Happy 80th Birthday, Dad! And Merry Christmas To Y'All!

And while we're at it, Happy First Anniversary, misterjurgen.blogspot!

But first things first: Today, on Christmas Eve 2011, my dad is celebrating his 80th birthday, here in Berlin. Well, he tries to celebrate as little as possible because he has never been too fond of birthdays, but such a round number is difficult to ignore, even for him. In the background I can hear the fourth congratulatory phone call of the morning ringing, interrupting his usual routine of reading the newspapers on his computer while puffing on a cigarette. "Festive" is not a word in his active vocabulary, and getting a smile out of him this morning over breakfast with two of his small presents took some real cunning.

Happy 80th, old man!

Christmas Eve is a much bigger thing in Germany than in the US as presents are distributed late in the day. There's a simple reason: Santa Claus has to come by in the evening of the 24th so that he can visit all those kids in the Americas by morning! So, with that in mind, we will be picked up this afternoon by one of my dad's grand-kids (my nephew Dennis) for the short drive over to my brother's den, where we will celebrate birthday and Christmas with an 8-person dinner. After that we will exchange gifts, which is always a multi-hour affair even though my brother's two kids are starting to grow up. I spent yesterday afternoon packing little knicks and little knacks that I have brought over with me. I feel like Santa Claus.

Santa Jürgen wrapped for hours...

And finally, this blog entry—number 91—represents an anniversary of its own: It was exactly 365 days ago that I started the Jürgen Chronicles, which, according to my buddy Howard, are labeled way too Narnia-ish and should rather be given the moniker Jürgen's Stories (Without All The Naughty Bits). When I started the blog I had just recently started a new life, the one without Judy. On December 25 of last year, I expressed hope that "this blog will allow me to go back in time and look upon where I was one month, one year, maybe longer ago." I wanted to share with friends and family what might become of me, without being intrusive in the form of a barrage of e-mails or the like. Well, almost 12,000 hits later (man, maybe I should try to "monetize" this blog!) I am assured that there is some relevance to at least some of the posts, enough of it to make some of you come back on a regular basis. For me the blog has evolved into a conversation with you, a way to share my absolutely wonderful life with all its many facets.

So, with all of that said: Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and to a Healthy & Happy New Year 2012!

Jürgen