Christmas Markets in Germany

It's Christmas Market season in Germany! This was one of the things about living in Germany that I had looked forward to. Many people had told us about how "Germany does Christmas right!" and that the markets would be like nothing we had ever visited. So, I got a calendar of when the area markets began, and we made a plan to visit a few of them when Brenda and Will were here.
We started with the markets in Heidelberg. There are 5 different areas set up, some tailored more towards food, some towards children, and others for shopping. The food was the first thing we all wanted to check out, and each of us chose something different for lunch. Will and B both got sausage plates, Brenda had a waffle with Nutella, and I had cheesy garlic bread and corn on the cob. I also picked up my first of several cones full of candied macadamia nuts.. yummmmm.

 We then toured the city a bit before winding back through to do some shopping at the goods area of the market. B also picked up another mug of gluhwien, and I think he and Will shared some more food. There were lots of booths, but generally they were carrying one of 5 categories of goods: hats/scarves, wooden decor, Polish pottery, candles, or jewelry. In the picture below, you will see me and B standing in front of a HUGE  decoration that is really popular here, and people by smaller versions of this for their home. The lit candles make the fan at the top turn, and in response, whatever little scene is at the bottom of the carving turns as well. It's usually the three wise men coming to visit baby Jesus, or Mary and Joseph on a donkey.. something Christmas themed.

 Our next Christmas market was in Bernkastle Kues. This is hands down the cutest town I have seen here in Germany. It is right on the river, surrounded by vineyards, and has these cool narrow streets with overhangs that are just perfect for meandering around. Don't get me wrong, it would be a nightmare to LIVE here, but it's awesome for visiting. It wasn't a big market at all, and we visited in the middle of the weekday. The busiest times for markets is in the evening, and they are all lit up with beautiful Christmas lights. However, toting Layla through these crowded markets after dark didn't seem like a good idea so we opted for the less popular day time option.

 Stairway to the vineyards

 One of the big draws of this market is the gigantic Advent calendar. Each evening, one of the "doors" are opened. We weren't there for this, but I hear it's quite the event.

 The market had the standard fest food (sausages, gluhwien, candied nuts, crepes), but also had knoedel, which are cakey dumplings covered in a vanilla sauce. Brenda, Will, and B shared a dish, and in the picture below you can see Brenda sneaking an extra bite while I distracted the guys with a picture!

 Seriously, isn't this town the cutest?

 At this point, we visited the market in Kaiserslautern, which is the closest big city to us and also the closest market. There are no pictures of this one, mainly because it was crowded and not really very much fun. I was hoping to do some shopping at this market because it was supposed to be a larger one, but it was mainly food. We didn't stay long. Instead, we came home to recharge our batteries before heading to another market that evening at Burg Lichtenburg, the castle closest to us. Unfortunately, while we were at home, Thumper hurt her back and B had to stay home with her to try to calm her down and assess how bad the damage was. She healed up after a week or so of very restricted activity. It was extra sad, because B missed by far the most interesting of the Christmas Markets we visited! This market was situated through the castle grounds instead of in a village, like all of the other markets. It was really busy, for good reason! Everything was in a medieval style- from the food to the goods sold. Many people came in costume, and there were activities for children to participate in like archery competitions. It was really chilly, and we were there in the early evening, so we kind of walked through more quickly than I would have otherwise. Brenda and Will shared a plate of apples that had been dipped in breading and then fried and sprinkled with cinnamon, and then Will and I each got a pastry that had been toasted over glowing coals. It was such a cool experience, and next year we will get a sitter for Layla so that B and I can spend more time there. 

So, this was our first year of Christmas markets! We only made it to four, and that really isn't many considering how many there are in Europe. The weekend after Brenda and Will left, B left for a week and then the markets were shutting down. We also kind of burned ourselves out, squeezing so many into just a couple of days. Next year, we plan to visit a few that are further away once Layla is able to go longer in the car, and hopefully they will have a bit more variety. I really look forward to visiting one in France, or even Italy!

Christmas Decor

 This post probably won't interest many, but for our families who we can't spend Christmas with this year, here is a look at our home! Above is Layla's First Christmas ornament from her Nana and Grampy. Below is our Advent wreath, decorated by the engraved silver coins Brenda sends us every year!

 Our stockings are hung on the radiator with care... just waiting for Layla's in a special package from Gram!

 Our tree... and below is the glowing reminder that we are not in our home country- we have to run our prelit tree off of a transformer.

 This is the bar in our kitchen. I smile just about every time I look at this collection of things., because each one brings a very specific memory to mind The angel was a gift from my mom, she purchased it at a cute little farm in Ohio during her first visit to see me. I have such great memories from that trip. The framed "h" is actually a card from a good friend of mine, and I love this reminder of what a fabulous pen pal she is. The Santa was a Black Friday purchase last year after a full day of shopping. My in laws were visiting, and after a long day of shopping and a big dinner everybody was ready to go home. As we were driving, I saw Pier 1 and whined something about wanting to go... immediately Brenda instructed B to turn the truck around and pull in so I could pick up this little guy, The evergreen arrangement was actually a centerpiece as a spouses function I went to in early November with the ladies of Beau's work. Layla was having a rough night that night, and each lady went out of their way to be extra kind to me.

 The windowsill in our living room has a collection of photos from the years as well as our Christmas DVDs, B's Polar Express book from childhood, and a Snowman from my mom.

 I love our nativity scene, and still need to finish the set and then find a worthy display area. For now, it shares the sofa table with this new piece, a traditional German carved... fan thing, I am not sure at all how to describe it!

 And, of course, some of the festivity is carried over into Layla's room. I hung up all of her fun Christmas outfits, and she has been sporting at least one of these cuties every day! I have to get every bit of use out of them that I can! I've put up a the Christmas books that we were given from Vanessa (thanks, Vanessa!) and I enjoy reading them to Layla in the afternoon when she gets fussy.

 And, finally, here is my favorite little baby on her fun Christmas sheets (I think these came from Deedra and Brian?) in her First Christmas outfit from Gram!

Nana & Grampy's visit (minus Thanksgiving and Christmas markets!)

Layla got the chance to meet Grampy over Thanksgiving! B's parents flew over to spend a couple of weeks with us, and it was the first time that Layla and Will got to know each other. They hit it off right from the start!

This was Brenda's second trip out since Layla was born, but I think she was almost as excited as the first time out here. Layla was pretty curious about these new faces in our house, and got to spend a lot of time with both Nana and Grampy.

I love my fuzzy headed little dolly! Brenda and Will got here the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which was great timing because the Christmas markets and festivities don't really start in Germany until the first weekend in Advent. I will do an entirely separate post on the markets, because if I added it to this post, you would be reading forevvvvvver :)

 It is a really long flight over here, so it's best if you catch an afternoon snooze when you get here, preferably while holding Layla! We went to the Hofbrau Haus on base because we were pretty sure Will would LOVE some German food as soon as he got here (and we were right). 

 After lunch, Brenda, Will, Layla, Thumper, and I took a walk up the trail behind our home so Will could get a real view of our little village.

That night we went to the Montana, so we weren't cooking big meals two nights in a row. We have been bringing Layla here since she was just a couple of days old, and the Italian man who owns the restaurant always comes over to see how she is growing. I wasn't sure whether he remembered specifically her, or if he just likes babies, but this particular evening he came over and told us in his best English, "You first came, she so so small, sit right there outside!" so I guess he does know who we are! Luckily, Layla was on her best behavior during dinner (not the case the last time we brought Brenda here) and so we enjoyed a really nice night.

I already blogged about Thanksgiving, so I'll pick up after that, but above is a picture of Will, Layla, and B before Thanksgiving dinner. The day after Thanksgiving we drove to Heidelberg to see the city and their Christmas market. The last time Brenda visited, we took her to Trier so this was new for her. B and I had taken a tour of the city in the summer, and really enjoyed how beautiful it was. It had also been SO hot, and I had been SO pregnant, so I was looking forward to seeing the city from a different perspective! This time it was pretty chilly, so we bundled up the baby girl in her stroller and hit the streets. We stopped first at the Christmas market for lots of yummy(unhealthy) food, and then walked over to the bridge crossing the Neckar River.

 

Brenda was a little to short to make the money statue work right, so she just posed next to it instead!

 

I am smiling in the picture because Layla and I were just mobbed by Japanese high schoolers. Mobbed is absolutely the only word that works here. I was pushing her in the stroller, and we were suddenly surround by about twenty five Japanese tourist high schoolers, both girls and boys, taking our pictures and "aww"ing. I had to actually stop walking because there were so many people around us. It was strange, and B and I got a good laugh out of it. I have no idea why we were such a show, but it would continue on for the rest of the day. 

We continued walking around the city, looping back through the Christmas market before going back to the car to drop off the stroller and get the carrier for an easier trip up to the castle. You can either hike to the castle, or catch a tram. We opted to catch the tram, which is great because it also gives you access to the courtyards of the castle grounds, which we had toured the last time we were in Heidelberg. There is also a great view of the city there!

Layla and I were again a stop on a Japanese tour route, only this time it was all adults. I really think that if I could google search this image of me and Layla, I would probably find that it was posted about one hundred times that day. It's a little creepy when I think about it. After talking with a few of my friends who are either Asian or spent a lot of time living in Japan, blonde women and white babies are so rare there that when Japanese tourists see one (or both), they can't help but take pictures. I don't know how much of that is true, because I was certainly not the only blonde woman with a baby I saw that day (hello, we are in Germany!), but I was definitely the only person being photographed. Again, weird.
We spent the evenings at home, taking turns entertaining Lady Layla. It's a rough life, I'll tell ya what!

We also squeezed in a few walks to the Kapel (chapel) behind our home. I managed to catch a few of the deer that live back there on camera before they bounded off over the hill.

This is St. Hubert's Kapel, our walking destination.

One of the most beautiful villages we've visited so far is Bernkastel Kues. I'll have the pictures from the Christmas market in another post, but this is a photo Brenda snapped from the river- just so cute! I will return in the summer for a river wine cruise! Oh, and below is my little monkey with hat hair- still smiling :)

While we had a photographer (Brenda) here to document decorating for Layla's first Christmas, we decided to put up the tree and outside lights.

It's amazing how different a photo looks without flash, and then with. They both serve their own purposes, I guess.

As we were busy decorating the inside for Christmas, the outside was busy getting decorated for Christmas as well. We had a pretty decent snowfall covering the village when we woke up!

At this point, the last day in the visit, as ALWAYS happens, I realized that we hadn't taken a picture with all five of us in it! I was pretty sure that Thumper wasn't up for learning a new trick, so we drove to base to ask a passerby to take a picture of us in front of the mall tree.

Our almost two weeks together went by much too quickly, and B returned his parents to the airport on December 3 to fly back to South Carolina. We are so glad they decided to come for Thanksgiving, it really gave us such special memories to look back on, and made the first holiday season here in Germany so much warmer. Layla really enjoyed sitting with Nana, and napping with her instead of me for a change! And I can't even guess how much time Will spent walking around and bouncing Layla so I could get things done. It was such a help. Any time I wanted to do something, I just said, "Here Grampy!" and off they would go!  The next time we see them will likely be this summer, and I am sure we will have just as much fun as this visit.