Wiesbaden (dpa / lhe) – Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) has a rather unusual preference when choosing the Christmas tree. “It has to be a pine tree,” he said in an interview with the German Press Agency in Wiesbaden. During his student days he worked as a Christmas tree seller and learned to appreciate this tree species. “The pine is a real, natural, beautiful tree,” said Rhein. He likes her scent and her growth. It is not true that candles or balls cannot be attached to a pine tree. “You just have to be able to do it,” he emphasized.
There are fixed customs in his family at Christmas, Rhein said. This includes a hike in the Taunus. “We have to go to the Altkönig at Christmas,” said Rhein. On Christmas Eve, attending Christmas mass is on the program, and there is also a festive family dinner to which grandmas, among others, are invited. When goose is on the table, it’s in the kitchen, said Rhein. When it comes to roast pork or beef, his wife does the cooking and roasting.
