German Traditions Mean American Christmas Fun

BROCKWAY, Pa. (EYT) – A classroom at Brockway Area Junior-Senior High School is counting down the days to Christmas break using a German tradition.

The German students create a countdown chain using toilet paper rolls with a gift inside. The roll is then wrapped and hung from the ceiling as a chain. As each day passes, a student takes down the day’s link and gets the prize inside.

German teacher Eric Stawecki said he got the idea from his world travels.

“Being in Germany at Christmastime, I saw that they had advent calendars all over the place,” he said. “I thought it would be a fun way to count down to Christmas break.”

9th Grader Kaitlyn Puhala shows off her class’s Christmas chain.

The students bring in the gifts for the advent calendar. It just has to be small enough to fit in the toilet paper roll, so Stawecki said they have had everything from chocolate candy to a fortune from a fortune cookie to pencils. Everyone gets something from the calendar.

“It depends on the size of the class,” Stawecki said. “Smaller classes get more than one prize. The bigger classes get one.”

Stawecki has been doing the advent calendar for seven years. While he brought a German tradition to America, he said that America is starting to take traditions to Germany.

“Christmas in Germany is a lot like Christmas here, but it’s not as commercialized,” Stawecki said. “Over the years, they have been getting more commercialized. They have Black Friday sales now.”

However, like in America, Christmas is an important time for families in Germany.

“Christmas is a time to celebrate family,” Stawecki said. “Santa comes Christmas Eve, and then the next two days are spent with your family. They celebrate both days.”

The countdowns hanging from Stawecki’s ceiling will run out December 20 after the school board added December 23 as a vacation day, taking a day away from Thanksgiving Break.


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