German Birthdays

Now, before I begin to describe the 36 hour insanity that was Oktoberfest, I felt like I should briefly describe a few German birthday traditions.  Mostly because there is at least one that I would like to bring back with me to the states.

This particular birthday was for Maja.  She turned eight, and I think seeing her excitement made me realize how much more exciting birthdays are when you are young.  I think part of it is that you get real gifts, which are much more exciting to open than an envelope with cash or a check is.  Also, it's nice to actually look forward to getting older; I'm only 23 yet I called my birthday this year the "third annual celebration of my 21st."  I've already run out of fun birthdays.  Now I'm just getting old.

BUT, anyway, getting back on track, we all woke up REALLY early (5:45/6am) so that Maja could open all her presents.  She made quite a haul, and I'm allowed to say that because I wrapped most of those presents.  Naturally, it looked like a creature lacking opposable thumbs had done the job.  Tim's birthday is in November, and then it's Christmas, so I'm either going to be a pro at wrapping gifts by the end or they have a year's worth of poorly wrapped presents to endure.

Following the extended present wrapping, we had a breakfast of "maultaschen."  It's basically a German ravioli.  It has its root as a sneaky way to eat meat on Friday.  It looks like just spinach inside, but really, it's mostly sausage and bacon wrapped in noodles.  It was pretty good; we ate them cold but I think it might have been a bit better heated up.

Then came my favorite part: cake!  Yes, Germans have cake for breakfast.  But, don't worry, they also have it again in the evening.  Unfortunately for my taste buds (but to the relief of my skinny jeans), I missed out on the other cakes (yes, plural...and also lasagna and casserole) because I was en route to Munich for her party that night, but I at least opened my day with a chocolate and strawberry mousse cake in the morning.

Anyway, moral of the story is: Americans, let's have two cakes for our birthdays.  Start the day off properly, and then end it well too.