Happy Ha-Ha-Ha-Holidays!

One of the major stereotypes about Americans I've come across while in Germany is that we go to extreme lengths to be as politically correct as possible. Of course, no one stereotype can encompass the entire American population, but the more I think about it, the whole PC-cliche is pretty true. The first example is quite apropos actually. It's our dear winter greeting, "Happy Holidays." 

The Christmas holiday spirit is bright!

Both my religion and English/German teachers asked me if Americans seriously say "Happy Holidays" in lieu of "Merry Christmas" to avoid offending anyone. When I confirmed that we do, indeed, use the greeting fairly ubiquitously, they both laughed and were kind of like, "Oh, typical Americans..." I mean, I say it starting at Thanksgiving, so it's not only a PC thing, but also a broader holiday season salutation. I just find it to be a useful term in general. 

PC-Police on the Beat: Maybe some things are just lost in translation?

My dad's side of the family is Jewish, therefore I wish them a "Happy Hanukkah." "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" are all-encompassing wishes of good cheer I can use for both sides of the family. In any US bookstore you'd definitely find the snowflake-y "Happy Holidays" cards next to the ones with little reindeer wearing Santa hats that burst into song when they open or the more traditional, "Away in a Manger" themed cards. But the main point is, they're easy to find. Here in Germany it was, to say the least, an adventure trying to find wintry-themed cards without Christmas splashed across them. 

Nothing says "Happy Holidays" better than ice skating, right?

Overall, I guess I'm very politically correct, or at least try pretty hard to be, whether consciously or not. I've done some un-PC things in my life for sure, but then I felt super guilty afterwards whether or not I'd offended anyone. And maybe sometimes I go too far, but I guess that's an expected side effect of living somewhere people debate over whether or not to change the term "freshman" to "first year student" in order to include all genders. People here are respectful of cultural differences, too, but some things are just different. For example, I don't plan on saying "Happy Holidays" in German anytime soon. It's just not a thing. 

View from the balcony over the church pre-concert.

In other, not so PC-related, but holiday news, this past Tuesday was the Viktoriaschule upper grades' Christmas concert. I played Fever, Sing, Sing, Sing, Tweet, and Superstition with the Big Band and Pirates of the Caribbean with the Orchestra. Our performance of Pirates was a bit more low-key than my two with South (one time in a marching band show and once in full-out costume with the Symphony), but fun nonetheless. 

Choir, Big Band, a brass quartet, and Orchestra were all featured. 

Then, we all sang Gloria together, which rang beautifully through the church. Once it was over we all flooded out into the brisk night, where the first fragile flakes of snow began to fall over Aachen. At the moment there's no snow here, but we did get a dainty, yet hassle-free, dusting. I am thoroughly loving this omnipresent Wes-Andersen-Christmas-movie-vibe and needless to say learning new things, both German- and American-related all the while.