I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas

When I last saw Gemma at the beginning of November, we decided our next rendezvous should be at a halfway point to enjoy a Christmas market together. And it turns out there is a pretty good half way point between our two cities - Frankfurt

On that Sunday morning not so long ago, I woke up at 5:30 am (something I'd only do for Gemma) to make the 3 hour journey down to Frankfurt. Of course, when one is relying on Deutsche Bahn to get your around, you have to prepared to stop randomly at any given place for over an hour and arrive at your final destination almost 2 hours late. But after that, minor hiccup, our visit to the Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt went smoothly. 


We got to enjoy each other's company... 

the festive scenery...

and the rain. 

That's right, it rained the entire day. But don't you worry, this did not dampen anyone's Christmas spirits. If you thought a little precipitation could keep the Christmas market enthusiasts away, you would be completely wrong. As we made our way back to the train station at the end of our day together, it was through a sea of umbrellas and an otherwise uninterrupted Christmas market atmosphere! 

baby, it's cold outside

Last year's Christmas season is defined in my memory by insane amounts of snow. But, ironically, the coldest I can remember was actually one without snow. I remember it so well, too, because it was the day Gemma and I visited the Christmas Market in Nürnberg. 

You may notice that the market in Nürnberg is called a "Christkindlesmarkt" instead of a Weihnachtsmarkt. That literally means "Christ Child Market" and might have to do with the fact that in Germany the Christkind (or Christ child) is the one that delivers presents on Christmas night, not Santa Claus (but more on that later). But regardless of what it's called, it's still the same thing.

The Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt is probably the most famous in Germany. I'm not entirely sure why, but I can confirm, it is well deserved. 

Luckily, living less than an hour away, I got to visit the Nürnberg market on more than one occasion last year. But on particular visit sticks out as the absolute coldest I can remember. Now, I couldn't tell you exactly what the temperature was, just that Gemma and I were so cold we bought Glühwein just to hold on to something warm and spent 30 minutes walking through a grocery store just to get out of the cold. 

Even after we lost feeling in all our extremities, were still able to enjoy the perfect Christmas atmosphere at the market. I mean, set in the idyllic Nürnberg market square, how could we not?

The absolute best part of the Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt, though, is hidden around the corner from the main market. Now, most people wouldn't really call Nürnberg's sister city market the best part, but most people don't come from (well, almost come from) one of Nürnberg's sister cities - Atlanta! 

I almost peed my pants with excitement when I saw the Atlanta stand! When I proudly told the girl working the stand that I was from the area, she did not seem nearly as excited as I had hoped. I then spent the next 20 minutes pointing at every item for sale and going "oh! I know that!" And for those 20 minutes, I forgot just how cold it really was. 

The Christmas Song[s]

No matter what country I'm in, I can't deny what a sucker I am for Christmas music! The music goes on on Thanksgiving and is rocked out to almost exclusively for the following month. And over the years I've been able to really perfect my Christmas playlist - a mixture of traditional and unique, seriously and silly, nostalgic and new - so I thought I'd share it with you, people of the internet!

Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas
I first got this album last year and it quickly became my absolute favorite Christmas album. It covers almost every traditional Christmas song - you know, the ones that were in all the carol books but you'd never actually heard a day in your life. But there are also quite a few new songs. If nothing else, I would definitely recommend you take a minute to listen to "Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming" and "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"

The Killers - Annual Christmas Single
-Boots
-Don't Shoot me Santa
-Great Big Sled
-Happy Birthday Guadalupe!
-Cowboy Christmas Ball
The Killers are my favorite band. And every year they put out a Christmas single and give the benefits to charity. The songs are all fantastic. Perhaps a little strange in subject, but just great! 

Amy Grant - A Christmas Album
- Tennessee Christmas
- Sleigh Ride
I actually don't know why I don't have the entire Amy Grant Christmas Album. But this really goes back to the good ol' days. See, having been born in Nashville and living just outside for 8 years, all Amy Grant music pretty much defines my childhood. And, despite the fact that I haven't lived in Tennesse for over 15 years, it is absolutely not Christmas without listening to a tender Tennessee Christmas!

Cary Brothers - Father Christmas
It's upbeat and fun... but I'm still not entirely sure what it's about. A department store Santa getting beat up by spoiled kids for money. But then there some nice bits about feeding the hungry. Good, but confusing.

Coldplay - Christmas lights
Fantastic stuff.

Ingrid Michaelson 
-Snowfall
-Winter Song (with Sarah Bareilles)
-Auld Lang Syne (with lots of others...)
I love Ingrid, and she does Christmas pretty well. I really wish she'd put out a full Christmas album. I'd defs buy it. 

A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All
As per Stephen Colbert, this album is just ridiculous! It's a combination of completely new songs and traditional songs with Weird Al'-esque reworking. Stephen Colbert sings quite a few himself, but the album also features guests artists from Willie Nelson to John Legend. I laugh every time a I listen to this, and yet I still find myself humming the songs constantly.

Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas is You
'nuff said.

Michael Buble - Let it Snow!
-Let it Snow
-Grown up Christmas List
I grew up on Amy Grant's "Grown up Christmas list" but I have to say, Michael Buble does a pretty good job himself.

Deathcab for Cutie - Christmas (baby, please come home)
Great new take on a lesser known classic

Dean Martin - Baby It's Cold Outside
a classic Christmas playlist must-have

Josh Groban - Noel
I've pretty much been obsessed with Josh Groban since day 1. Seriously. Ask my mom, who had to wait till I was out of the country to get rid of the cardboard cut-out I'd stolen from Barnes and Noble  that had been living in my room since high school. That being said, this is not my favorite Christmas album. There are some really great ones on it like the original song "Thankful" or the tear-inducing "I'll be Home for Christmas" with voice overs of messages from military men and woman overseas. Otherwise, though, I found the whole thing a bit overdone. My absolute favorite Josh Groban Christmas song (and probably my favorite Christmas song ever), O Holy Night, is unfortunately not on this album, but it is available to download and definitely on the playlist!

Polar Express Soundtrack
-only the good songs
I bought this because of the Josh Groban theme song. Which I do enjoy! Otherwise, I got rid of all the songs written for the movie and kept the classics. Lots of good old-timey gems on this one. 

Honorable mention go to A Very She & Him Christmas (She & Him) and Christmas! (Michael Buble) which I have been listening to pretty much everyday on Grooveshark, but haven't quite made the commitment to download them yet. Both really great interpretations of new and old Christmas music!

So, that is my Christmas list! Recognize anything you like? Or do you have any other suggestions to make the cut?

On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

... an Advent Calendar in the Forchheim Rathaus.

The Forchheimer Weihnachtsmarkt may not be the biggest Christmas market in all of Germany, but set up right in picturesque Rathausplatz, it was definitely full of Christmas charm! Not to mention, the snow last year set the perfect Christmas mood. I wandered over to the Weihnachtsmarkt pretty much everyday after school and Gemma and I made the trek back into town on quite a few evenings as well. 

The crown jewel of the Forchheimer Weihnachtsmarkt is the Advent Calendar the City hall is turned into. Each window represents a day leading up to Christmas and every night at 6pm an "angel" opens the window, sprinkles a little faery dust and reads a poem. Just watch...

If you think this little living Advent Calendar is pretty adorable, you wouldn't alone. The Adventskalender Forchheim is locally famed as the most beautiful Advent Calendar. Now, I'm a little hazy on the details. I'm not really sure what arena we're playing in. The most beautiful in the world? the country? the region? the city? Also, I feel the need to wonder how the very subjective quality of beauty can be objectively quantified as "the most beautiful." But, I dare not question the title to the very proud locals. And I can't deny that it is quite a beautiful Advent Calendar, regardless of the validity of the claim. 

O Tannenbaum

The most wonderful thing about Christmas in Germany is all the Weihnachtsmärkte (that means Christmas Markets). Basically every city and town has one - whether it's big or small, old or new it's almost impossible to travel in Germany in the month of December and not see a Weihnachtsmarkt. 

The Dortmunder Weihnachtsmarkt opened its stands a week before the normal first Advent opening of most other markets. And for good reason - covering almost half of the city center, Dortmund boasts one of the largest Weihnachtsmarkts in all of Germany. With that much to see and buy, you might need the extra week!

Even better? It starts about 50 feet away from my front door. I get to see the Christmas market every day when when I leave my apartment. And although this takes its toll on my wallet and self control, it's so awesome to be in the middle of the action.

But even amidst all the excitement, one things stands out above all the rest at the Dortmunder Weihnachtsmarkt. At 45 meters tall (that's almost 150 feet in American speak), in the heart of the Christmas market stands the world's tallest Christmas tree (Guinness Book of World Records approved).

This baby started going up about 4 weeks before the market opened and lights up the city every night with it's 48,000 lights. And the locals are quite proud of this achievement! 

Dortmund has the tallest

o little town of... Forchheim?

Among the many holiday festivities and decorations I saw last year, I noticed there were quite a few nativity scenes on display. Nativity scenes, or Krippe in German, were all over the place in every style possible to display the birth of baby Jesus. The were living nativities, musical nativities, life-size nativities, interactive nativities, light-up nativities... the list goes on.  

 

But, as varied as all these sound, I did notice they all seemed to have one glaring similarity - a blatant disregard for historical accuracy. 

So, I've gathered a few pointers for anyone interested in creating a German nativity scene...

1. Feel free to set the scene in any place you desire. Sure the story goes that it was in Bethlehem, but the details of the journey are pretty hazy - who's to say they didn't wander through Forchheim on their way! And don't even worry about the anachronistic problems of setting a story that happened in 1 A.D. set in a scene that didn't exist till more than a thousand years later. 
2. make sure the scene, as a whole, lacks proportional continuity. Figures should not be appropriately sized to the setting. True greatness is achieved when figures aren't even proportionate to each other. 
3. Mary should be the only character appropriately dressed for the original setting of Bethlehem. All other characters, including Joseph, should fit the setting chosen for the particular nativity. For best results, Joseph should look like he just finished herding his cattle in the mountains. (You are allowed one other figure not dressed appropriate to the setting, if, and only if he is a giant creeper on a horse with a cape and crown)
4. Although not necessary, it's always good to have a group of people enjoying some beer somewhere in the scene. 
5. The last and probably the most important point: pretty much nothing in the scene needs to have anything to do with the actual Christmas story. As long there is a pregnant Mary and a Joseph, it's officially a nativity scene.

For any further comments or inspiration for your own Krippe, please refer to this wonderful scene set in the truly biblical town of Forchheim. 

I'll be home for Christmas

Well, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas on das Blog! And to kick off the festivities, I thought a post of my favorite Christmas ever would be quite appropriate...  

See, when you tell people you're going abroad for a year, people get really concerned about the holidays. "But, you're coming home for Christmas, right?" most of them will ask.  And my answer is usually a very solid "No, it's too expensive and too far."  

Then last year, the stars aligned and I found myself with some extra money and ridiculously cheap flights. So, about 5 weeks before Christmas I booked my flight home for the holidays. But, in a stroke of genius, I decided wasn't just going to fly home, I would surprise my parents.

I was on high alert for the next 5 weeks, not posting anything about my impending trip home facebook, twitter or das Blog. I knew if anyone was impossible to surprise, it was my mom. She just seems to know things.  

The most difficult task was covering for the time that would be spent traveling. I would leave for the airport on Christmas Eve morning, arrive in Atlanta at Midnight on Christmas Day where I would be picked up by and spend the night with a friends in the area till my brother and AJ picked me up early Christmas morning on their way to Athens. So I needed a good cover story for the suspiciously long time I would not be available on Skype on Christmas.  

I told my parents that since Germans celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, a teacher had invited me to her house, and since this teacher lived further away, I would just spend the night at her house before heading straight to Nürnberg for Christmas day with the other Fulbrighters. And with such a busy schedule, I surely wouldn't be able to talk until Christmas Day afternoon.  

With a little Christmas magic, Operation Holy Birth (what a clever code-name, I know) went off without a hitch. I made all my flights home (Frankfurt to Toronto to DC to Atlanta) and showed up to parents who had absolutely no idea what I'd been up to all month! I would try to describe the look on my parents face when I jumped out of the car, but luckily there is a video that captures the moment 10 times better than I could ever write it. 

This was, without a doubt, the best Christmas I've ever had. And I have a hard time imagining it ever being beaten as my favorite Christmas memory.