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Yes, those are REAL candles and very, very real flames.
And yes, those are straw ornaments next to the very, very real flames. Germans like to live dangerously - at least in M's family they do. Most other Germans use the electric lights invented last century. M thought we might combine the traditions and add electric ones too. What a great idea, I said, to add plastic-insulated electric wire to open flames! We opted out of that one.
Stefan's mom does this too, in an all-wood house, with straw ornaments that have been drying for years. Yikes. Stefan and his German roommate in Tucson both grew up with the real-candle tradition, so when they got their hands on a real American imitation plastic Christmas tree, they put real candles on it. The roommate and his girlfriend lit it one night and then went off to snuggle, and the tree caught on fire and parts of it melted into the carpet. Stefan says it's the only tree he's ever had that actually caught on fire (and it didn't actually combust, it just melted, and everyone lived to tell the tale).
ReplyDeleteOf course, the real candles are pretty...and Americans are pretty good at burning down houses with electric Christmas lights...so I guess it's a trade off...
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