We have been enjoying the Christmas Season by visiting the Weihnachtsmärkte. Everything is offered from homemade wooden ornaments to hand-blown glass, scarves, socks, mitten, wicker baskets, candles, soap, Christmas decorations, quilts, artwork, and speciality foods. There is always a nice variety of foods such as Flammkuchen, Hefeklößchen, chocolate coated fruits, roasted almonds and chestnuts, candy, mulled cider and Glühwein, und Feuerwurst. The kids even got to eat Zimtwaffeln (cinnamon waffles). Oh, how I love Christmas Time.
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| Weihnachtsmarkt in Dinkelsbuhl |
I am usually in the search for these little wooden treasures. Do you know what they are? They are personal butter molds. You have to "bathe" them in water for an hour or two, fill them with softened butter, return them to the fridge and press out the butter with the plunger. Very cool! This time I found a flower and an owl.
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| Butterförmchen |
We were at one of the nicest Christmas markets here in southern Germany - Dinkelsbuhl. I love returning to this town. I found the two butter forms above located in one of the baskets below. The vendor also had larger butter forms, but I don't have a lot of experience if they work well or not. My husband always tells me of his grandmother that would decorate the freshly made butter with a knife. She was pretty talented and ornate in her designs. It must have been a very beautiful lost art.
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| Everything made from wood |
The inner city with the wall of Dinkelsbuhl is breathtaking. The buildings do not have large billboards or signs in front of the building. There must be an ordnance that states this, because you almost don't see what the shops are selling until you get right up on it.
I think Dinkelsbuhl is one of Germany's best kept secrets...Rotherburg ob der Tauber is very commercialized...where all the tourists go. Dinkelsbuhl is what I imagine the real Germany to be in the Middle Ages. The building are enormous, and you can really get the impression of how big the "Häuser" were. There weren't such things as individual homes in the cities at that time. These were made for several families and over generations.
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| Dinkelsbuhl am 3. Advent |
I love your tree skirt, it is really beautiful, as is your table mat/runner. It's a really fun design. I too have been visiting some Christmas markets, although not as many as I like as our weekends have been full so there hasn't been much time. I must keep an eye out for some of those butter moulds here, what a great idea they are and defintiely something we would get good use out of. Sounds like you are very organised for Christmas. I feel rather disorganised but I guess that's because I don't need to do any baking or decorating this year but still I feel like I should be doing those jobs.
ReplyDeletetree skirt is very pretty along with the table runner.
ReplyDeleteWe have a German Christmas market here in Leeds every ear unfortunately I did not get to visit this year but like you love looking at the wooden makes, must look out for the butter ones next year
Bei Dir steht der Baum schon? Dann ist die Baumdecke ja gerade noch rechtzeitig fertig geworden.
ReplyDeleteLG
KATRIN W.
Die Baumdecke und der Läufer sehen fantastisch aus, liebe Karen!
ReplyDeleteIch liebe die Weihnachtszeit auch total - sie hat etwas magisches.....
Genieße diese wunderbare Zeit.
LG
Deborah
Oh, your work is divine! I'm just loving that tree skirt and table topper! I would love to visit Germany one day. I'd rather go to the smaller, older towns like Dinkelsbuhl. Where I'm staying was originally settled by Germans, so there are a lot of fun celebrations going on.
ReplyDeleteHi K! I have been looking all over for butter forms like yours! No luck in Köln, Dusseldorf, Aachen or Monschau Christmas markets, but I haven't given up! 😄
ReplyDeleteEin sehr schöner Läufer und eine ebensolche Baumdecke hast Du gezaubert. Schöne Bilder vom Weihnachtsmarkt.
ReplyDeleteLiebe Grüße
Roswitha