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| I'm the little guy, seated at the table in front of the bar. To the right is the wall hanging with the deer. |
The large family made these parties (well described by my Uncle on his blog) especially wonderful for me as a child. They were held in my grandparents basement, which was fully furnished with a bar and a pool table, it seemed large and magical to me as a child, walking down the stairs was like going through a magical portal to Germany, with neat international posters on the walls, and a beautiful decorative rug hanging on the way showing some deer in a forest, that my father had purchased while on leave in Germany. The basement was filled with kids who wanted to play and talk to me - very different from the playground a sort of shy book worm experienced at school!
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| Most of the Westermeyer grandchildren at one of the Christmas parties. |
Of course, the drive after added to the magic. We lived in New Richmond, and my grandparents lived in Mt Healthy, today with the I-275 bridge maybe a 45 minutes drive, but in the 1970s closer to an hour and a half. Sleepy and happy, driving home through downtown Cincinnati, I created the "Rudolph game" with my sister. Every blinking or moving light in the sky was a Rudolph sighting as he pulled Santa's sleigh on his appointed rounds. We often fell asleep playing, then woke up in our beds Christmas morning.
Later, the family was so big with grandchildren, and after my grandfather had passed and my grandmother moved, we had to move the party. It was too difficult to get everyone together for Christmas Eve, so we gathered on an evening earlier in the month at the at the Mt Healthy Knights of Columbus Hall. I have many fond memories of these parties as well. I tried to start a "tradition" of an annual pool game between myself and my cousin Mark against his brother Chris and our cousin Nick, but I was by far the worst pool player of the four of us and we lost every year. 😄 I also recall that we saw the movie Breakin' on the screen of the drive-in theater behind the hall one year!
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| Left to Right: Tante Maria, Aunt Christa, and my grandmother, Oma Westermeyer. |
But the greatest tradition was when my Tante Maria, my Aunt Christa, and my grandmother would sing Stille Nacht, heilge Nacht for us in German. They had beautiful voices and it was always beautiful.
Here they are in the early 1980s (I think) (as above, L to R). the family was so big by then, we held the family Christmas party at the Mt Healthy Knights of Columbus hall.
And a picture of the chapel where the carol was originally written in 1818.
In this 2012 Christmas letter, Frau Perchta is at it again, talking with goblins, and possibly the Goblin King. And Rudolph and "magic oats" appear (oatmeal mixed with sugar and glitter, sprinkled on the ground outside for the reindeer each Christmas Eve).
🎅Santa’s Workshop
No. 1 Santa Claus Lane
Christmas Town, The North Pole
Dec 24th, 2012
Dearest Ren & Tori,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
You both made the nice list again this year! I know it is hard being good, but I can see in my magic snowball how hard you both tried this year. Your parents must be very proud of you!
It has been a hard year here at the North Pole. Frau Perchta, the evil witch who used to follow me on Christmas Eve to punish wicked children, is still lurking about. Bellringer has seen her several times while he was inspecting the 🎄Christmas Tree🎄 groves, and sometimes she has been in the company of Goblins!
That is bad, as the Goblin King likes to steal children. I ordered the elves and polar bears to stay on special alert and the Nutcracker Guard started patrolling. But faithful Bellringer found out what the witch and the goblins were trying to do, of course.
He won’t say what he was doing, I suspect he was trying to find where I had hidden HIS Christmas presents, but Bellringer was down in the ice caves below Christmas Town when he heard some scratching and digging. He discovered that the Goblins and Perchta were tunneling into my storerooms again!
He came and told me at once, we led the elves, bears, and Nutcrackers down to the storerooms at once! There were goblins everywhere, and a huge battle broke out! Those goblins are vicious and mean, and Frau Perchta is strong; it was a close battle. She slashed us with a great willow switch, it really stung! But the nutcrackers had their muskets, and the polar bears are of course huge and strong, we managed to drive the witch and the goblins from the storeroom. Then I used my magic to seal their tunnel.
Bellringer has saved Christmas again, but the witch had stolen many, many toys. The elves and I have worked hard to replace those stolen but though no child will be forgotten many will not get all they wanted this year.
Poor Frau Perchta. She has never understood the true meaning of Christmas… those toys will never bring her as much joy as she might have gotten by giving them to a child. I worry what she will try next year.
But enough of her! I am sure you will be having a merry Christmas. My reindeer always love the magic oats you leave for them. Rudolph asks Ren, especially, if he will be certain to leave a special helping this year, we are worried there may be a great storm.
Bellringer has promised to give you this letter. I hope you enjoyed it, as well as your presents tomorrow. Merry Christmas!
‘Til next year
Santa Claus
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