Friday Favorites: German Christmas Decorations

This year I’m even more drawn to German Christmas decor than I have ever been before. Maybe it’s because I realized that I haven’t been home for Christmas in 20 years. I actually hate to put this into words. I don’t want this to become a distant memory and I’d love to take our kids one year but we are always too busy with their school and sports and it just has gotten way too expensive to just go for a couple of days when they actually have their Christmas break.

So today I wanted to round up my favorite German Christmas decorations from when I was a child. Some may find them cheesy which can be true but to me it’s memories and an old way to celebrate Christmas.

German Christmas Decorations

German Incense Smokers

Unfortunately the ones we have are in bad shape. We love bringing them out and the kids have so much fun watching the smoke coming out of their pipes, chimneys or mouths. You can see two of ours in the below photo. Our police officer is missing though. He’s my favorite!

{see the rest of the tour HERE}

Here are some of my favorites I found available here in the US:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
5 (sold out but find a similar one HERE or HERE) |
6 | 7 | 8 | 9

 

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German Christmas Pyramids

I’ve mentioned out pyramid so many times and we have this one HERE. But there are so many more at different price ranges and with different tiers. I actually found some really good ones at HomeGoods too.

The smaller 1 tier pyramids are cute too and much cheaper, like this one HERE and HERE.

{see the rest of the tour HERE}

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German Wooden Angel and Miner Candle Holders

{see the rest of the tour HERE}

We also got these two for our wedding just like the Christmas pyramid. They are a tradiotnal miner and angel. A long time a go the miners used to wear official uniforms like that. Find a similar one HERE, HERE or HERE.

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Some of my other favorites are:

German Straw Ornaments

I wanted to craft some straw ornaments myself this year but you can’t buy the crafting straw here and if I ordered the supplies from Germany then it would have ended up costing way too much money. Maybe I can bring the supplies when we go to Germany next time. I remember my parents having a big variety of straw stars on the tree when we grew up. I actually ordered some that where affordable HERE and HERE.

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German Shaved Wood Trees and Sceneries

My parents had a little village with shaved wood tress and carolers and I used to love placing them in all kinds of different configurations when I was a kid.

(candle holder HERE, trees HERE and HERE and little town and carolers HERE and HERE)

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Nutcrackers

Well, who doesn’t like nut crackers? I guess some people don’t but I do 😉

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Wooden Angels

I have a bunch of little wooden angels and German wooden figurines as Christmas ornaments. You can see them slightly in the little tree above that has the wood garlands on it.

(find the angel HERE and other angels HERE)

My mom and I actually used to buy these wooden angles unfinished and painted them when I was little. I still have some of them on our tree in the basement.

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Candle Arches (Schwibbogen)

Love the wooden arches and the little wooden village I found at HomeGoods last year reminds me of them a little.

{similar one HERE or HERE or large one HERE }

click HERE

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And last but certainly not least, I love having real candles on a tree which is way too dangerous here in the US with all the wood structured homes. I love the festive look of it though and miss having candles on the tree.

You use these clips and candles HERE. If you live somewhere where you can possibly have them.

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I love them all and am hoping to bring some more things next time we go visit.

 

 

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

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Any of the above items would make great gifts too and if you need more ideas then you can click HERE (or the below image) to see what I’m liking right now.

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One more thing, I’ve started to post some cats who are up for adoption locally and a little further away on my personal and on my blog Facebook. If you are from BYC then check out this cutie that is part Scottish fold HERE. Her transformation in the photos is amazing.
And this local sweet and sad looking guy HERE I fell in love with when my daughter adopted Maya. I can’t believe he is still at the shelter months and months later. He’s so cute. Just maybe, my more local friends know someone who is looking for that special little family addition. #adoptdontshop (I’m definitely not adopting more right now because our 18 year old Lucy isn’t doing well. The two we adopted this year stress her out way too much already. I can’t add another stress factor to the mix. 3 cats are our magic number right now.)

Have a great weekend my friends.

Tschüß,