Prisca

Is on the way.

I know, it's not exatly about Christmas but if you want to have white Christmas and need snow I can send you some, no worries, just need to ask.

Mika is singing.

My mom kept the tree until the 6th January because then it is the Twelfth Day and Christmas is definitely over (where I grew up children come and sing dressed as the Three Kings, ok at least three of them are dressed as kings , and they come normally on Saturday, I think, because then they have time, so sometimes maybe until the 10th of January but there was not later a tree in the living room). I think many Swiss get already rid of the tree at the 27th December and some maybe on the 1st or 2nd January.

It seems it depends on the temperature in the house, if it's not very high, the needles won't fall too quick Thanks. What do you mean by "not too quick"? The tree stays there for at least until the 6th January and I haven't seen one year where there weren't a lot of needles at the ground. Actually, we loose a lot of needles already when we carry it in the house. I guess it depends also what kind of tree it is.

Thanks for opening the thread silver. I found an interesting article about Saint Nicholas/Santa Claus. (I just copied and pasted some parts of it as the article is quite long. ) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/12/131219-santa-claus-origin-history-christmas-facts-st-nicholas/ Jolly Old St. Nicholas? Every December 6, the faithful celebrate St. Nicholas Day in cities all over the world, with the largest ones taking place in Europe. Images of St. Nicholas vary considerably, but none of them look much like the red-cheeked, white-bearded old man seen everywhere today. One of the most compelling views of the real St. Nick, who lived in the third and fourth centuries, was created not by ancient artists but by using modern forensic facial reconstruction. From bishop to gift giver How did this St. Nicholas turn into the North Pole-dwelling bringer of Christmas gifts? The original saint was a Greek born in the late third century, around 280 A.D. He became bishop of Myra, a small Roman town in modern Turkey. Nicholas was neither fat nor jolly but developed a reputation as a fiery, wiry, and defiant defender of church doctrine during the Great Persecution in 303, when Bibles were burned and priests made to renounce Christianity or face execution. Nicholas defied these edicts and spent years in prison before the Roman emperor Constantine ended Christian persecution in 313 with the Edict of Milan. Nicholas's fame lived long after his death (on December 6 in the mid-fourth century, around 343) because he was associated with many miracles, and reverence for him continues to this day independent of his Christmas connection. He is the protector of many types of people, from orphans to sailors to prisoners. Coming to America In the Netherlands, kids and families simply refused to give up St. Nicholas as a gift bringer. They brought Sinterklaas with them to New World colonies, where the legends of the shaggy and scary Germanic gift bringers also endured. But in early America Christmas wasn't much like the modern holiday. The holiday was shunned in New England, and elsewhere it had become a bit like the pagan Saturnalia that once occupied its place on the calendar. "'It was celebrated as a kind of outdoor, alcohol-fueled, rowdy community blowout," Bowler said. "That's what it had become in England as well. And there was no particular, magical gift bringer." Then, during the early decades of the 19th century, all that changed thanks to a series of poets and writers who strove to make Christmas a family celebration—by reviving and remaking St. Nicholas. It wasn't until the late 19th century, he added, that the image of Santa became standardized as a full-size adult, dressed in red with white fur trim, venturing out from the North Pole in a reindeer-driven sleigh and keeping an eye on children's behavior. The jolly, chubby, grandfatherly face of this Santa was largely created by Thomas Nast, the great political cartoonist in an era that featured many. "However, Nast did leave him half-sized," Bowler added, "and in what I think are rather indecent long johns." Once firmly established, North America's Santa then underwent a kind of reverse migration to Europe, replacing the scary gift bringers and adopting local names like Père Noël (France) or Father Christmas (Great Britain). "What he's done is pretty much tame these Grimm's Fairy Tales-type characters from the late medieval days," Bowler said.

A real one as long as I don't have to wipe away the fir needles after the holiday season is over. How about you?

Yes, Swiss Germans use often "Merci" instead of "Danke".

The "Samichlaus" comes also on December 6 and it's actually the Saint Nicholas and not the Santa Claus but they are often mixed up as they look similar. In German speaking countries/regions it's actually the Christ Child and not Santa Claus that brings the gifts at Christmas. I know I am off topic, sorry for that.

It's a combined word. Weihnachten = Christmas Mann = man So the result = Weihnachtsmann

In Swiss German it is "Samichlaus", maybe that helps. And I've a easy German word for you to learn that fits perfectly the time of the year we are right now: The German word for winter is "Winter". (not my fault that all nouns have to be capitalize in German )

Mika could dye the beard and his hair white and put one or two pillow under his sweater and he would be the perfect Santa Claus. I don't know about you but I would love to have Mika as Santa Claus.

Thanks for confirming. Maybe you have some places where it is very flat and some places where there are mountains, so you go up and down? Only a presumption as I don't know very well Russia, sorry for that.

English helps with the lexicon. Ok, maybe not so much with the pronunciation.

I thought the same, when need soon a new thread.

At least what this belongs I'm saved.

Then you have to find the exception of the rule. Believe me, German has more strict rules than Italian.

An American that learned German told me once that is indeed really difficult to learn German. However, she also said that it is hard work, but once you know the language (or maybe rather the grammar rules) you are at the goal as German has strict grammar rules. Contrary to Italian e.g., where there is often a lot of space for interpretation, like e.g. you can put almost everywhere where you want a comma, it is not the case in German. There are also optional commas but in the whole it is more clear what you are allowed to do and what not (you just have to find the rule and normally it is written somewhere).

Me too. I could talk about languages the whole day. So, careful, when starting to talk with me about languages, I could take longer than envisaged.

And in German it is "Achterbahn", so literally a coaster that makes eights. And in Russian they are not called "Russian mountains" (literally translation of "montagne russe") but "American mountains" if I remember it right. So we had a small linguistic digression today.

I think is normal. When it's in two languages or more the same you don't think automatically that is in another language not the right word. Like you would probably think that "Mickey Mouse" is also in Italian "Mickey Mouse" at first as it is in many languages, what is not true, as Italians normally call "Mickey Mouse" Topolino.

Yep, just the pronunciation is different.

Mika says "ti sto seguendo" = "I'm following you". I interpret it like that that Mika listens to what Naips says and his wishes and tries to realize that since he is in his team, rather than impose him something he would think is good for the music business. I feel like you. Rollercoaster-feeling with Mika and really addicted but never tied up.

"Montagne russe" is rollercoaster in Italian. Mika is tied up with Scotch tape while going down and up with the rollercoaster so he is not able to run away.

Me too. I guess when Mika would have a "normal" contestant and not the rollercoaster-feeling he would be bored.