In December, We Were Germans!

Christmas in Germany
Very few countries go as big as Germany at Christmastime, so I decided it’d be the perfect country to “travel to” this month!

Of course, I had to do up the ‘festive corner’ all German-style. Because I’m a dork and it’s my brand of fun. 🙂

Here are some of the fun things we did to celebrate Christmas in Germany:

We had a Germany date night
with decorations, costumes, a little cooking lesson for Betsy, and a movie. That’s our usual plan. 🙂

First up was making pretzels from scratch while listening to German yodeling music.  Here’s a quickie run down of the steps: (1) make the dough, (2) let it rise, (3) roll it into the pretzel shape (fun!)…

 

then (4) proof them, (5) brine them, (6) add coarse salt, (7) bake them, and lastly (8) top
them with a little melted butter: 


  

It’s kind of a lot of steps, but it went by fast and look how beautiful they turned out:

 

Next up — we turned OFF the German yodeling music (because…yikes!) and Jac made dinner. He pounded some pork and made schnitzel:


plus he made German potato salad and German style vegetables. Everything was SO delicious, way better than any German food I’d ever had before–even when traveling in Germany! 

After dinner, we watched a subtitled German movie set in Germany called Run, Lola, Run. Jac absolutely loved it, right Jac? 🙂

And that was it. Truthfully, it wasn’t our funnest country date night, but it was still better than a night mindlessly watching tv!

We celebrated St Nicholas Day
On December 6th, we celebrated St. Nicholas Day, a German tradition where children leave their shoes outside overnight to be filled with little treats if they’ve been good and coal or twigs if they’ve been bad.
 
Jac has been good so he earned some treats. Good boy Jac!  But, he’s an adult, so instead of filling his shoes with candy, I filled them with some delicious baked goods from our local bakery. (And he shared them with me. See, part of that ‘good boy’ thing I was mentioning before!)



 
I hung out with some Nutcrackers
Nutcracker dolls originated in 17th-century Germany and Jac just happens to have three large ones that he’s been moving around with him from house to house for decades! They were looking a bit haggard, so one evening I gave them each a little makeover.  Now they look much better…especially in dim lighting, lol.
 
 
We ate like Germans throughout the month
Jac made a loooooot of cabbage soup one night

 

and spatzle (a German egg noodle) another night:

And we drank like Germans too
We tried Jägerbombs — made with a shot of Jägermeister (a German liqueur) and some Red Bull energy drink. It was my first time trying either. It was good, but I’m not super tempted to have either again. It’s supposed to make you hyper, but I didn’t notice anything much (after two shots even).

Jac also made sure to enjoy some of his favorite beer, which just happens to be German — Spaten Oktoberfest.


We did an Advent Calendar
Advent calendars originated in Germany in the 19th century and is still a big part of their celebrations each year. The tradition involves counting down the days to Christmas by marking walls with chalk or lighting candles or somehow counting down the days. So, since we’re German this month, I made a version of an Advent Calendar for us using these 12 ornament balls. (More about it in the main December post).


And we went to a German Christmas Market
German Christmas markets (“Christkindlmarkts”) are festive open-air markets featuring traditional crafts, seasonal foods, and holiday decorations. They first started in Germany in the late Middle Ages (as far back as 1434!) and are now globally popular, drawing millions of visitors each year to experience the charming holiday atmosphere. 

Since we couldn’t go to an actual Christkindlmarkt in Germany, we went to Salt Lake’s version. And it was fun! We had dinner there, strolled around the shops, listened to the cheesy live music, and just got into the Christmas spirit.

Here’s some pictures of our time at Christkindlmarkt SLC:

 

 

The booths sold ADORABLE handmade Christmas items, but we didn’t end up buying any because they were super dang expensive. 

(But I
did bring something home with me — a cold!  In just over 24 hours after being there, I felt it coming on. Dang!  Worth it, but
dang!)

We did run into Krampus, a horned, scary goat-like creature that carries chains, bells, and branches that he uses to punish naughty German children at Christmastime.

Yikes!  Seems a bit harsh but then again, German folk
traditions and fairy tales–ie Brothers Grimm–are usually pretty dark and eerie. (Reminds me of Dwight Schrute sharing them on the Office. 🙂 )

Here we are with out yummy German dinner of brats and pretzels.


 
And we couldn’t leave the Christkindlmarkt without a fresh German waffle, with nutella, whipped cream, and powdered sugar.  They smelled so good and looked so good and tasted so….

…yucky.  Not cooked enough. I could have done better, and that’s saying something. 

But oh well, we still had a fun time. Turns out sometimes forcing yourself to leave the house is worth it. 🙂