It’s all Martin Luther’s fault. Really. He decided that we should live without saints. Imagine. So he decided to move away from the Heiliger Nikolaus as the one that brought the presents and make that the job of the “Christkind”, baby Jesus, instead. And, apparently, when the Dutch went to the newly discovered continent across the big water, they brought Sinterklaas with them. After a while, he became Santa Claus. And we all know how Coca-Cola transformed him into this big guy in a ridiculous red dress and a white beard.

Today, we used the ‘blue cap’ to close Pádraig’s tracheostomy/cannula completely. He managed really well over several hours. We only put the ‘speech valve’-type top back on before we left in the evening. The fact that he can breath sufficiently well despite the cannula in his trachea, when the cannula is closed off, in my mind doesn’t leave any doubt that he could breath without it in his throat – and probably much better, because he would not have this constant irritation and, in effect, narrowing of his respiratory tract. We’ll keep at it. At least it would be worthwhile to try and see how he would manage without the tracheostomy.

And, with the ‘blue cap’, he finished a full yoghurt.

In the spirit of Advent and Sant Claus, multi-culturalism, and the idea of ‘otherness’, here is an ad from a Hamburg mainstream newspaper advertising the “Große Adventsaktion” during the weekends in Advent.

Whatever it is, it’s not an add for your traditional German “Weihnachtsmarkt”!

Today’s German Music Tip
G. F. Händel, Tochter Zion – if you want to practice German Christmas songs, here is one, with subtitles:)
What’s hot
Nikolaus
What’s cold
Coca Cola’s Santa Claus
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Wer gutes tun will, muss es verschwenderisch tun. (Martin Luther)