New Year's in Berlin

New's Year's Eve in Berlin is a crazy, wonderful time. And this is why . . . 

Fireworks! 

Right after Christmas, you start hearing them go off at all hours of the day and night, and the excitement continues to build until New Year's Eve. Then, at midnight on New Year's Eve, the entire city looks like a war zone with fireworks going off literally everywhere. Normally cautious, security-conscious Germans suddenly forget where they left their heads, and you definitely want to be where you are going to spend the night by midnight when the sky is lit up for at least an hour!

Our iPhone pictures can't do the fireworks justice, but you can
see the haze from all of the smoke!

My son with a giant sparkler.

We celebrate New Year's each year with our children's godparents, who are two of our best friends, and their children. The four kids all have a blast helping to shoot off fireworks, playing and staying up late.

Food is always a special part of our celebration. Each year we have either fondue (which we ate this year!) or raclette. When we have fondue, we enjoy a 3 course meal over several hours: a cheese course, one chicken and vegetables in broth, and then a chocolate and fruit course. 

Raclette is also a Swiss tradition, similar to fondue, where meat and veggies are roasted on a tabletop grill. Both types of meals are interactive and community-building, so it makes for quite a fun evening!

Source: Raclette Australia

Then, on New Year's Day, we eat brunch together and then try to pick ourselves up and go home after staying up so late. Later in the day at home, my husband, a native Texan, makes us a pot of super-spicy chili. Yum, yum!

Hope that your New Year's celebration was wonderful, and I wish you the joy and peace of Christ in 2013!