Germany and France are bordering, but Christmas is not celebrated in the same way in the two countries, as Maureen Thumas-Eiteil explains. Aged 31, expatriate for 6 years in Magdeburg near Berlin, she is also the author of a book on the differences between France and Germany entitled: ” Germany i love you “. For Maureen Thumas-Eiteil, if the spiritual fundamentals of Christmas are the same, the atmosphere is very different across the Rhine.