Between the Years

I love the German phrase zwichen den Jahren.  It means "between the years."  For me, it describes this period after Christmas but not yet to the new year quite well.  For many, school is out; time has slowed down.  The anticipation for Christmas is satisfied, but a new year looms wide open ahead!  Full of possibilities, potential -- a blank slate.  

It can be a reflective time of year.  Thinking back on all that you've been through, rehashing good memories - and hoping for good days ahead!  It is kind of a time of optimism ... at least for me.  

Of course, life goes on day-by-day ... but between the years, perhaps it goes on with a little different feeling.  It is hard to explain, but the phrase zwichen den Jahren explains it fairly well. 

A REVIEW: Christkindl Markt in Arlington, Texas

My wish for my birthday this year (November 30) was a trip with my family.

We live about 5 1/2 from the Dallas, Texas area so I asked everyone to go with me to the Christkindl Market that is held annually in Arlington.

PS  Please note, I am NOT a photographer ... and my phone is very outdated, so excuse the poor picture quality.

From what I understand, the venue this year was at Global Life Park for the first time.  That is located right between the old and new Texas Rangers baseball stadiums, adjacent to Texas Live!, an indoor entertainment venue.  The market is outdoors.  For us, the weather was a balmy 70ish degrees F and just a little windy.

We enjoyed our evening, but honestly, it wasn't worth driving 5+ hours (other than the time spent with my family).  If I lived in the Dallas area, sure, I'd stop by. There were about 20 vendors - most of which weren't German-themed  such as alpaca/wool products, dog treats, an apothecary/beauty products, a publisher of children's books, and some lovely wood crafts (boldly stating "Made in the USA" which we found ironic at a GERMAN fest), American bundt cakes, and French macarons.  That isn't to say they didn't have lovely items, they just weren't German.

There is an ice skating rink open this year, which is lovely if you enjoy that.  The Christmas music piped throughout was all American classics.

JJ Concessions provided the food.  It was standard concession food - deep fat fried, it seemed.  And in my opinion - SUPER expensive.  $14 for a Schnitzel plate (included fries and Jägersauce), $10 for a Schnitzel "sandwich" (ie. on a hamburger bun).  There were Jäger fries, Bratwurst, and Currywurst.

We also tried the Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) which did come with applesauce and sour cream (my family always just had the apple sauce), which was basically a hash brown almost...

I won't say it was horrible, but it didn't taste authentic.  Perhaps my palate still remembers my 2 trips to German this year all too well...

I did get a cup of Glühwein, a spiced cider, with a souvenir cup.  Because you have to get a souvenir cup if you go to a Christmas market (or at least I do!).

The cup was cute; the Glühwein was standard.  And it too was expensive (IMO) at $12.

 I don't mean to write a disparaging review.  There were aspects of the market that were really nice - like fact that the German sister city of Arlington  Bad Königshofen was represented at a booth.  They were selling lace ornaments, luminaries, and Lebkuchen hearts, decorated by local school children.

Ironically, my Lebkuchen heart's "Weihnachten" was misspelled, but I applaud the student's efforts to support American-German relations.  

(You can't see it but they wrote frohe weinachtin.) :) 

My favorite stop was the Käthe Wohlfahrt shop.  Of course, it is directly from Rothenburg o.d. Tauber ... so you can't mess that up.  The items are lovely & authentic, fun to look at. 

We spied a few items - a smoker and a Noah's Ark ornament I have - that I bought in Rothenburg in 1997 or 1998!

Since we were decorating for Christmas this weekend too, I came across a paper bag (on the left, below) that I've saved from my 1997/98 purchases when we lived about 45 minutes from Rothenburg.  And now I have a plastic bag from the Arlington store because my children bought me a tin ornament for my birthday this weekend.

I chose an image of das Plönlein in Rothenburg.  Plönlein means "small square" and is said to be one of the most photographed images of Rothenburg.  You can see a half-timbered house, one of the city towers, and the cobblestone street.  There is also a fountain nearby.

More about Rothenburg:  click here

OH!  We also bought gebrannte Mandeln (candied almonds), which were DELICIOUS - warm and made right there in the booth.  That was definitely one of the positive experiences of the Markt.

We ended our night by watching some college football games on the big screens inside Texas Live!.  

I won't say it was disappointing; you just can't compare to a REAL German Christmas market.  We spent maybe 2 hours total there, and spent more money than we wanted because if you know marketing, you know that people who are on "vacation" will spend more than they might on a normal, more frugal day.  We won't be back ... but we can say we saw it once.

It did get me in a little more of a Christmas spirit. 

My FAVORITE thing was that I spent a weekend with my family - for my birthday.

So, I will say:  Mission accomplished.