I was an American soldier and was stationed in a beautiful village in the mountains of Austria.

Christmas of l948 was coming to our village of Zell am See, Austria. The people of Austria celebrate Christmas about the same as we do in the USA. I had been able to develop some great Austrian friends there. So with Christmas coming up, I was invited to spend Christmas Eve in the home of an Austrian family.

I was invited for the evening, so I was able to purchase some "popcorn" at the military store. The Austrian people had never seen popcorn. I went to their kitchen and with a big skillet and lid, I put some oil into the skillet and then when it was hot, I poured some popcorn in. Everyone looked at me in a strange way, as I shoved the skillet about on the hot stove. Soon the popping began and everyone looked at me in an even stranger way. I put the popped corn into a bowl and poured some melted butter and salt on it. The smell of the freshly popped corn was overwhelming. Soon all of my friends were digging in for a hand full of the popped corn. It was the hit of the evening. Needless to say, I had to pop several bowls of the popcorn.

After dinner and a few drinks, we all stood around the big Christmas tree. We all then started to light the candles on the tree, then the "sparklers." We had the sparks flying as the sparklers started fizzling. Then we all would sing Christmas carols. Every now and then you would hear a "SLAP", because part of our job was to slap out any fire that the candles started. We had to keep the tree from catching fire. I had never seen real candles on a tree before, and when they turned out the lights, and in the light of the candles and the sparklers, we sang our songs. It was a wonderful Christmas for me and one that I will always remember.

I had received a letter from a friend. He owned a tiny house on the side of a mountain that overlooked the village of Zell am See that he used for vacations. (Read: A Gay Austrian Stud, 1948.) He was a nice looking stud and loved to get fucked, so I would visit him when he was at the house. In his letter he informed me that during the Christmas holidays he wanted to visit his house along with his lover. I did not know he had a lover but he told me to act like we had never had sex together. He and his lover would arrive late on Christmas Eve and would go skiing the next day. I was asked to go skiing also and to join them for lunch up on the mountain at the restaurant there.

Christmas morning, I dressed in my ski clothing and carried my skies through the streets of Zell am See to the ski cable car that would take me up the mountain side. Once on top, I did not see my friend, so I put on my skis and started skiing the slope. At noon, I went to the restaurant to meet my friend and join him and his lover for lunch. They were at a table outside on the deck that overlooked the mountains and the setting was beautiful. I was introduced to the lover and joined them. Then one of the most beautiful