My favorite German Christmas Decorations

This year I’m even more drawn to German Christmas Decorations than I have ever been before. Maybe it’s because I realized that I haven’t been home to Germany for Christmas in 20 years. It actually upsets me 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. I also love to admire the beauty of the craftsmanship and the traditions that come with that.

German Christmas Decorations

The Erzgebirge (The Ore Mountains) is a low mountain range in the east of Germany in the state of Saxonia. That region is known for its beautiful high-quality handcrafted Christmas items and folk art.

I’m from a small town in Bavaria called Lohr am Main which is about a 4-hour car ride away from Seiffen. Seiffen is one of the most famous German towns for handcrafting these beautiful authentic Christmas decorations. Our Christmas pyramid is from Seiffen and I’m a huge fan of all these traditional Christmas items. German craftspeople cherish their traditions and craft handed down by generations.

RELATED: You can also see my other German decor showcased in a Christmas home tour from a previous year.

German Incense Smokers – Christmas Smokermen (Räuchermann or Räuchermännchen)

Every time I go home to Germany I bring another German incense smoker home with me. They are my biggest German Christmas decoration collection.

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 some of ours in the below photos.

If you need incense for German smokers, check out this specific Christmas scent cone or advent scent cone.

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

(the number on the below following list will take you to the specific smoker)

• 1 German sitting chimney sweep incense smoker
• 2 Gingerbread Salesman incense smoker
• 3 natural colored German nightwatchman incense smoker
• 4 German candle arch maker incense smoker
• 5 German gingerbread maker incense smoker
• 6 Natural Santa incense smoker (similar one)
• 7 German Bavarian Oktoberfest incense smoker drinking beer
• 8 old teacher German incense smoker
• 9  Wine Taster German Christmas Incense Smoker 

German Christmas Pyramids (Weihnachtspyramide)

I’ve mentioned our pyramid so many times and we have this 4-tier Christmas pyramid pictured below. But there are so many more at different price ranges and with different tiers. I actually found some really good ones at HomeGoods too.

These beautiful wooden German Christmas pyramids embody magical Christmas to me. It’s so special to see them spin and the shadows the blades and light created on the ceiling.

{see the rest of my Christmas home tour}

German Wooden Angel and Miner Candle Holders (Engel und Bergmann)

We also got this below pair of wooden angel and miner for our wedding just like the Christmas pyramid. They are a traditional miner and angel. A long time ago the miners used to wear official uniforms like that. Find a similar Lichterengel, vintage German miner and angel wooden CandlesHERE, or Dregano Miner Angel Candleholders.

{see the rest of the Christmas home tour }

German Straw Stars (Strohsterne)

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 as tree decorations when we grew up. I actually ordered some that were affordable straw ornament assortments and straw tree topper which you can see on my below tree.

German Shaved Wood Trees (Spanbaum)

My parents had a little village with shaved wood trees and carolers (more about them coming up) 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)

Star Singers or Epiphany singers (Sternsinger)

Ephiphany Singers or star singers (pictured in the above and below photos) are young people or children walking from house to house with a star on a rod often wearing crowns and dressed in clothes to resemble the three kings or three wise men.

My parents still have the group of them I mentioned earlier.

Wooden Music Boxes (Musikdose order Spieldose)

While I don’t own a Christmas music box yet, I do own an Easter music box and my kids have always loved it. I’m hoping to add a Christmas music box to my collection soon.

Christmas music boxes usually display angels, nativity scenes, Santa and Christmas trees, angels, scenes from everyday life, or fairy tales. And below are some of my favorites.

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German Nutcrackers (Nussknacker)

Well, who doesn’t like German nutcrackers? I guess some people don’t but I do. However, I still don’t own one and have some on my wish list. Sometimes HomeGoods even has some nice authentic German-made nutcrackers. Every year I check to see if I might get lucky.

There is even the first European nutcracker museum for you to check out should you ever visit Germany.

Wooden Angels (Holzengel)

I had to put the wooden angels in their own category since they are the most prominent out of the ornaments and figurines. I have a bunch of little wooden angels. You can see them slightly in some of my Christmas trees.

(angel is sold out, find other similar 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.

Other German wooden Christmas ornaments

In addition to the wooden angels, I have several other German wooden Christmas ornaments as Christmas tree ornaments. They usually come in a set of figurines and include, Santas, ice skaters, skiers, rocking horses, snowmen, and bells. (example HERE)

If you look closely you can see them all hanging on the below tree. It shows that you can mix traditional ornaments with modern decor.

Natural Advent Wreaths (Adventskranz)

Growing up my mom always bought a beautiful natural advent wreath which we had on the coffee table by the living room fireplace. Every Sunday leading up to Christmas eve, we’d light another candle until they were all lit on Christmas. It was a very special ceremony.

Candle Arches (Schwibbögen)

Love the wooden arches and the little wooden village I found at HomeGoods last year reminds me of them a little. The one I have is not an authentic Schwibbogen however I do have one on my wishlist.

{similar one HERE or HERE or large one HERE }

This is the one I want because it has star singers and shaved trees. You can find it HERE. I also love this nativity scene Schwibbogen.

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 Christmas tree.

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

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

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A couple of years ago I made a DIY Christmas Rose (Schneerose or Christrose) as a unique ornament for our tree which has some German tradition as well.

They looked beautiful in our natural German Christmas tree with dried orange slices, eucalyptus branches, straw stars, wooden snowflakes, and pinecones.

One of my favorite things to do is visit Christkindl markets to search for German Christmas decorations. I miss them so much! However, I do live close to Bethlehem Pennsylvania and can visit the Christmas market there. It’s still not the same though.

RELATED: I recently made traditional beeswax ornaments which you can still find at German Christkindl Markets. I love how they turned out and they are easy to make.

Should you ever get to visit Germany then you need to make sure you visit Rothenburg ob der Tauber. They have the best Christmas shops open all year. The Käthe Wohlfahrt (Weihnachtsdorf), German Christmas museum, and The Little Christmas Shop.

Have a great weekend my friends.

Tschüß,