Germany: Seiffen

The town of Seiffen is located in the heart of the Erzgebirge, or the Ore Mountains, which are famous for many Christmas traditions.   As the silver and tin deposits declined, former miners had to look for new ways to feed their families.   In addition to lace making and weaving, the inhabitants went into wood carving.  Nutcrackers, "smoking men", "pyramids" (carousels with figures of the Christmas story or from mining) and Schwibbogen (wooden arcs with candles in the windows) are some of many Christmas goods made in the Ore Mountains.   Seiffen is a center of the wooden toy industry.

This church in Seiffen is a common theme among the pyramids and Schwibbogen.

We ate a delicious traditional breakfast and headed for the stores after checking out and loading the van again.  I was really excited to go shopping because of all the cute Christmas decorations I've seen in my in-laws homes.  We hit the stores right when they opened--some at 9:00 and some at 10:00.  Our goal was to be done around 11:00 so we could drive to Prague, Czech-Republic and spend the afternoon and evening there.  The girls started shopping while the guys hit the grocery store for some snacks to eat on the way to Prague.  Then each couple split up to divide and conquer. 

 

 

This is a quaint hotel that looked so cute all lit up from our bathroom window the night before.

This is a store with model trains.  Unfortunately it wasn't open yet when we started the day and we were on high-speed shopping mode so we couldn't go back to check it out.

Here is Amber next to some Schwibbogen.  If you look closely, you can see the little bearded dwarf smokers.  I almost bought four of those to represent my children--a Viking, a Musketeer, a Flower Girl, and a Baker Girl but we were running out of time and money.  They were so cute!

Jake is standing next to a Santa Claus Räuchermann (Smoker) which are my favorite.  There is a huge variety of smokers from cute little dwarfs to ones that represent all kinds of professions and jobs.  You lift the bust and place incense cones inside, light the cone with a match, replace the bust, and see the smoke come out of their open mouths.  Joe has a doctor smoker that he picked up while on his mission and I just love their details.