In A Winter Fairytale

Except there's too much snow! Back at home in Colorado, the sun comes out after a snowstorm & melts it all away, leaving beautiful sunny days with clear roads! Aaah, the thought! But here in Deutschland, we never see Mr. Sun. He goes into hiding for the season & our snow, which falls down on us almost daily, piles up & leaves us with mountains of ice in our yards & on our streets. Lucius, my little social bug, has realized he can climb up & over the snow pile {my yard is apparently the community snow bin} to go visit any friends that happen to be out at the time. Needless to say, Lucius now gets taken out on a leash. I'm ready for Spring!

Thankfully, my doggies are pretty lazy & like to nap all day!  Aren't the cute?!  :)  I loved watching them play in the snow in the yard before the pile was too big.  They love it!  I'm dreaming of an American home with a yard in the back of the house & a tall fence for privacy!

My Mom flew back to beautiful Colorado yesterday, & I'll be following her here before long to go home for Christmas!  Can you believe it's so soon?!  We had such a wonderful time together, staying in where it's warm when the snow was madly falling & then going out to explore when the weather allowed for it!

Here's a picture of me at the Rothenburg Christkindlmarkt, & I'll post more soon!  Happy Holidays from my very snowy winter wonderland in Germany!  ♥  Pray that this snow somehow melts for me, would ya?!  :)

The Nurnberg Christkindlmarkt!

You wouldn't believe it, but we have sunshine & blue sky here today! Holy moly, it's been a while since I've had to squint when I've gone outdoors, let alone not totally bundle up & freeze! Hooray! Mom & I are getting ready to go to the Christkindlmarkt in Rothenburg, but while I wait for her, here are a few pictures from our visit to Nurnberg's Christkindlmarkt a few days ago. It really is such a magical time of year to be here in Germany!

I've Got Christmas Market Fev-ah!

Christmas is right around the corner! Can you believe it? And all of Germany is under the magical spell of the Christkindlmarkts!  {Or Christmas Markets to us English speaking folk!}  This is one of my favorite times of year to be here in Deutschland.  The snow dusts the trees as though God above dusted them all with powdered sugar!  The little German houses are quaintly decorated with strands of white lights & colored stars.  Every town is bright & cheery with stores' front windows decked out in Holiday decor.  There are no giant blow-up snow globes here.  No contests to see who's house can shine the brightest.  No flashing lights or obnoxious lawn displays.  Here, Christmas is peaceful.  Unless, of course, you're at the busy & popular Christkindlmarkts :)  My Mom is coming out soon especially to see these one-of-a-kind gatherings!  And to see me, too...of course!

The Nürnberg Christkindlmarkt is Germany's oldest, dating back over 500 years. Here, like at the other markets, you can grab a hot cup of delicious Glühwein {glue-vine ... click the link for recipes!} before strolling down the many aisles of stalls that sell everything from traditional German Christmas treats to my favorites, the paper star lanterns! Nürnberg was the only Christmas Market I made it to last year, & although it was absolutely fantastic, I can't wait to do more exploring this year! And with my Mom, too!  Ooo eee, I'm so excited!

Also on my list of Christkindlmarkts to visit with my Mom are...

{ Munich }

{ Rothenberg }

{ Regensburg }

{ These pretty pretty photos are from Flickr.Com, Germany Christmas Markets.Org, CodyDuncan {his photos are a-mazing!}, & some others I can't remember...Oops!}