girlintheglasses

I just wanted to do a quick post to share some pictures from our local Christmas market.  For those of you who do not know, the Germans kick off the Christmas season with the beginning of the Advent which also marks the opening of the various Christmas Markets that take place in cities, towns and villages country-wide.  While there are definitely bigger markets to be seen, I honestly just don’t think they’re as charming as the one in Coburg.  Each year the temporary buildings are set up in the town square along with the giant tree and beautiful fiber optic lit canopy that encircles the statue of Prince Albert that stands at the heart of the square.  Some of the booths sell things like ornaments, lighted stars, small ceramic ware and knitted woolen items. While other booths sell food items such as currywurst, fries, waffles, crepes, flammkuchen, christollen, cinnamon sugared almonds and various other nuts and sweets.  However, the big draw would be the glühwein which translates to “glow wine” for you non Deutsch speakers.  Glühwein is a hot drink made of red wine, sugar, cinnamon, star aniseed, cloves and sometimes vanilla.  You can even order your glühwein with a little extra kick courtesy of a shot of rum or some other alcohol if you like.

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I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the German Christmas traditions.  Captain Canada and I have certainly appreciated being able to partake in some of these traditions ourselves.  Since moving to Germany we’ve intertwined our own traditions with some we’ve discovered here and I think the result has been a happy marriage of the what each of us has brought to the proverbial table along with traditions we have started together with a sprinkling of German cheer.  Whatever holiday  you and your family maybe celebrating this month, whether it be Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Christmas, I would like to wish you and yours all the best during this holiday season.  As always, thanks for reading and check back soon.