I love Christmas.
I love the shine. The sparkle. The magic. The fairytale feel of it all.
I’m spending the afternoon in my kitchen, baking Swedish Christmas Saffron Buns (lussekatter) while listening to old time Christmas songs.
Right now I have the delightful sound of Freddy Quinn’s Weihnachten auf Hoher See filling the room. Freddy Quinn is an Austrian singer and actor who was enormously popular in Germany in the 1950s and 1960s.
Weihnachten auf Hoher See is one of my all time favorite Christmas albums. We had this record at home when I was a kid and it was played on the record player every year for Christmas. The album is about life as a sailor aboard a ship during Christmas. I know this recording like the back of my hand. Every word. Every tone. Every soft-spoken word. Every reassuring rolling R in Freddy’s distinct Austrian German accent. Every raspy sound of the needle of the record player zipping briefly off or across the surface of the vinyl.
Listening to Freddy’s reassuring voice musing about life aboard the ship during the Winter holidays sends me right back into the magic of Christmas as a very young child. These recordings move me deeply. They are so genuinely loving. They bring back beautiful memories of my grandparents that I love dearly and who passed decades ago. Reading the comment section of this Youtube upload of Freddy’s Weihnachten auf Hoher See shows me I’m not the only one with heartfelt emotions connected to this album. And I think we all love Freddy. I’m grateful he is still around. 93 years as of now. Would be great to meet him.
There is a part (around 26 minutes into this recording) where Tinchen is being mentioned. Tinchen is what my grandparents called me and as I child I always felt great comfort in hearing my name mentioned on this magical album.
I am celebrating Christmas by myself. I love the Advent time. I went out and got the Christmas tree earlier today. It is now outdoors in the cool winter air on my terrace leaning against the wall, feet in a bucket of water until I will bring the tree in and decorate it sometime next week. I have filled my home with fresh hyacinth flowers, all about to open their buds. The next couple of days I will bring out my most beautiful dresses, I will polish up the silverware, cook delicious food, play the piano and go for long leisurely walks. A pastime I enjoy is to explore grand architecture and yesterday I went to have an inspiring look at this lovely jugend style beauty from 1904.
Another Christmas thing I like to do is to watch Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn. I can watch this movie again and again. I saw it just the other night and I must say, the Inn that Bing Crosby runs in the movie looks a lot like the home I envision for myself.
A starry Christmas beauty.
