St Nicholas Day, 6th December, is a favourite holiday with German children.
On the evening of the 5th of December, children leave one shoe outside a door before going to sleep so that Santa Claus can put some small gifts in it. They must leave only one shoe and the shoes must be polished. Next morning, (if they have been good!) 'Santa Claus' puts some nuts, oranges and chocolates together with a small gift in it. In the morning, children run to the front-door to check that Santa has been.
In Germany we visit our families, celebrate Christmas Eve with them, some of us go to church, we all eat lots of cakes and other delicious food like roast meats and fish. Before Covid restrictions, many Germans chose to travel to sunny places, or to the mountains for skiing.
2021 has been a challenging year for so many from a personal perspective, but from a business perspective it has been the best year for us all. We learned that working from home is easy, but staying truly connected with colleagues is much harder, so leadership is getting more important in our industry as well.
We all hope that we manage the Covid-pandemic through a high-rate of vaccination and look forward to when traveling, meeting friends and going out becomes become normal again.
