Goslar's Christmas Market

On Saturday, the 29th, we hopped the train to Goslar in the Harz Mountains to visit their Christmas Market. Being the last weekend for the Christmas Market, we thought that before we lost the chance, it might be fun to visit another market to compare with our own. We are so thankful that we went as it had its own unique flair and gave us another city to experience. We ate a picnic lunch on the train and made it home before dinner so it was a quick afternoon.

As is typical, there are lots of little stalls set up throughout the city center
selling just about anything you can imagine. This particular booth had
roasted almonds among other things.

One of the things we really liked about Goslar's market is that they attached
pine branches to the stalls so that everywhere you looked, you would see green.

This was the coolest part of Goslar's market! They brought in about 20-30
tall pine trees and created a forest of sorts. The trees must have been secured
underneath a platform covered with mulch. Göttingen had something
similar only with just a few trees so it didn't feel like a forest at all. This area
really felt like you were walking into Narnia! It was located by several booths
selling Gluhwein, a hot drink served only at Christmas. Each tree had a small
circular table about waist high so that you could set your drink while
visiting with friends.

~ A cool old door/arch we saw as we walked through the city ~

~ Tracy taking a picture of the Lions Club booth ~
This booth is done up right with all of the greens! Jason Panciera - this
photo was taken for you just in case you wondered if they are in Germany.

We thought this was a cool place where the buildings
ended up touching at the top....quite a bit of shifting
through the years!

Nativities are a part of life here. We have been struck by the willingness
and openness of the German people to discuss matters of religion. It is not
a taboo subject here like it is in the states.

The boys are petting the various animals at the petting zoo by the nativity.

~ Noah and Josiah ~

You can barely see the lights in this photo, but they are strung from
building to building all over the market. This string of lights reads:
Weihnachtsmarkt Goslar.

I loved how each booth was just covered with greens! This one even had
little white lights throughout the greens.

We stopped at one point in the afternoon for ice-cream. Yes, ice-cream!
Though it was quite a chilly day, all of the boys wanted to have ice-cream.
So we found a cute little shop and found a spot on the second floor to seat
us all. This photo was taken from that shop - this is looking over the center
of the market. We were surprised to find greens on all of the booth roofs, too!

Germany hasn't outlawed smoking in restaurants so notice that we had ash
trays on the tables! It's been an adjustment for us to get used to smoke while
eating. In fact, the whole time we enjoyed our ice-cream, there was a table
right beside us with three chain smokers. Lovely.

When you purchase a hot drink at a market, it is served
in a glass that you have the option of buying. We opted
to purchase this one as a keepsake of our outing to Goslar.

~ Enjoying our special treats! ~

We missed seeing the Glockenspiel in Salzburg on our day there so were
excited to see that Goslar had one as well. We were still in the ice-cream cafe
so were easily able to see it all. Goslar has salt mines so the some of the
characters in the Glockenspiel were workers in the mines.

~ A tunnel of greens and white lights leading to
another part of the Weihnachtsmarkt ~

~ Joel standing near part of the original city wall ~

The boys are checking out a set of stairs that lead to the top of the wall.

~ Part of the original city wall ~

The Second Day of Christmas

Another family at our church, the Schillers, invited us to join their family to play games together on the afternoon of the second day of Christmas. Tracy and Daniel have gotten to know each other a bit better the last two months as Daniel works near where Tracy does his research. On Thursdays, they have been able to meet for lunch. This has been an enjoyable relationship for Tracy and also a great way to continue working on his German.

Astrid had a variety of treats for us to enjoy along with Kinderpunsch, a traditional Christmas drink that is similar to Gluhwein. I need to get her recipe for this as I'd like to make this a Christmas tradition for us as well.

Simon, the Schillers' oldest son, gave their family a game for Christmas called Make 'N' Break. It is a board game where you build with blocks whatever your teammate describes to you. We decided to play family against family so that we could give all of our clues in English and theirs in German....making it much easier for us! We had a blast playing the game together and hope to have more times together as families.

Lennie is giving clues to Mailien while Simon and Astrid watch. This
game is so much fun because a range of ages can enjoy it together.
What square you land on the board determines what you have to do on
your turn. In this photo, Lennie has to give verbal clues about what
Mailien is to build with the colored blocks.

Daniel's turn to give Astrid clues...only the place they are at on the board
requires Asrid to be blindfolded. Very difficult to build blindfolded!

Micah's turn to give clues to Josiah.

You can see the picture of what Tracy is describing to Joel to build. The
whole time that you are building there is a timer counting down the
seconds so you feel a bit of pressure hearing that. Also, as the builder
you have no idea when you are finished so it can be a bit nerve-wracking!

As we left their home, they gave us a miniature version of the game. They had two sets of the travel size so gave us one of the games. It is structured a bit differently because of being so small yet still fun to play. Noah and I played it together several times this weekend.

The First Day of Christmas

As I said in the Christmas Eve post, we were out quite late celebrating with the Heyer family. So we were very glad that the boys slept in until close to 10:00 am....and Tracy and I did the same. Originally, our ski trip was to be our only present to the boys; however, we decided to get the older boys a few things that they had been wanting from the Christmas market and the younger boys a new toy to play with during the break. Tracy and I were concerned that the two week break could be a tough one for all of us so having a few new things might help. When we made those gift decisions, we were not planning on any Christmas packages. So rather than having nothing for Christmas morning, we had more than usual! What a treat to enjoy fun new things over the two week break!

Besides Christmas lights, I also packed the boys' stockings.
The number one request for a stocking stuffer was a big
bag of Haribo gummi bears. 

Thank you to the Louws Family and our California
cousins for contributing to our Christmas in Germany!

A tradition that we have every year is to give the boys a new tree ornament.
There is a shop called The Glas Insel that sells stained glass products. Tracy
and I met there one afternoon and chose ornaments for the boys along with
a manger scene for our family.

~ Punching arms from Uncle Todd and Aunt Marcy ~
These have been a favorite of all of the kids that have visited our home
since Christmas....but you can tell from the photo that they are not a
favorite of Tracy's! He looks like he's just about to say, "Enough already!'

~ Fun shirts from the California cousins ~

One day while at the Christmas market, Micah and Joel found some hats
from the Himalayas that they really liked. The next morning, Tracy and I
went back and purchased them. Later that afternoon, the boys took Tracy
by the booth to show him the hats they really wanted. I think they were
both a bit suspicious but didn't say anything.

Noah opening his remote control car. Needless to say, we heard that thing
run just about non-stop for the next 48 hours. The recharge time for the
battery ended up being a pleasant time of quietness.

Joj got a diablo (Chinese yoyo) that does some really
cool tricks...if one is skilled enough to master it.

Tracy shows off his new coffee mug that Noah made for him at school.
Little did he know he was about to get smacked with a
punching arm....that smile is soon to fade!

Normally, for Christmas brunch I make something that we all like to eat - like blueberry scones or monkey bread. This year I opted to visit the local bakery just down our street on Christmas Eve. Along with fresh pastries, I also had several cartons of pineapple juice - a favorite drink of the boys. That was one of the things that Joel asked for as a gift!

For Christmas dinner, we invited Colin and Rachel to join us mid-afternoon. They are an American/Australian couple that we met one of our first days after arriving. We get to see them fairly often as they also attend our church. I cooked a turkey and a few dishes to go with that, and Rachel provided some side dishes as well. Colin and Rachel were flying out to Paris the next morning so graciously offered us all of the leftovers. As a result, I didn't have to cook for two whole days! That was glorious!

I cooked the turkey without a turkey bag this time and
it turned out so much better than at Thanksgiving!
That was surprising!

~ Stollen from Dresden ~
Our neighbors, Bernd and Barbara, gave us this Stollen as a Christmas
gift. They told us this is traditional to eat at Christmas and that we were
to save it for Christmas day. We've sampled several Stollens throughout
the last few weeks and this was by far the very best we had. Barbara said
that this particular recipe from Dresden has been in the family for over
500 years and is known to be the best that Germany has to offer.

Rachel made her family's traditional fruit cake to share with us. The little
snowman on the top of the cake was so cute that I asked her about it.
She purchased the little guy from a booth at the Christmas market....so I
made a trip to the same booth and now own a similar little
glass snowman for next year.

Christmas Eve

In Germany, Christmas Eve is the biggest day of celebration for the holidays. It is this night that most families have all of their traditions - gift-giving, nice meals, lighting candles on the tree and such. Then they actually have two more days of Christmas, the 25th and the 26th. They simply call them the first and second days of Christmas.

Germans take their holidays very seriously. It is against the law for most stores to be open on holidays. In fact, we were warned by many friends to stock up on food as the stores close by 2:00 pm on Christmas Eve and will not reopen until the 27th. Because of the way Christmas fell in the week, the stores were closed on Sunday, the 23rd (they are always closed on Sunday.) Then, they closed early Monday just after lunch; not to reopen until Thursday. What this basically means is that the week before Christmas, I had to go to the store about twice a day. This is one time that having a vehicle would have come in handy. Carrying food in my backpack and bike basket limits how much I purchase - or it should. A couple of times that week leading up to the holidays, I was questioned at the check-out as to whether or not I had a vehicle. Oh to have captured their facial expressions when I said that I had a bike!

We were thrilled to be invited to spend Christmas Eve with the Heyer family whom we met through our church. In speaking with Dorte, we decided that we would join them at their house after our church's Christmas Eve service at 4:00. Their family tradition is to have fondue each year so they would provide all of the food for that. I was to bring a typical American dessert to share.

The church service is what one would expect to see on Christmas Eve. We sang a few traditional hymns, some that we knew and some that we didn't. The Christmas story from Luke 2 was read by our friend, Fred. Eva and her little friend played a couple duets on their violins. And our pastor and youth worker presented a drama over the meaning of Christmas....errr, maybe that is what is was about! There was no simulcast that service so I missed some of the meaning. That's a safe guess though, right?

Eva and her friend play a duet while Eva's grandpa, Fred, watches.

This is the size tree I would love to have!

 ~ Pastor Dieter with Wibke and her crow puppet ~

Each Sunday of Advent, a child in the service would
volunteer to climb a ladder and light the candles.

~ a parade of young children playing musical instruments ~

The church's organ was built by a member many years ago.

~ the nativity at the front of the church ~

Upon arriving at the Heyer's, we visited a bit while sipping Gluhwein, a traditional hot drink that is served only at Christmas. It is a fruity drink that may or may not have alcohol in it and is a very popular item at Christmas markets. It was served at every Christmas event that we went to in December. It reminds me of an apple cider drink only with a grape juice base - oranges with cloves might be added, along with anise or cinnamon, quite varied really. We sat around the advent wreath with just the glow of the candles and tree lighting the room. EVERY home has an advent wreath. In fact, people everywhere will greet each other with "Happy __ Advent Week to you!" This struck us as a big difference from the States. Advent doesn't seem to be on the radar for most Americans, but here everyone has an advent wreath, or two or three, in their homes and are very conscious of counting down in this manner the coming celebration of Christ's birth.

I've seen so many creative Advent displays this season!

Before eating fondue, we watched Achim and Kerstian light the candles on the tree. What a beautiful sight to see real candles burning on the tree! Then we took turns singing Christmas carols, first in English and then in German. After that we listened to a dramatic reading of the Christmas story by a famous German author. Lastly, Dorte read to us a Christmas story from a book of short stories.

There were about 20-25 candles as well as
typical white lights.

Cleo was enjoyed by our whole family! The lab was a pleasant reminder
of Crockett. At one point, Cleo sat beside Tracy and laid her head on his
lap just like she is doing with Noah. Very cute!

The meal was absolutely delicious! As a result, we all want to make fondue our new Christmas tradition. It was such a long process though that Noah came to me at one point and said that he was so tired and could he go to sleep on the couch. I couldn't believe he was tired already! Somehow I was thinking it was maybe 7:00 or so. Well, not too much later I went into the kitchen and saw a clock....11:15! What? How did that happen?? We still hadn't eaten dessert. I quickly apologized that we had overstayed our welcome and was laughed at. "The night is young!" I was told. We didn't make it home until about 1:30 am. What a fun evening! I had a headache from thinking in German for so many hours. We were all very tired but so thankful to truly experience such a lovely evening with the Heyers. The next morning when we awoke (thankfully around 10 am!), I asked Tracy a question. His response was, "Ich guesse nicht." ( a combination of "guess" with German pronouns and verb conjugations) This happens often after working for several hours to think and speak in German. We both had a good laugh!

There was a fondue pot at each end of the table with which to cook our food.
Dorte had prepared four kinds of meat (lamb, beef, pork and chicken), along
with shrimp and mushrooms. The rest of the meal was a variety of items from
a local Turkish market. We enjoyed the sides so much that I purchased some
of the same for our New Year's Eve festivities. The stuffed jalapeños were our
favorite!

Here is most of the crew - the Heyer boys are Marvin (16) and Kerstian (14).
Dorte's sister, Angelica, also joined us for the evening. We laughed over the
fact that we talked for so many hours about religion and politics, two
conversations that are usually not good choices for a first visit.

For dessert, I put together a tray of some of our favorite Christmas cookies
and treats. Often Tracy's family will eat cookies with applesauce so I took
a large container of applesauce I had made earlier in the fall. On the tray
there were a few pieces of Grandma McKenzie's cherished fudge, some of
our traditional Christmas caramels, a collection of cookies that we had
made at Sonja's house, and a few treats from the Louws family. They sent
us a really fun package that arrived just before Christmas. The Twix bars
were to be just for me! I willingly shared...but not too many. I still have a
bit of a stash. The candy canes were from the Louws as well. I didn't see
one candy cane for sale here anywhere so one more thing that is typical
of America, I guess. 

~ Micah with his German twin, Kerstian! ~
People have come up to Micah at church speaking to him as if he is one
of the Heyer boys. It took us several Sundays to finally meet him and
realize how close the resemblance.