[Lonesome in Massachussets]

But while many Germans baked biscuits and cakes in the shape of swastikas and adorned their trees with the symbols of the Nazi regime, most still called the festival Christmas.

I'm a little baffled by this remark: The most common German word for Christmas is Weihnachten. The verb weihen means "consecrate" and Weih is another word for Christmas. It is not necessarily explicitly Christian. Did author mean to say that the Nazis wanted people to use the less Christian word "Julfest" in place of "Weihnachten"? There was a woman who used to attend our church who grew up in pre-war Berlin and she had the most wonderful Christmas memories of making a wreath with her mother on Christmas Eve and getting an orange on Christmas morning. She correctly believed that her American grandchildren, showered with material things on Christmas where missing out on the best of Christmas. Experiences are only memorable and cherished if we invest ourselves in them.

[kabumpo]

I had a German stepmother, and what she did with Christmas and Easter was not to be believed. A realm of beauty of wonder.