Some of the most fascinating comments from all of you have been on this post.  If you haven’t checked them out, do!  I love reading about how you all decide when to set up Christmas trees around the world.  In some places, it’s a topic of faith.  For others, it’s all about tradition or trying to separate a December birthday from the bustle of Christmas.

I’ve been thinking a lot about decorating for Christmas.  It’s our first time away from our parents’ house during the holidays.  You know how it is – wondering which traditions to incorporate from your family and which ones from your spouse’s.  Wondering what types of traditions to make your own.

We’re also battling with the challenge of where to fit any decorations at all – both during the holiday when we’ll have guests staying with us in our 450 square foot house and then after since we don’t have a lot of storage.

Even a little ol’ Christmas tree stand sounds huge right now.

I think if I were in the US right now, I’d be saying, “Katie!  Quit talking about Christmas until Thanksgiving is here.”  But even my husband is thinking about the Christmas season right now.  We know it is because of the weather (constantly pouring rain) and the darkness (needing lights on at our desks any time of day).  The idea of a bright and beautiful celebration is all too tempting.  So is the thought that Christmas = a visit from family.

So we’ve found a Christmas tree solution for our small apartment.  We both are in love with it and thinking about what we want the holidays to mean for us, and we will share our tree in the next couple of days along with the big holiday reveal I promised.

What’s your favorite holiday tradition that you most look forward to?  Is it putting the star on the tree?  Or does the thought of baking cookies make you squeal?  Maybe it’s running outside when the snow is falling… any of which may have happened at your house already, right?

(Images of Christmas markets coming to life in Berlin)

Are you ready for a little challenge?  If you are an American and you are planning a Thanksgiving dinner for next week, do this:

Put one local food on your table.

That’s it.  Pick whatever food you want.  Just make sure it is local.  (Define local as it fits your region.  In the frozen Rocky Mountains, we shoot for a 150 mile radius.)  Pick local flour or carrots, dairy products like whipped cream and butter, eggs, turkey…. Mmm!  It’s such a perfect adjustment to our traditional Thanksgiving dinners, truly getting back to the roots of the holiday.  The pilgrims ate local food, and for hundreds of years, our ancestors have been.  Why not do the same?  Just once.  Just one little thing.

Some advantages you’ll be pleased to hear about putting local food on your Thanksgiving table:

1. It makes you feel amazing.

There are arguments about how local food tastes better (because it’s fresher) and how it’s better for the environment (because it doesn’t travel thousands of miles).  No matter what you believe, the bottom line is this:  you feel really good about what you’re doing.  How cool is it to have apples you picked yourself in your apple pie?  Or mashed potatoes from a local potato farmer?  Just telling your family, “Oh that sweet potato was grown in our county, you know,”… doesn’t that just make you giddy?

2. It’s better than organic (?).

In March 2005, the Food Policy journal reported that organic food often travels huge distances to get to our plates (including from China).  The environmental damage of this transporting, according to their report, completely outweighs the benefits when compared to locally grown foods.

3. You can see where your food came from.

Small, local farms are more inclined to answer your questions, show you their fields, or tell you about their crops.  There is nothing cooler than hearing a farmer describe to us the origin of his preferred potatoes outside of Berlin.

4. The food is seasonal.

Most farmers can’t afford huge refrigeration containers.  So they sell foods when they’re in season.  You might be able to find strawberries in Germany or the US right now… but how far did those berries travel?  Or how long have they been refrigerated.  Eating locally often = eating more fresh foods.

5. Your money stays in your community.

If you buy groceries from a huge chain store, the only money that truly stays in your community is the employee wages and local taxes.  It’s only a fraction of your dollar.  Local food lacks all the middlemen, travel expenses, CEO bonuses, and so much more… it might not give you a bang for your buck, but it will for your community.

Want some ideas for finding local food?

Some of the local foods we’ve found for our Thanksgiving in Germany next week are: potatoes, tomatoes, milk, carrots, squash & pumpkin, apples, and sweet potatoes.  It’s quite the jackpot considering we live in a city of 3 million.

So there you have it.  (Are you as hungry as me now?)  I hope you join me and incorporate at least one local food into your Thanksgiving dinner.  And now, you know what time it is… time to share what local food you might be serving!

(Images from an early autumn farmer’s market in Berlin)

I’m spending the afternoon studying German and writing, wishing, day dreaming, and completing a project I started for all of you last month.  I’m working on a creative project that’s been harder than I expected because it’s for Christmas.  And when I work on Christmas stuff, I think of snow and of being with my family.  And when I’m not thinking of them, I am thinking about doing creative projects that are a part of this project.

And when I attempt to do my homework and learn German verbs, well the temptation for distractions erupts all over again.  It’s all very productive.

I know that if I sit here and offer a sneak peek to all of you, I will continue.  I will stop looking at pictures of family and blue sky.

I will be distracted instead by your thoughts or by the work in front of me.  So stay tuned for a holiday surprise very soon.

In the meantime, I have a question.  If you lived in a country that doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving next week say like… oh I don’t know… me… and you still have to go to work and school on Thanksgiving day… well how early would you put up your Christmas tree?

Or how early do you?

One of the hardest things about living in a small house is the clutter that can creep up on us.  It doesn’t take much for our house to feel like it’s exploded by the end of the day.  And those of you with larger homes can confess – it isn’t just a problem in small spaces.  Clutter has this wonderful ability to sneak into wherever we are.

When our houses gets cluttered with half-done projects and things we were too rushed to put away, it’s easy to get really frustrated about all the stuff.  Have you ever noticed that?  Do you have less patience and act crankier when your house isn’t put together?  One of the biggest obstacles to happiness at home is often clutter.

The worst part is when our houses get cluttered… we get cranky… and we don’t even realize it’s the mess making us feel so miserable.

So this week, try pausing a few times to look at the spaces in your home.  With the approach of holidays, holiday decorating, and last minute guests (!), observe the state of your bookshelves, baskets, and the little corners in a few rooms of your house.

You don’t have to attack the entire house.  Just look around the room where you spend the most time or where your holiday guests will spend the most time.

How can we all pull together to simplify now before our days fill with chaos and holiday activities?  I’d love for us to pool together some ideas on decluttering.

(Image from my simple work space where we lived in the country this summer.)

The yucky, wet weather we’ve been having in Berlin makes me oh-so-thankful that we have a simple policy at our house:  take your shoes off. I can’t imagine how dirty and now – muddy! – our floors would be if we didn’t take our shoes off at the entryway.

My favorite habits are the kind that make life simpler.

We have things pretty easy around here.  Everyone takes off her shoes at the door in Germany.  Very few people do in the United States, so it can be kind of awkward to ask people to take off their shoes.  That’s why I was so glad to hear from Michelle.  She lives in the US and also wanted to find a way to ask people to take off their shoes.

I think this sign in her doorway is too cute:

Thanks, Michelle!

What’s your take as the weather turns colder and wetter?  Shoes in the house?  No shoes?  Maybe some comfy indoor shoes?

On Monday as I biked to German class, the air was chilly and wet.  The day seemed like any other day.  Cars filled the streets.  Mothers walked their children to kindergarten.  Retired women shuffled home with fresh bread from the bakery before more rain came.  On the outside, Berlin felt like your typical blah-Monday.

Except on the inside, I think many of us felt invigorated.  We were living in a world city – a city that has overcome so much pain and separation.  And we knew in our hearts that This Was The Day.

On Monday, November 9, 2009, the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, this is what I saw:

Here is the Brandenburg Gate.  Built by the Prussians, it’s been hugely historic and symbolic for various political movements.  Do you recognize it?  The Gate was on the East side.  To the left is a giant, temporary screen broadcasting the Chancellor’s speech.  It’s only like 2:30 or 3:00 here.  It’s dark and rainy (it’s a typical German winter. sigh.).  I love listening to speeches in German.  The speaker has to talk so slowly… meaning I can understand.

Here’s the other side of the gate.  Around 7:00, Hilary Clinton will be speaking as the Secretary of State for the US along with the elected leaders of France, Great Britain, and Russia.  That’s when the crowds come.

But we’re here much earlier in the day so we can see this up close:

Children all around Germany decorated life-sized dominos like these.  No doubt you catch the symbolism behind a row of dominos knocking each other down across the city.

We were hoping back and forth between East and West Berlin like it were any other city because today, it is one city.  I am touched every time I discover we’ve switched sides of the city.  The original wall no longer stands in this area.  A winding brick path marks it’s course (see it at our Berlin Tour on a sunny day).

The hardest thing to capture that day wasn’t the sights or the symbolism.  It wasn’t Hilary Clinton’s speech (in English) when we watched it live at home.  In fact, it wasn’t listening to the French president with German translations going at the same time.  No, the hardest thing to capture was the spirit of the day.  Germans aren’t like Americans – waving their national flag and flapping their arms or squealing and giggling when they’re happy.  Strangers don’t greet each other with smiles.  And I think that when Germans feel pain, they don’t burst into tears or start fanning their eyes like we might in the US.  Emotions are reserved here.

Most Americans struggle with this “lack” of emotion.  But I believe that Germans don’t lack at all.  I think that they’re very strong.  This country has gone through so much.  You don’t have to show emotion on the outside for you to feel it on the inside.  So on Monday, the rain set the mood.  It was dreary and cold.  I had to wear rain pants and blink raindrops off my eyelashes.  The rain also washed away a feeling of sadness; it brought growth and new life.

The best moment of the day was at the grocery store around 5:30 that night.  I was one of the only people there without a child under the age of five.  Mothers were teaching their children not to grab five yogurts.  Fathers were helping their sons wiggle out of wet coats.  It was just an ordinary day for all those kids.  For all those parents, the day-to-day tasks still had to be done.  This lifestyle of one united city and country and world – it wasn’t a dream.  It was another typical day in a reunified world.

(Images by Martin for Making This Home)

For a glimpse into what daily life is like in Berlin, enjoy our Berlin Life Tour or a Typical Sunday in Berlin.