Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night

Well, somehow we've made it to December 2009. In Berlin right now, and for the last few days, it's snowing, it's freezing cold, and I'm sure the Christmas markets are doing a roaring trade in Glühwein and roasted almonds. Usually I would have been to at least six or seven by now, but this year's a little different. I haven't been to any yet (just haven't had time!), with the exception of the one in Edinburgh, which for a German-style Christmas market in the capital of Scotland, it wasn't half bad, if a little pricey. 3pound for a pretzel? Honestly.

Christmas this year is a little different than most though. Christmas to me means family, but Christmas 2009 will be the first Christmas that I won't be spending with a family - as in, a group of blood relatives, either mine, or someone else's. If I can, I spend Christmas with my family in Melbourne - with my mum's and my dad's families. It's chaos and insanity and madness and hilarity all in one wonderful, magical day, and I love every single moment of it with both halves of my family. Christmas 2008 was a special Christmas, and one that I will never forget. I knew at the time that it was probably the last time my mum's family as I knew it would be together, and that's what made it just that bit more special, and just a little bit more difficult to leave afterwards.

If I'm not in Australia for Christmas, I'm in Germany, my second home. Usually, I spend Christmas in Germany with a family who welcomes me into their fold for the holidays. This year though, my family of choice is a group of truly great people; some of my fellow "broken toys" - other expats who for whatever reason aren't going to their home country for Christmas, so I'm spending Christmas 2009 with my Berlin mates.

Aside from Christmas, the other theme for this email is 2009 in general, and what a crazed year it has been. It's no secret that I'm glad it's over - it's been a bit of a tough one, for a few reasons. The bushfires at home in Australia, visa dramas over here, and various other issues. The most difficult for me was the sudden trip home to Australia for the funeral of my beloved Pa - my mum's father, who passed away in August. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do, but both he and my family mean too much to me not to have gone home.

I've also managed to add a few more flags to my backpack this year. The first trip after Christmas in Australia was venturing up north to the Baltic states for Easter, for a lesson in all things former Soviet - former KGB listening stations in the spires of churches, and towns closed off to the world for decades while the Soviet military occupied them as military bases. Next was a weekend in Portugal, albeit with a buggered knee as a result of a bike accident, which has since recovered to the point where I can't actually remember which knee it was. The latest was a week in the UK for Squishy's graduation, including a Magical Mystery Tour of Liverpool and a stroll along Penny Lane and a cider in the Cavern Club, a long overdue reunion with Squishy and the Jedi Masters in Newcastle, and a freezing cold few days in Edinburgh with more Australians in the hostel than I've been around in a while, and an encounter with the McKenzie poltergeist in the Covenanters' Prison. Google it to find out what I'm talking about.

The best part of 2009 though? My Freundeskreis - my mates. Some of you I haven't seen days or weeks. With others, it's been months. 2009 has been a mix of seeing old friends again, spending more time with existing friends, and meeting some great new people. Spending hours upon hours cosy in Murrays Irish bar on freezing cold Saturday afternoons in February learning about rugby while watching the Six Nations, drinking Erdbeerbowle and escaping summer thunderstorms at the Karneval der Kulturen, walking on the tarmac of former Tempelhof Airport for the 60th anniversary of the Berliner Luftbrücke in May, taking part in history in the making at the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate on a rainy October night, celebrating Thanksgiving (twice, with a third to come in January) with a United Nations of expat friends in November, and now in December, cinnamon toast in Newcastle, and possibly the best Mariannenplatz movie night yet - the movie, the food, the apple cider, but the best part: the people.

And so I'm going to leave you with a slightly plagiarised Christmas lyrical feast.
These are from some of my favourite carols, and put into words what I've been trying to say since I started this post.

"And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young"

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on our troubles will be out of sight
Through the years we all be together, if the fates allow.
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more."

"And so I'm offering this simple phrase, to kids from one to ninety-two.
Although it's been said many times, many ways, a very merry Christmas to you."

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.