Friday, December 24, 2010

My Last Christmas in Germany

by Maryellen Fuller Kitchen
Scottsdale, Arizona


Whenever Christmas carols fill the air I always think of the last Christmas our family spent in Germany based with the U.S. Army at Patch Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany.

I was 13 years old and had spent more than half of my life in a foreign country. We felt deprived as military children of some things my cousins back in the U.S. took for granted such as real hamburger rolls and ice cream. They were sometimes flown in as a treat for the servicemen and their families, especially around the holidays.

We attended Sunday school every week and Christmas was always a special time. The junior department presented a nativity scene as a dramatic ending to the adult choir’s concert. I had been an angel hidden in the background the year before but this time my secret desire was to be Mary. After all, my long brown hair seemed more appropriate than my blond competitor’s. I also had a crush on Robert who was a shoo-in to portray Joseph.

As fate would have it, the night arrived and I’ll never forget how much more angelic I felt as the choir sang “O Holy Night”; I was Mary and Robert (sigh) was Joseph.

I never saw pictures taken of our Christmas scene for we soon departed Germany and they never caught up with us in the mail. However, the memory of that beautiful nativity scene has endured for years! My favorite Christmas carol has always been “O Holy Night”, too.

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