2013/11/18: Is today already Christmas?

Last weekend we got a first impression of how Christmas in Canada will look like. Artificial Christmas trees in the shopping malls; first snowflakes; chocolate Santa Clauses and gingerbread in the supermarkets; “Weihnachtsbasar”; Santa Claus Parade.

Yes, Santa Clause Parade. The whole inner city was crowded with children watching the 100-minute long parade. We only saw the last part of it, but this means that we saw the highlight – Santa Claus himself! The parade is similar to the Shrove Monday procession in Mainz, the costumes and music and everything looks and sounds like Carnival. But: no alcohol in the public; and instead of “Helau!” (or whatever these crazy people in Cologne are screaming) everybody wishes you “Merry Christmas”. On the 17th of November! Crazy, these Canadians…



The “Weihnachtsbasar” we visited was a German one, organised by the German emigrants whose service we visited some weeks ago. I ate sausages with potato salad and sauerkraut and listened to the people around me talking in different German dialects. A little bit like at home.



You think now that everything and everybody here is nice and peacefully? By no means! Look at this poor Santa Claus: something has kicked him in the crotch!



No, it is not Christmas yet. But there’s not much time left to enjoy Toronto; to write the last assignments; and to organize Christmas presents…