Our little family in the great big state of Texas

We were able to get out to a few Christmas markets over the weekend. The first one we went to was in Ansbach, it hasn't changed much since the last time we were here. But that is a good thing, it is really nice. We had dinner with our friends at Tali's Kebap Haus, they were happy to see us and hear about Florida. Then we wandered around, drank some gluhwein (a hot spiced wine in a mug), and let Jacob go on some kiddie rides. There were some nativity animals there, a donkey, goats and a huge camel. I mean huge! We were pretty impressed with the camel. It was really cold so we headed home after that.

On Sunday we went to two smaller markets, they were only on for the one day. (In comparison, the Ansbach one is ongoing until Dec 24th). The first one was in Lichtenau, and was really tiny. It was set in a little square, surrounded by half timber homes and old city walls. Some of you may remember way back when we drove around on these same city walls. There were some pretty things to look at and some good smelling food. The first two pictures are from that market.

After we spent a little time there, we went on to Grossbreitenbronn. (It is just down the road from Kleinbreitenbronn --- gross means large, and klein means small. So you have "large"breitenbronn and "small"breitenbronn. Although the big one is really small, and the small one is barely a few houses in the field.) This market was a little larger, it was in a field next to an old tower. There were more crafts to look at there, and St. Nikolaus was walking around with a bundle of sticks. We found out later from Mom that St. Nikolaus carries those around to whack the bad little kids with. We bought some fresh lebkuchen (German gingerbread) and Christmas stollen bread at this market. Jacob loves lebkuchen, he is always asking for it. I hope we can find some in the non-Christmas months, since he has become addicted.

Note the lovely gray skies in the photo, I don't think we have seen the sun since we returned from Florida. It's just the price we pay for the great weather in the summer, and the location! Hopefully I will get some nice pictures of the Ansbach market next time we go, and also the big one in Nuernberg. We are having Jacob's birthday party this weekend, so not sure when I will be going, but I will be going.