i went to a supermarket last saturday and i was fascinated by all the christmasy goods. coming from a country that (almost) no one celebrated christmas properly, this was quite a new thing for me.

let's start with the lebkuchen bier (first of all, a little explanation for lebkuchen. it's a traditional german gingerbread, and where i lived had the most famous lebkuchen in germany) i thought it would be a kind of bier with lebkuchen spice in it, but no. it was a beer that was brewed to drink with freshly baked lebkuchen and plaetzchen (german christmas cookies) 

my host dad said that, on one hand, it was good that it didn't taste like lebkuchen (because in his opinion, that wouldn't taste so great) , but on the other hand, it was also disappointing that it didn't taste like lebkuchen at all. i personally thought that at least it was ten times better than october fest beer.

christmas almonds (weihnachtsmandeln) was referred by my host mum as the most dangerous christmas sweets. nuts are normally addictive, and this wasn't some kind of normal nut/almond, which made it even worse. roasted almond covered with spiced chocolate, and filled with calories. there were so many  varieties to choose from, gebrannte mandeln (roasted/burnt almonds), macadamia, hazelnut, with brittle, with dark chocolate, cinnamon, and probably more by other brands.

i could just buy a whole stand, at least as souvenirs.

 

spekulatius, or speculoos in english, were spiced shortcrust biscuit, i didn't try them yet and would let you know how would these yummies taste like. i couldn't try everything all at once, otherwise i would gain 10 kilos even before december...

christmas punch (alcohol-free version of mulled wine) (a little knowledge: mull means to heat up and spice, which is why you have to drink them warm) these punch was a mixture of fruit tea, different kinds fruit juice and some christmas spices. i drank them warm and it tasted like christmas! 

by the way, i had never known how does christmas taste like until i few days ago when i first drank christmas tea.

christmas tea tasted amazing! they were mostly cinnamon, orange, apple and all other christmas-related food one could think of.

and the most important thing, advent calendar! my very first advent calendar in my entire life. i actually wanted the one with dark chocolate but i couldn't find it. 

anyways. i just couldn't wait to open these little boxes one by one and eat a piece of chocolate everyday from the first of december on. (and of course, to get a little fatter...;)