A Very Magdeburg Christmas

This one is gonna be a long one kids...and I literally mean long. I have so many pictures from Christmas time in the Mag and we all know how I like to post my pictures very large (better detail). That is why I predict this post will be at least 4 computer screens long...is that even an accepted form of measurement? If not, just know you will need to scroll a couple of times.

First things first. You need to know that my friend Adam came to visit. He is also a participant in the CBYX program. He lives in Kassel though and lives in an apartment and does not have a host family like I do. For this reason, the Dulz family adopted him for the holiday season so that he was not all alone during the holidays in his empty apartment. I just figured I would let you know so you could stop asking who that stranger was in all the photos.

What Christmas would be complete without a Christmas tree? That is where we will begin. Below you will find before, during, and after photos of the tree. Trees don't usually go up until the 24th of December in Germany and they usually stay up until Heilig Dreikönig or Epiphany as we call it in the states. It seems like such a short amount of time to have a tree but when you think about it, do you really need to have that tree up for a month?

I want to mention the Adventskalender my host mom set up for me here. While all of you were popping small chocolate pieces out of a cardboard box I was having a mini adventure every morning. I would sit on my steps and search for that special little bag that had the day's date on it that would hold a pretty decent sized chocolate. My Adventskalender was awesome and very creative.

My awesome Adventskalender. The bags were not arranged in order so I had to search very morning.

Below are some pictures of the Magdeburg Christmas market. It was pretty cool. Not very big but it got the job done. It was also open until the 30th so I was able to get some special after Christmas deals on last minute Christmas gifts. The Christmas market is set up every year in the alte Markt which is the opening right in front of the Rathaus.

Those stars are a very typical tradition. They are called Herrnhuter Sternen. They come in all colors and sizes and can be bought at the Christmas markets.

A pretty little side path with the Johanniskirche straight ahead peeking out of the darkness. 

The Rathaus with the ferris wheel in the background.

This was the "food isle" as I liked to call it. This was like the food court of the Christmas market. Quarkbälle, Kartoffelpuffer, Crepes, Knoblauchbrot and so much more!

Yet another wonderful example of a Weihnachtspyramide.

Now you can really see the details of the Weihnachstpyramide and you can very clearly see Johanniskirche in the background.

Now, at the Magdeburg Christmas market we had a little side walkway that was lined with Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Each one was motorized in some way so that the characters moved. I, of course, took pictures of all of them and will try and give a synopsis of each tale. I have also seen Brothers Grimm fairy tale displays like these at other Christmas markets so it must be somewhat of a German tradition to display them at the Christmas markets. Why not? The Brothers Grimm are from Germany...in fact, the Brothers Grimm Museum is in Kassel, Germany.

This is Schneewittchen und die Sieben Zwerge or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in English. I am not going to go into a synopsis for this one since I think we all already know how the story goes.

Der Starntaler which means something like "star coins". I guess "taler" is the plural form of a word that means something like a coin in German. It is the story of a little girl whose parents both die. All she has left is one piece of bread, a hat, and a jacket. She selflessly gives all these things away to people in need. She is then rewarded by the heavens by having coins fall from the sky and she becomes rich.

Die Gestiefelte Kater or Puss in Boots in English. I think most people know the story behind this one but it is basically the story of how a very smart cat makes his owner rich after his owner decides not to kill him to make fur gloves. I recommend looking the story up and reading the full story...there's more to it than what the Shrek spinoff lets on.

Rumpelstilzchen or Rumpelstiltskin in English.

Dornröschen or Sleeping Beauty. 

Das Tapfere Schneiderlein or The Brave Little Tailor. Another not so well known Brothers Grimm fairy tale. The story becomes kind of lengthy but the title comes from the fact that this little tailor allows everyone to believe that he killed 7 men in one blow when really he only killed 7 flies with one blow. If you look closely at the table in the picture you can see the tailor's bread with jam and the big flies that are also on the table. When the flies landed on his bread he swatted them and killed 7 at once. And there you have it.

The holidays were also, of course, filled with a lot of food. I took the opportunity at dinner once to take a group photo.

From left to right: host dad Konrad, host mom Sonja, host brother Andreas, host grandma Ruth, and me.

Me and Adam decided to walk around Magdeburg on Christmas Eve and decided to poke our heads into the Magdeburger Dom to see what it looked like for Christmas. It was very simple but still Christmasy.

That's my Dom! 

They turned the lights off at one point.

Christmas in Germany would not be complete without chocolate...lots of chocolate. I mean lots of it. Not only were their various chocolate Santas scattered throughout the house and bowls of random chocolate treats but I was given my own personal chocolate Santas. By the time Christmas was over I had received about 4 decent sized chocolate Santas and various other chocolate goodies. I am still trying to widdle my way through it all. I am saving my special edition Ritter Sport bar for a special occasion though. It is a Ritter Sport Goldschatz wich means gold treasure. Hmmmmmmmm I wonder what lies beneath the beautiful gold wrapper. I felt like Charlie with his golden ticket when I got it.