Hope everyone had a good first day of Christmas yesterday. How’s Day 2 treating you? 😉 

OK, so today isn’t really called “Christmas: Day 2” here in Germany. But it is really referred to as the “Second Day of Christmas”, and yesterday was listed as “First Day of Christmas” on some signs we saw.  Of course, I saw no partridge in a pear tree yesterday, and so far today I haven’t spotted two turtle doves. Quite possibly  that well-known English song didn’t originate around these parts. 😉

I’m also not sure how far they carry the whole “12 days of Christmas” idea here, although according to Wikipedia, the entire 12 Days of Christmas (the religious observance, and not the song) is observed in Germany.

When we lived in Italy, we never heard the 12 days counted off after Christmas like that. In Italy,  they have their own sets of traditions, and December 26th there is officially called St. Stephen’s Day,  as in “on the feast of Stephen” in the old Christmas carol. According to Wikipedia, that’s also supposed to be the official name of today’s holiday in Germany, too, but I’ve yet to hear anyone refer to it by that name here.

Anyway, yesterday, the First Day of Christmas, there were some restaurants open, and we went back and ate both duck and goose at our favorite neighborhood place. When eaten at the same meal, the duck definitely seemed a little moister and more flavorful than the goose, but the goose comes with the delicious goose gravy, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Yum. Those potato starch balls have yet to grown on me, though. They are good as a vehicle for eating more gravy, but I really do need to talk to the owner about how good mashed potatoes would also be as a side dish for that gravy. 😉

Interestingly, in walking around today, we saw nothing open in the old city center: no shops, no restaurants, no nothing.  Very quiet and peaceful: all those after Christmas sales don’t start until Day 3 here, I gather.

Anyway, even though I don’t think the items in this song have anything to do with the celebration of the 12 days of Christmas in Germany, here’s a link to the Muppets performing the 12 Days of Christmas. Although, as Muppets Christmas songs go, I prefer their version of Jingle Bell Rock, which has nothing to do with today being the 2nd Day of Christmas. But what the heck – think of it has a Christmas bonus, in lieu of the partridge, pear tree, et al. 😉