Our traditional Christmas in Vienna for the past fifteen years or so, has been our boys going to the Imperial Palace, first as Vienna Choir Boys, and now as ushers and ticket sellers, to the Hofburg Christmas mass, in the Imperial Chapel in the heart of Vienna.
In fact, a number of times our boys have also featured in the famous “Christmas in Vienna” concerts, broadcast worldwide. Over the years, I don’t remember when I first did turkey, but eventually, I stayed home to stuff the turkey so we could all enjoy our Christmas dinner together when the boys came home. Now that three of them have driving licences, it is no longer necessary for one of us to drive them in. I do remember feeling so sorry for them when we took them in on Christmas mornings to do their Christmas duty, with hardly any thanks or recognition. I began taking a bag of sweets to share with the choir boys as a consolation for the early rise and sacrifice of self-centred Christmas traditions.
Now I was home and didn’t even need to stir when they left in the early morning to drive to Vienna. In the afternoon, we shared the turkey and later the trifle for our Christmas dinner.