Christmas Decorations in Germany

On Saturday we ventured to Langenwolmsdorf, a tiny town about 45 minutes outside Dresden to visit a Kunsthandwerkerhaus (a long word that pretty much means artist workshop/showroom).  It was a really cool place with 6 or 7 buildings all for Christmas decorations!  Unfortunately, it was very cold and rainy, so I couldn't get a lot of good pictures.  Also, the coolest parts were inside and there was no photography allowed :(.  This is the outside of one of the shops.

German Christmas decorations are the Christamassiest decorations anywhere (in my opinion).  There are a lot of paper stars (which I am learning to make), and a ton of wooden decorations.  At the workshop, we were able to see how some of the wooden decorations were made.  We also saw more Christmas decorations in one place than we'd ever seen before!  My favorite type of decoration is called a "schwebbogen."  It is a thin wooden carving that is in the shape of an arc.  Usually there are two layers with lights in between.  Here is a picture.  We bought ourselves a "pyramide," which, contrary to the way it sounds, doesn't really look much like a pyramid.  I guess it's sort of triangular...  Its more like a wooden carving with windmill blades at the top- you light candles under the blades and they spin because of the heat.  Its probably easier just to look at it!

We also had a fantastic snack of hot chocolate and apple strudel while we were there... a perfect snack for a cool rainy day!