As I've mentioned before, Christmas has always been my favourite time of the year. Growing up, Mum always made sure everything was done beautifully. She would craft everything from scratch. Growing up in Bahrain, we had no holly or Christmas wreaths. Mum would collect long, thick, feathery, and weedy-looking desert plants, bind them with thin wire into a circle, and create four little openings for candles. On top of the wreath, Mum would then decorate with a few Christmas ornaments. It looked lovely. That was our Advent Kranz, where we would light a candle every Sunday on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. I often want to ask Mum to look through our old photos and find a picture of one of them. It looked so pretty.
The Christmas Festival was fantastic, and I was grateful for the space I had been given at the festival. It was nice and cold, but Reza and I were wrapped up warmly. Once the stall was up and running, with a Christmassy look, people started arriving quickly. The music and vibes were wonderful. I was happy to see people arriving and buying cakes and stollen, saying they had read my post on Facebook earlier in the day. New people and regular customers were coming and going. Our lovely new friends also stopped by for a stollen and a quick chat. It's always a pleasure to see them. My tray of sliced stollen went well, and the gluten-free option too, although I feel it doesn't have the taste a stollen should, I still like to have the option for people with allergies. The cakes sold out quickly. Everyone enjoyed the Linzer Torte, and many had not tried a Red Wine cake before, so it was a lovely addition! Both recipes this time are from a beautiful book given to me by my close German friend. It's a lovely book on "Baking in Wintertime."
The smell of mulled wine was calling, so I had to try some. It was very good.
In the last hour, as things quieted down, I managed to take a look at some of the stalls. I got a few handmade Christmas decorations. It was a beautiful day! I was so happy. I could not have done it all without the help of my hubby. Great teamwork!
So, what's next? Two more markets on December 2nd and 16th. A Dinner Experience on December 9th. And I still await news on November 28th if a customer wants 100 mini stollens for their hampers! I shall keep you all posted! I peek out the window and see the first frost over the fields. Beautiful! Happy Sunday, everyone!
So lovely to see that you get to enjoy all the traditions in cold weather. But I have to say, your mum managed to make the best out of a German Christmas in the desert 🎄🌴