Christmastime in Germany is AMAZING

I'm going to be honest here: I've been looking forward to a "Christmas in Germany" since we moved here. I didn't even know what that actually meant, but it just sounded magical, so I let my imagination kinda run wild.

Well, let me tell you. It's been pretty stinkin' awesome so far. Let me tell you why.

BUT, before I EVEN get started on all of this, I'd like to say

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We Walkers at a Christmas Market in Cologne, 

I am so grateful for this amazing season that allows us to officially celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, one of my favorite people ever, who is such a perfect example of love. As I strive to be more like him in my life, I hope you can feel the love that I have for each of you as well.

NOW: German Christmasy-ness: since Christmas season kicked off after Saint Martin's Day (I wrote a short post on that too) we have indeed been enjoying it.

Here's a couple of fun reasons why:

Reason #1: German Christmas Markets 

(or "Weihnachtmarkts")

Dusseldorf Christmas Market in Altstadt
(photo credit: http://www.duesseldorfer-altstadt.com/duesseldorfer-weihnachtsmarkt-201768)

I want you to imagine a giant farmers market: Booths packed together, selling cool/delicious stuff, crowds of friendly, happy people.
Now, replace the faded-tarp-covered tables and booths with fancy wooden Christmas huts, add a bunch of beautiful Christmas lights, festive music, and bundle all of the friendly 

Ice skating rink set up around a Christmas Market in Cologne

people up and make them even more friendly with a cup (or many cups) of hot, spiced Christmas wine, and you've got yourself a German Christmas market. They do anything and everything you can think of to make it Christmasy, even to the point of installing temporary ice-skating rinks that wind in and around the booths.
It's. 

So. 

Magical. 

And everything they're selling, from hand-carved nativity scenes to hot crepes is handed to people with this festive, almost elfy smile. I mean, look at this girl in the middle here:

If you ask, they also sell peace, joy, and good will toward men behind the counter

Isn't she totally handing out some holiday joy with the bags of cookies she's selling? 

Berkley and Juniper navigating the
crowd at the Cologne Christmas Market

The first Christmas Market that we went to was laid out under the shadow of the Cologne Cathedral, so it was like a BA-BOOM-German-awesomeness-Christmasy-double-whammy. And it also happened to be really, really pretty too. It wound through

several blocks and squares with lights hanging from the trees and covering the booths. It was so packed with people it was hard to get a good photo, but believe me - it was beautiful.
Since that first market, we haven't hesitated to stop at other ones we happen to be passing by. Berkley and I even planned a date to the Christmas Markets in Dusseldorf, making it possible for us to stop at all of the booths with cool little trinkets and things without the watchful eyes and grabby-hands of little kids. 

Berkley and the Ferris Wheel at a Dusseldorf Christmas Market

Walking between rows of shops under Christmas lights and fog-filled skies

Reason #2: Advent Calendars

So you know those little cardboard boxes with perforated doors numbered 1-24 that are filled with cheap chocolate that we give to kids, calling them "Advent Calendars"? 

Yeah. They have those here too. But it goes so much farther than that! 

At the end of November, my dear friend Steffi invited me to her house and before leaving she handed me a large, red box.

"Don't open it until December 1st" she instructed me. "It is an Advent Calendar for you and the children". 

I felt so honored. It was beautiful, and I knew a lot of work and thought went into it, and that people only prepare such gifts for people that are really special to them.
Steffi is an amazing, one-of-a-kind woman, and I love her giving heart.

But my respect for her grew when December 1st rolled around and we did finally get to open up the box she gave us. Here's what we discovered:

This fun, carefully decorated box that instantly filled the kid's imaginations with excitement and wonder (look at Bridger's fingers in the photo above - he could barely contain himself).
Along with the chocolate snowmen, stars and Advent Candle, inside the box were individually-wrapped, small gifts labeled 1-24 for each of the days before Christmas day. 

It's been sooo fun. The kids are excited to open each gift, and the gifts themselves are just so perfectly appropriate - enough to generate excitement without being too extravagant. Small hair clips, festive window stickers, small treats, homemade bath paint...something fun every day.

And since that day, as I've gone in others' homes, I've seen them everywhere: Bags, numbered 1-24 tied to the banisters going up the staircase, little presents, numbered 1-24, sticking out of pockets attached to a cloth on the wall, and more.
Advent is a huge thing here, and the parents seem to have it down pretty good. It's a lot of fun. 

Reason #3: Christmas Cookies

That same day that Steffi gave me the Advent Calendar, she had actually invited me to come over and make Christmas cookies with her. I was so excited, and told her I would bring some dough to share and bake. But then, as I hastily prepared to make cookies the night before, I realized that I didn't have any eggs. I showed up empty-handed the next morning. I felt sheepish, but that sheepish-feeling turned into utter shame when, while chatting pleasantly over warm tea, Steffi admitted to having spent 7 HOURS CREATING other amazing cookies over the weekend. She shared them with me. They were gorgeous. And sooo delicious. Check it out:

There were jars and jars of these things lined up on her counter

I learned later in the week that Steffi, although an expert, isn't the exception. It turns out that it seems to be a tradition for many Germans to have this crazy dedication to making amazing, beautiful, delicious Christmas cookies. Steffi spent hours and hours, over a couple of weekends at least, doing so. A colleague of Berkley's admitted to preparing 8 kilograms (over 17 lbs) of cookie dough with a friend over the weekend. And I know they can't be the only ones.

I wanted to jump in on this cookie creation, and created some good-old American-style Gingerbread Men. I picked a good recipe - delicious and time consuming, just like a good Christmas cookie should be - only to realize when rolling them out that my recipe only made me about 6 little men (whah-whuhh), plus some cars and hearts.

But just take a look at these masterpieces:

Gingerbread creations, customized by Bridger's artistic hand

Aren't they SO amazing? 

Whatever. By far the best thing about them was Bridger's hand-drawn decorations. Actually, I love that part...a lot. Which is why I took a photo. "The heart with a face on it!" is my favorite :) Having a 4 year old to decorate cookies with is the best!
But yes - 

I like to think "Oh yeah, I'll totally get into that next year" and then I realize that these women that I've met that do this are busy mothers and professional scientists, and they still are taking the time to do it now. 

They're so cool.

So yes. I should wrap this up. I really could talk a lot more about my experiences with the Christmas season in Germany. Not only are we seeing new and vibrant traditions coming to life in our ever-filling memory banks, but we are also amazed at how many familiar traditions have their roots in this country. It's so cool. And then, of course, there's the ever-present spirit of Christmas that just seems to touch hearts everywhere, from the train stops to the grocery stores, in the US and also here in Germany. I love that.

So while I see photos from home of family and friends, sending with them small pangs of nostalgia and desire to be with them, I really am and really will enjoy these moments while I am here. They're unique, and mine, unforgettable memories in the making, and I know I will look back on for years to come. 

Saint Martin's Day: A New Tradition

Germany does not celebrate Halloween. Nor Thanksgiving. So what in the world is there to celebrate in October and November??? How do they decide that it's officially time to kind of kick-off the Christmas season?
Enter: Saint Martin's Day.
Basically, the story is that Saint Martin was a Roman soldier, out on a cold winter night, who gave half of his cloak to a beggar to keep him from freezing to death. Such an act was against Roman law and he was thrown in prison where, that night, he dreamed that Christ was the beggar to whom he'd given his cloak. Pretty cool, huh?

The kids with their lanterns before
the Sankt Martinszug

So, at least here in Dusseldorf, we got to experience the awesomeness surrounding Saint Martin's Day:
1st: All of the kids make lanterns and learn catchy, repetitive Saint Martin's Day songs at school.
2nd: Sometime during the week of Saint Martin's Day, the children of the neighborhood gather together for a Sankt Martinszug, a procession, or really a parade through the streets. Saint Martin leads the way on his horse, walking through the streets with hundreds of little kids holding lanterns following behind, singing along to the band (or bands, strung throughout the procession) playing the Saint Martin's Day songs.
At the end of the procession, there's a bonfire, with a small re-enactment of Saint Martin's encounter with the beggar.
3rd: After the enactment, the children go door-to-door for treats/money. It's kind of like trick-or-treating, except you have to sing a Saint Martin's Day song at each door to get your treat. 

Bridger standing in front of Saint Martin,
ready to march in the parade

So...this was fun. And we actually went to 3 different parades, in different neighborhoods on different days. The one here in Volmerswerth (our neighborhood) was our last and favorite. We gathered with the rest of the Volmerswerthers at a local church. Bridger showed some people in the church his lantern he made at school as part of a "contest" and they awarded him (and all of the other kids) with some cool art supplies. He was pumped.
In the church's courtyard, Saint Martin stood on his horse, ready to lead the way. Bridger found a little friend from school and we marched through the streets, singing loudly as we went along. The kids were so cute, and so happy to be part of a "parade"! And the light of the lanterns in the dark street actually made for a pretty cool scene.

Bridger and the Weckman! He was
surprisingly scrumptious

At the end, after the enactment, both kids were given these HUGE bags full of treats - fresh fruit, candy, peanuts, walnuts, and even this awesome "Weckman" (which are all over in the bakeries, but I am lost as to their significance??).

The kids were starving for dinner, and we had a ton of candy booty from the bag given us anyways, so we skipped out on the door-to-door stuff. But it was awesome, none-the-less. So awesome that still, over a MONTH later, the kids are still spontaneously breaking into Saint Martin's Day songs...


...We've gotta get more Christmas music playing around this house...


Here's a little "overview" from Bridger himself, complete with music: