This Christmas was unbelievably special to Mariah and I. Not only did we get to spend the Christmas season abroad, but we were able to spend it with the Seymour family! While I missed my family something horrible, they gave us all the love that and comfort from home that we were missing for the last three months. In this post I’m going to talk about our time together, and our trip to Vienna, Austria.
Christmas Abroad
Every culture has different Christmas traditions. Some are very similar, some are quite different, and there are just some that will make you say, “What the Santa Clause?!” I must say that the Czech traditions fall under all three categories.
They do not have Santa Clause, they have Baby Jesus or “Ježíšek” (pronounced Yezheeshek), cutting apples, a Christmas tree, lead floating in water, death at the dinner table, potato salad, and a carp that lives in the bathtub. Oh, and they celebrate heavily on the 24th of December, not the 25th.
Let’s start with Baby Jesus. It is interesting that they have a lot of religion-based traditions because they are largely an agnostic country. But, Baby Jesus on Christmas Eve flies in through the left-open-window and brings children presents. This happens while the family eats dinner. The tradition there is that they first person to get up (which would need to happen in order to put the presents under the tree) will be the first person to die. Pretty dark, but an interesting tradition.
They have Christmas trees, but they are more traditional than ours. They have lights and everything, but are usually decorated on the 23rd of December with dried fruits and such. Their lights are actually really cool. Their trees are a little sparse in comparison to our trees back home but they are festive and fun.
Two traditions that are more like little activities are the lead and the cutting of the apples. They boil water and drop in liquid lead. The lead then swirls around and they predict the future from the shapes that it makes. They also cut apples in half to see the star in the middle. I’m not sure what that does or really what the purpose is but it's a tradition.
The carp. There are little “carp farms” set up all over town with big tanks filled with them. You select a carp and take it home live. You let it live in your bathtub for a couple of days then kill it and eat it for Christmas dinner. You accompany it with… potato salad. Yep, potato salad.
I have researched other culture’s Christmas traditions and I have come to enjoy and respect each of them. Everyone does it a little differently I suppose.
The Seymours in Prague
The best gift that we could have gotten this year arrived 5 days early. The Seymours had quite a journey to Prague. First they flew from JFK to Istanbul for a NINE HOUR layover. Without wifi! They are troopers! Then they landed safely at the Prague Airport where Mariah and I were excitedly waiting. It took me about a day to really believe that they were here and that I wasn’t going crazy and imagining it.
It would take me days to describe everything that we did so I will just say that we had so much fun in Prague together. We saw every major thing in the city and put on a lot of miles while doing it. We ate some amazing food, drank some delicious beer (ask Paul about Kozel sometime), and had some of the best desserts I have ever tasted in my life.
Let me just say that while it is a little sad, this is just a fact of life. When you live in a city, any city, you become accustomed to your surroundings and it becomes normal and not as special. That is where Mariah and I were with the city. Until the Seymours came. After showing them everything and seeing their reactions, we were infected with the beauty and wonder of the city all over again. It was so refreshing and I truly feel a connection with the city again.
Instead of me describing their reactions, here is a statement from Cathy;
“Paul and I were so incredibly amazed by this beautiful city. Everywhere we looked there was one gorgeous building, statue, and church after another. And it certainly isn’t every day that you see a castle, cobblestone sidewalks and brick streets, and beautiful parks filled with old fountains and ponds with ducks all in a ten minute walk from your home. We were in love! Prague is a beautiful city, steeped in history and tradition and the architecture is old and untouched. Both Paul and I were amazed that all of this had survived two world wars, communism and a long history that was sometimes very tumultuous. And we will say, if you ever get the chance to visit Prague, take it, no matter how much money it costs. It is well worth it.”
Mariah and I were so excited to have everyone here. We were missing home so much and this couldn’t have come at a better time. Since my family wasn’t here, they were perfect substitutes. They gave me all the love that I was missing. Mariah was obviously excited.
Here is a quote from Mariah about having her family here;
Christmas is such an incredible time of year and Josh and I both agree that the best part of it is being with family. It was difficult not to see the Dumans this holiday season, but having my family here was amazing. We’ve been missing our family greatly, so it was the best Christmas present I could ask for. My family loves traveling and is always very grateful and appreciative of beauty in their travels. They helped to reinvigorate the city for us and remind us of it’s stunning beauty. Then to get the opportunity to discover somewhere else totally new was beyond comprehension. Our jaws dropped at every turn in Vienna. I’ve been close to my family my whole life, but after this experience we’ve become even closer than I could’ve ever imagined. Not to mention the fact that they’re the easiest houseguests in the world!
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| Sleeping arrangements =) Just like camping. |
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| In Petrín Park |
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| These were the best desserts I have ever tasted.... Gabe too. |
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| Gabe teaching us to play chess :) |
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| I got to FaceTime my family on Christmas. Here is our family portrait :) |
Vienna, Austria
As musicians, Vienna has always been on our list of places to go. But, I didn’t know a whole lot about it and it’s history. What an incredible city that is rich in beauty and history! We stayed in another Airbnb, this one was a whole apartment with three bedrooms capable of sleeping eight, a shower room, toilet, and full “American style” kitchen. It was very close to the metro and was awesome!
We did a lot of sight seeing. The best had to be the 40 room tour of the Schönbrunn Palace. This palace was the Habsburg’s summer palace. The Habsburgs were an unbelievably powerful family that ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire for many years. Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures on the tour (take a look online). We were given audio-tour devices while we walked around the palace, so we really learned a lot and weren’t left to wonder what we were looking at. That was great because I am not a huge history buff that already knows this kind of stuff off the top of my head. Let me tell you, these people LOVED beauty and grandeur! You will be able to see that in the pictures that I uploaded below. We had such a good time in Vienna and were stunned by the beauty of Hero's Square. We "stumbled" upon it and were astounded by it. We did have some amazing food our last night that warmed us up. As beautiful as it was, we were freezing! We ate at 1516 Brewing Company the last night that we were there and had some authentic Viennese food and beer.
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| Inside of the beautiful St. Stephen's Cathedral. If you zoom in on the pictures, you will see the Christmas trees on the alter. |
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| Wonderfully decorated for the Christmas season. |
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| This is the Schönbrunn Palace, owned by the Habsburgs and opened in 1699 as their imperial summer palace. We toured 40 of the 1,441 rooms. How did they keep it clean and running you may ask? The Habsburgs had 1,000 servants that took care of everything. |
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| A nice view of the back yard... all 395 acres of it. |
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| Mozart Statue |
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| A beautiful treble clef in front of the Mozart statue. It usually has red flowers in it :) |
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| The entrance to the Spanish Riding School. Which is part of the Hofburg Palace. Which was also built and owned by the Habsburg Empire. |
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| You can get a sense of the size of the entry by looking at Mariah and Cathy below. |
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| And that... is the Hofburg Palace. |
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| Back in Prague on the Seymours last day. What a beautiful day! |
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| This almost looks fake! What a perfect time with the Seymour family. |
We were all sad to leave Vienna. But, I believe that we all have plans in our heads of returning sometime. But next time in the summer for sure :) The Seymours headed out yesterday and landed safely at JFK today. I’m 100% positive that no one will forget this time together and we'll cherish this time together for the rest of our lives!
