Finja, 8, comes from near Ingolstadt and plays handball.
“My best Christmas was last year. When we went to church, we met my best friend. That was a total coincidence! Before we went to the service, we played on the playground. We still had some time, before church started. That was really nice because it made Christmas Eve a little more relaxed. Not as tense and stressful as Christmas can sometimes be.
It was really cool in the church because it was somehow completely empty. We were almost the only people there. The priest did it really coolly, he included us children in the service. He always asked us questions. Because there were so few there, we almost always got to it. Later my uncle Klaus was there. We opened presents together. I got almost everything I wanted. Afterwards we ate and played with the new toys. Mom always takes a Christmas photo in front of the tree, that was the icing on the cake.”
Margit, 73, lives near Ingolstadt and loves pop music
“My best Christmas was in 1979. I was alone with my daughter. She was twelve years old at the time. We were at a concert by the Munich songwriter Willy Michl. I can’t remember the restaurant for the life of me. But I do I remember that it was very rustic there. We lived in Fürstenfeldbruck at the time and went to Munich especially for this concert. We had sausages with potato salad for dinner.
This Christmas is my favorite Christmas because I spent it only with my daughter. From my childhood I know big, atmospheric Christmas parties with lots of food, decorations and all the trimmings. I was often distracted that day because I had so much to do when the whole family was there. I often got lost in the Christmas stress. Of course it’s great when everyone is there. But sometimes focusing on the essentials is enough. That’s how it was on that Christmas Eve in the late 1970s: just my daughter and me, Bavarian sausages and Willy Michl.”