Our Town's Christmas Market

You can see the rain falling

This past weekend we got a lot of rain.  Friday evening I volunteered at an event called Holiday Magic, where my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group sold soup, bread, and gently used children's clothes. Santa Claus comes to this event, children from the schools sing Christmas songs, and different organizations set up booths to raise money.  It was raining and I had Blue Rock with me so I didn't take any pictures at Holiday Magic.

This weekend was also our town's Christmas market.  We went with our next door neighbors last year and we decided to go again with them this year.  We truly are super blessed to have such fantastic neighbors on both sides of us.  I brought my camera with me to this market and took pictures, even though it was still raining.

Our neighbors made pork sandwiches and European beans (kind of like baked beans but not really sweet) for dinner.  Then we walked downtown to the market with them.  Thankfully Saturday night it was just sprinkling.  Sunday, when Santa was suppose to be there, it was pouring rain.  So we didn't even attempt to go back to the market.  One difference between Germany and say Texas is, typically things you do in your town you walk to.  There is limited parking downtown and it's really only about a 5 minute walk.  Even though Santa was going to be inside the concert hall, we decided not to go.  Santa doesn't bring that much to our house but he is coming for St. Nikolaus Tag (St. Nicholas Day) tonight.  We'll put out a boot and see what he brings Blue Rock.  If you want to participate, leave your child's boot outside the door tonight and he will leave a treat, usually something sweet, in the boot if they have been good.  If they have not been good, he will leave twigs.

Here are a few pictures from our town's Christmas market.

Blue Rock enjoying the swing ride

My cute husband standing with our neighbors cheering Blue Rock on as he flies by on the swing

Me and our town's lovely Christmas tree

Jana and I enjoying a hot drink

A German Birthday Party!

Us with the birthday man!

Last weekend our dear friend and next door neighbor turned 50!  To celebrate his family had a surprise party for him at the fire station in town.  Our fire station is almost 120 years old and is really neat!  He knew he was having a birthday party but didn't know they changed it to a surprise.  His wife blind folded him and took him to the car.  She drove around and stopped at the fire station.  They led him upstairs to the party room where everyone was lined up to surprise him and sing "Happy Birthday." 

The fire station was a great place for a party.  We even got a tour of the trucks.  Blue Rock loved that!  We all got to go inside them and look at the equipment.  Our neighbor's son is in the fire brigade and gave everyone a grand tour.

Germans celebrate birthdays a little differently than Americans, which I actually like.  The two biggest differences are: the birthday person provides food for everyone and secondly the party lasts longer than 1-2 hours.  For example, our friend catered a yummy lunch and a few hours later provided a variety of cakes and coffee.  His children provided some entertainment by having him play a game of guessing some famous Broadway music.  They also created a beautiful slide show of his life.  We had a wonderful time.  We were only able to stay for about 4 hours because Blue Rock started getting restless and tired.  I'm not sure when it was really over.  He was just starting to open some presents from family when we needed to leave.  Happy birthday to our awesome neighbor!  We felt very honored that you invited us and had a wonderful time!

Our town's fire station

Delicious lunch!

Yummy cakes!

Sitting in the big fire truck - Blue Rock was a little scared

Blue Rock trying on a fireman's hat

These were just a few of the trucks at the station

"Look, this tire is as tall as me!"

A German-American Halloween!

We had the most visitors we've had since living in Germany on Halloween last night.  There were two knocks on our door.  In the first group there were four German kids, the second group two.  Blue Rock enjoyed passing out candy and seeing the kids dressed up.  All the Germans kids that have come to our door say a lot more than just "trick-or-treat."  Our awesome neighbor translated what they say for us.  He said these girls said: "Halloween Halloween buh and chuck, all the hags now are here, Halloween Halloween get no fright, sweet stuff over than we are away!"

Handing out candy

Playing in his monkey costume earlier

Saturday evening we went trunk-or-treating with some Americans.  This was the first time Blue Rock has gone "trick-or-treating."  He had fun and enjoyed saying, "trick-or-treat" and "thank you!"  Blue Rock was a monkey this year.  He loves his costume and likes wearing it to play in.

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating

Trick-or-treating with his friend

Friday we joined some friends for some pumpkin carving fun.  It ended up being the Mom's who did the majority of the carving as the kids quickly decided they had more fun playing than carving.  I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

 

Getting ready to carve

All the scary pumpkins!

Our pumpkin

Cute German kids trick-or-treating in Germany.

Kerwe - My German Town's Fall Festival

Fall is probably my favorite time of year in Germany.  If you want to visit Germany, consider coming in the fall.  The heat of summer is over, the weather is cooler but not yet freezing, there's less rain than in the Spring, and there are lots of festivals.  The most famous festival is probably Oktober Fest, which originated in Munich. Thankfully, you don't have to go to Munich to enjoy festivals in October.  Most cities have their own.  This past weekend our small city had their Kerwe (festival).  Several of the main streets are closed down and venders come and set-up booths.

It seems like many Germans love festivals.  Usually because the weather is nice, there's reasonably priced food and drinks, and lots of live music.  Our town had several bands and lots of options for food.  There were also several rides for the children as well as carnival games to play.  We had a wonderful time.

Blue Rock and I sitting under the tent at dinner

My dinner - gyros, salad, and pommes (fries)

The two person band in our tent

Blue Rock enjoying one of the rides

Lots of people at the fair

Blue Rock having fun walking around

My sweet Husband won me a prize!

My crepe - Nutella and banana - yummy!

It was one of the best crepes I've ever had

Picture of what some of the tents look like

Why are there letters on doors?

Last night we have a few visitors stop by our house.  If you live in Germany or travel through Germany during the first part of January, you will sometimes see letters on the top of people's doors. Germans call the holiday, Dreikönigstag (Three Kings' Day). Typically in Germany, on January 6th, children in groups of three (symbolising the three kings) proceed in costume from house to house while singing songs.  In our town 4 kids and one adult stopped by our house.  They were dressed up, sang a few songs to us, and collected money for a local charity.  After their songs they wrote a blessing on our door.  One of the children wrote 20 * C + M + B + 11.  My friend told me the letters have two meanings. They are the initials of the customary names of the Three Magi: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. They also abbreviate the Latin words “Christus Mansionem Benedicat”, “May Christ bless the house”. The year is divided before and after the these letters. The crosses (+) represent the protection of the Christ."  She said that this is not just a Catholic blessing but is used by many faith traditions.  

This was the first time the kids visited our house and this is our third year in Germany.  When I mentioned this to one of my neighbors he said they come every year.  Not sure why we had not seen them until this year. Here are a few pictures from the group.

Our visitors

Blessing on our door

Christmas in Germany

We love Christmas. It's such a wonderful holiday celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I love how many families are able to get together during this time. One of the hardest things about living overseas is that nobody else in our family lives overseas with us. Thankfully we have made some wonderful friends over here, attend a great church, and are enjoying our experiences. However, we still miss our friends and family back home, especially during the holidays.

We got our first snow last Sunday, December 13th. It didn't stick but Wednesday night's snow did. It was beautiful.

I thought I would mention a few German Christmas traditions in this post as well as a few differences.

Christmas Tree - Traditionally many Germans wait until Christmas Eve to put up their Christmas tree. Most Americans put it up the day after Thanksgiving. Several of our neighbors have their trees outside on their decks waiting for that special day. Also Germans traditionally avoid sweets until December 24th.

Christmas Tree History - The first known Christmas tree was set up in 1419 in Freiburg, Germany, by the town bakers, who decorated the tree with fruits, nuts, and baked goods, which the children were allowed to remove and eat on New Year's Day.

The Advent calendar (Der Adventskalender) - The calendars are usually made of cardboard and have 24 small windows or flaps. One is opened every day leading up to Christmas. Behind each window is a Christmas scene or motif. Many calendars contain chocolate or candy behind each window, some even have small toys. I have seen most of them with chocolate. You can usually find these in the States and celebrate this German Christmas tradition from afar.

Nicholastag (St. Nicholas Day) - Germans celebrate Nicholastag on December 6th in Germany as well as in other European countries. On the evening before the 6th, children place their newly cleaned shoes (or an old boot) on their front porch in the hope that Nicholas might fill them with nuts, fruits, chocolate, and sweets. If the children have behaved well, their wishes will be fulfilled. Children who have caused mischief will receive only a switch, which symbolizes punishment for their bad deeds. 

Santa Claus - Germans do not really have Santa Claus but rather the Weihnachtsmann (literally, "the Christmas man"), who is a direct descendent of Saint Nicholas. Or depending on the region in Germany, the Christkind (Christ child) comes and leaves gits for the children to open on December 24th in Germany. The Weihnachtsmann, much like Santa Claus, is depicted as a jolly old man with a long white beard in a red fur suit, with a sack of presents. The difference in Germany is that he does not arrive through the chimney, but rather slips in and out just long enough to leave the gifts, usually before children can catch a glimpse of him. 

Christmas Lights - Germans tend to be more conservative with energy and therefore not many people put up Christmas lights. If they do it might be one string of lights in a window or a small reindeer light statute in their yard or on top of their house. Occasionally you'll see a few lights on someones bushes or in a tree, but from our experiences this is rare. 

Commercialism and Christmas - Christmas in Germany is not as commercialized as it is in the States. Gift giving is much smaller and there are not nearly the advertisements for toys and gifts as one sees in the States. 

Two Christmas Days - Both December 25 and 26 are legal holidays in Germany and are known as the First and Second Christmas Day respectively. What originally started out as a church celebration of Christ's birth has gradually become a family celebration. Businesses are closed, and time is spent visiting with extended family. Goose is the traditional fare on the First Christmas Day, or perhaps rabbit or a roast. These are accompanied by traditional German fare such as apple and sausage stuffing, red cabbage, and potato dumplings. The second Christmas day is usually a quieter time, a day for peaceful contemplation.