thank goodness they didn't know the song was about smoking marijuana. I knew Elder Walters would not share his beautiful voice so I said, "My husband played the drums in High School", so they brought over a Congo drum and he did a long roll. It was really impressive. I think I should get him a drum set when we get back home. I know the Grandboy's would love it.
Our gift was four bags of gourmet pasta all wrapped up in a bouquet with light blue ribbons and a little ceramic mouse in the middle. I can't bear to use it but she says it is the best you can get. I'll break it open when my girls come to see me. I have to say, I was very impressed that they do very little gift giving. Every child got one gift and the gifts were not the least bit extravagant.
No one seemed to be disappointed, instead, they were so happy that everyone got a gift too. It was a great feeling of love one for another. After the gift giving part we all adjourned to the dinning room for the Christmas dinner which was very simple but traditional. Sister Bauman made brats and potato salad which she said was the recipe her grandmother made. It was almost like the potato salad I make but they added apples and large chunks of dill pickles. For dessert we had fresh fruit and lots of good cookies. I think I remember reading that in the early days this was the fare for the poorer people at Christmas time and they were lucky to have it. It was simple and memorable to think that we were eating the same food that their grandparents ate in Germany almost 70 years ago during WWII.
After dinner Sister Bauman took me around to see her house. 8 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms with a separate room for doing laundry and ironing. She says all the kids have a certain task but as long as they are doing it they are allowed to watch a video of their choice. Sounds like a great way to get kids to help out with the work. Then we went into the master bedroom. I thought I was in an icebox. I said, " My goodness how do you keep from freezing to death at night." Her answer was that they even open a window." Good grief. Bro Bauman says they never get sick. I should say not, how can germs survive in sub zero temperatures?
The night drew to a close as we realized that a storm had been billowing all the time we were there. We had a hard time getting out to the car in our Sunday shoes. We did get home safe and sound however. Early to bed to get ready for our Christmas Brunch with the Senior Missionaries in the morning. Have a great day tomorrow.
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