Thursday, December 4, 2008

Not all that we had hoped for...

We have heard a lot about the Christmas markets in Germany. Of course, the big cities have them but we were excited to find out that Soerup also has one. All of November, we looked forward to attending it on the first Advent weekend. We planned to taste the hot spiced wine complete with souvenir mug, check out the handmade crafts, listen to German holiday tunes and maybe have a tasty snack. We were in a festive mood after our Thanksgiving feast last Friday, and the weather even obliged by sending some big fluffy snow flurries on Saturday afternoon. We walked toward the town center, noticing our neighbors' trees lit with strings of lights and the town decorations- shooting stars outlined in twinkle lights along the street.

As we approached the Weihnachtsmarkt, we heard not Christmas carols but really awful children's music from an odd trio with a cat puppet. Nothing like seeing a 50-year-old woman in pigtails playing bass guitar and singing off-key to a dozen preschoolers to get you in the holiday spirit! What? Is this Christmas in Germany?

We wandered over to the area of wooden huts and bought two mugs of punsch- in styrofoam cups. Not an inspiring souvenir. The only foods for sale were hamburgers and french fries. Seriously. And there was not a single craft or holiday item for sale. Not that I miss the insane commercialism, but my people want cool German Christmas presents, right?

Aaron and I looked at each other over our empty styrofoam cups and decided we'd seen all we needed to see. As we started to walk home, the "cat trio" started a countdown and we got to see the lighting of the lovely big Christmas tree- the best part of Soerup's holiday market!

We went home and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which never fails to kick off our holiday season right! :)

3 comments:

Craig R said...

I think you'll enjoy the Bell's Xmas Market here in Kalamazoo in a couple weeks :D

MOM said...

I hear there is a very good German Holiday Market in Chicago!!!

Unknown said...

Looking forward to seeing you guys soon!!!!