This article is part of TIME on the weekendissue 52/2025.
When we asked the readers of ZEIT at the beginning of Advent to memorize a Christmas poem with us, we honestly weren’t sure whether anyone would be interested in it. Was the idea too old-fashioned? The poem Around December with seven verses and 28 lines too long? Did Mascha Kaléko’s almost 100-year-old verses fall out of time?
They taught us otherwise; many people reacted enthusiastically to the project. They wrote to us on all possible channels and platforms saying that they wanted to join in and immerse themselves in a world of cotton dabs, December colds and tinsel shimmer. The Actress Nina Kunzendorf recited the poem beautifully in the videothe songwriter Dota Kehr even set it to music.
You can now see the really crowning conclusion here: Readers sent us their version of the poem, and many people from the editorial and publishing houses of ZEIT also took part. Our video team turned it into a big, collective poem.
Thank you very much for taking part, have fun giving the presentation before presenting the presents, and have a peaceful and merry Christmas!
