Time for the Christmas decoration in my home

(Originally posted on November 28th, 2008)

I live in a small apartment in London, so there is no space for grand Christmas decorations, but enough to make it cozy and inviting.

So, here are some pics of my decorating endeavours. First of all, here is a little reminder why Christmas is special to me: the birth of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Sure, we know that He was not born on December 25; but that’s ok, as I see the celebrations as a thanksgiving memorial that God Almighty actually was born as a little human being some 2000+ years ago, so that He would be in a position to redeem us from spiritual death and eternal seperation from God.

Eventhough it’s just a little wood carved nativity scene, at least I like to visually give honour here.

Then, there is the dining table. When I was a kid, my family celebrated the Advent time before Christmas. That was always very special to me. In the evenings, my mother would light the candles, my father would get his guitar out, and we sat around the table singing inbetween munching those delicious German home-made Christmas cookies.

No traditional German home, I mean South German home like in the areas of Nürnberg or Bavaria (my maternal folks background) is without a light pyramid. Some are simple and others are very elaborate and large. The heat of the candle light moves the inside of the pyramid like a carousel. Anyways, this is mine.

Well, here are some more pics of my Christmas decorations …

The Spirit of Christmas Fair in London and Reminiscing on German Christmas Markets (especially the Nürnberger Christkindlmarkt)

(Originally posted on Novemver 8th, 2008)


ust about every year I feel November is a bit too early to think about Christmas (except last year when I had my home decorated in November!!).

Today, my daughter invited me to a Christmas Fair in London. We both revel in sumptuous festive decorations, so it seemed that going to the ‘Spirit of Christmas Fair’ at ‘Olympia’ would be a brilliant outing for both of us.

I must say that I was a bit disappointed with what I saw. Sure, I was under no illusion that it would not be anything like my native country Germany, where I was used to having an ordinary department store, like Karstadt, brimming with different themes or colour arrangements for various decorations. However, the London fair was woefully amiss of such festive splendour and inspirations.

I managed to find a handful of smaller stalls that had a Christmassy theme:

The rest was like going to a high street department store enticing people to buy Christmas presents, well, goods available all year round as potential presents for Christmas.

One stall actually was promoting German decorations, traditional handcrafted wood ornaments from the Erzgebirge

Of course this made me reminisce on especially the South German Christmas traditions, such as the Nürnberg Christkindlesmarkt. (Nürnberg has family history for me, such as my mother was born there).

The Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt (28. November to 24. December) is rather special. It’s a very traditional, centuries old street market with traditional, almost old fashioned goodies. Walking around the cold wintery air, clutching a cup of hot spicy aromatic red wine, Gühwein, deliciously accosted by wafts of freshly roasted sugar and butter almonds, sizzling sausages from the many bratwurst stalls, and Lebkuchen and Christstollen beckoning, the atmosphere is filled with hustling, bustling shoppers, friends mingling around, children eager to go on the various fair rides, traditional Christmas carols being piped through loudspeakers, even in the surrounding streets.

Ahh, and of course the many Christmas decoration stalls bursting with their delightful ware.

Below I post some impressions of the Nürnberg Christkindlesmarkt.