Christmas in Germany

My family has been asking me what Christmas in Germany is like, since a lot of Christmas traditions are believed to originate in Germany.  In my opinion, a lot of the fun in Christmastime here is the build-up, not the actual day.  Starting around the beginning of Advent, Christmas Markets emerge en masse.  Christmas decorations are all over the place.  I believe I have said this before on this blog, but it really is like Germans see a non-decorated area and think "ugh, what an EYE-SORE" and immediately decorate it.

At Christmas Markets, there are tons of shops selling decorations, food, wine, clothing, etc.  I think part of the experience is seeing the shops, smelling (and eating!) the food, and drinking the Glühwein, which are all things photos cannot convey.  Sorry, Family, but I can't help anyone there!

I took some pictures of the Heidelberg Christmas Market.  It was the first snow of the season, but by the time I got out there, the snow had become rainy mush.

When you purchase Glühwein, you pay about 2-3 euro deposit for the mug.  If you don't return the mug, you don't get the money back, but you get a great kitschy souvenir!  I have left the Christmas season with 5 different mugs from 5 different Christmas Markets.  If you're interested in more pictures, I have some loaded on my Dresden post and a bit about the Karlsruhe Christmas Market in my Amsterdam post.  

I was pretty lucky, because my German friend's family has been kind enough to include me in their holiday celebrations.  She even gave me a bag of gifts (as tradition) on December 6, which is Saint Nicholas day.  As far as I understand, German Christmas traditions generally vary.  Some other PPPlers have mentioned that in their host family, the Christkind comes and delivers presents for the children on Christmas Eve.  In my friend's family, the children go outside searching for Santa Claus and when they return, the presents are out for them to open.  Even though there were no children around, we still went out searching for the Weinachtsmann before opening our gifts.  In addition to some stuff that my family sent me, I received a German book, chocolates, Lebkuchen, a mug with a panorama of Heidelberg, and Germany Quiz flash cards.  Before we came to Germany, our program had us take a quiz on American and German history, geography, and politics.  Unsurprisingly, most of us got pretty low scores.  Hopefully, I will be well-versed in German history thanks to these cards.  I also finally got to try Stollen, which I am sad that I didn't eat until 4 days ago.  I asked my mom for something typical from my hometown to give to my friend, and she sent me more sock monkey paraphernalia than I could ever imagine.  The gift seemed to be a hit, though.  

On the actual Christmas day, we went to Frankfurt to visit an art museum.  It seems anti-climatic, but I had a good time!  

Tomorrow, my sister flies in for a visit.  We will be making short trips to Paris and Prague (Thank you Europa Spezial-Tschechien for letting us afford the second trip!).  Unfortunately, she will be missing the Christmas Markets, but I still have Lebkuchen and Glühwein!