Nativity Sets - Emil Helbig Workshop - The Classic plus New for 2014
Nuremberg Christkindlmarkt / Christmas Market - Brück and Sohn Advent Calendar
The Nuremberg Christkindlmarkt / Christmas Market is one of the oldest (since before 1628) and largest in Germany, and one of the most famous in the world.
The market is known as the little town made of wood and cloth - with its post and beam wooden stalls and candy cane cloth "roofs." Every year the Christmas market begins on the Friday preceding the first Sunday in Advent and ends on December 24, unless that day is a Sunday.
Christkindlesmarkt means Christ Child Market. Every other year a Christkind is chosen to represent the Fair. The Nuremberg Christkind
with her white and golden dress, long blond curls, and golden crown has been the symbol of the Christmas Market for many decades. She opens the Market each year with a prayer.
Visit the Official Nuremberg Christkindlmarkt website for detailed information on the history of the fair (an historical timeline, photographs, and a video) and information on planning a visit.
Enjoy the countdown to Christmas here at home with our Brück and Sohn (Printers in Meissen, Germany since 1793) charming Advent Calendar of the historical
Nuremberg Christkindlmarkt.
Classic Indented Reflectors - Inge-Glas Collections
Reflectors are one of the most traditional and oldest Christmas ornaments. They represent the essence of light on the Christmas tree. They capture the beauty of the surrounding ornaments and Christmas lights. The finely molded walls of their indents create a prism of glittering color.
Reflectors, like other mouth-blown glass ornaments, begin with the glass blower heating a glass tube to a molten state. The glass-blower then blows into the tube until the hot, soft glass takes the shape of a sphere. To make an indented reflector, a "plug" (wood or plaster are commonly used) embossed with a unique design is then pressed into the hot glass.
This year we have enjoyed adding a wonderful selection of Inge-Glas classic Reflectors to our offerings. There are so many to choose from:
Click on the images above to find more in each of these Reflector collections: Reflections of the Past (on the left), Holiday Reflections (center), and Christmas Reflections (on the right)
Click on the images below to find: Vintage Reflection (left), Silver Reflections (center), and Botanical Reflections (right)
Add them to your Christmas tree and let the light shine!
New Wood-Shaved Trees - Spanbaum - for 2014
We have added to our popular Wood-Shaved Tree - Spanbaum offerings this year and we wanted to post the video here in our blog on how they are created. They are just so very special. They have many names - Spanbaum, span trees, wood shaved trees, chip or chipped trees, twilled trees, and curled trees. They were first created by Spanbaumstecherei (carvers of Spanbaum trees) in the 1930s and are crafted from the wood of a linden tree - the trunk lathed, and then each branch carved from that trunk, curl by curl. Watch the video - the process is exquisite.
We know you will enjoy these two new special trees - a 10" Spanbaum in green which is simply gorgeous 
and a 12" Spanbaum, wood-chipped, tree with a woodpecker nestled in the tree, pecking away... 
In addition, we now carry a Spanbaum, wood-chipped / wood-shaved, Christmas tree topper. 
They are a sight to behold - watching the video, seeing them pictured, and holding them in your hands.
The Wood Workers Shop - An Advent Calendar and our Traditional European Artisans
As we near this holiday season we realize that My Growing Traditions is truly about celebrating with the best of European folk art and Christmas. The artisans and their workshops whose folk art we offer are ones that represent the premier of their genre. All of them have histories that go back decades, some closing in on 100 years, and some beyond. They are artisans that have perfected their art and are recognized world-wide as masters in their field. They have been instrumental in creating and maintaining tradition. We carry Inge-Glas of Germany Christmas ornaments - the oldest Christmas ornament company in the world (since 1596) - and Marcel Carbonel Santons (since 1935) of Marseille, France, the preeminent Santons workshop.
And, we rejoice in the smaller workshops of the Erzgebirge, Germany - from the official German Christmas Village, Seiffen, and the toy-making villages that surround.
These wood-working artisans are so beautifully depicted in Brück und Sohn's (printer Meissen, Germany since 1793) Advent Calendar - The Erzgebirge Woodworker's Shop.
Click here for Brück und Sohn's other Advent Calendars available on My Growing Traditions.
Our fondness for the Woodworker's Shop Advent Calendar led us to want to share with you photos of the workshops of many of the artisans that we carry.
Christian Werner of Seiffen (since 1985) specializes in the exact work of the Woodworker's Shop - he is one of only eight who work in Reifendrehen, or ring-turning.
Bettina Franke has followed in her parents footsteps and carves wonderful Santas and nativity figures. Her workshop like Christian Werner's has flourished since the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of communism in Eastern Europe. 
The Emil Helbig Workshop (since 1933) of the toy making village of Grunhainichen in the Erzgebirge is renowned for their exquisite figures - here the wood carver works on a cat.
Classic Angels and many other wonderful wooden figures have been created by the Wendt and Kuhn Workshop in Grunhainichen since 1915.
And last but not least, we want to share with you here this picture of the creation of a wood-chip tree, or Spanbaum, a folk art that dates to the 1930s.
We have been privileged over the years to visit the workshops of each of these artisans - a true joy and an experience that has cemented our desire to make their work available to you.
Legend of the Bird's Nest
Add the Legend of the Bird's Nest to your Christmas traditions.
You may also enjoy our Inge-Glas Pinterest Board.
Advent - History - Calendars and Candles
The tradition of Advent calendars has for many of us become an integral part of Christmas.
Within the Christian Church, Advent is tied to November 30th, the Feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle. Advent begins each year on the Sunday nearest St. Andrew's day and celebrates the anticipation of Christ's birth.
Printed Advent calendars were first produced by Gerhard Lang of Germany in the early 1900s. He was inspired by a calendar drawn by his mother and mounted on cardboard that included 24 pictures - one for each day of December through Christmas Eve. Lang took his mother's calendar one step further, creating the little doors that we know today. Enjoyed by children and adults alike, Advent calendars celebrate the Christmas season, and in a simple and yet magical way help us to focus on the beauty of the wait, a wait that is of course filled with all the wonderful preparations for the holiday.
My Growing Traditions offers a full selection of printed Advent calendars. We add new ones to our selection each year. We have:
Traditional Advent Calendars - where you will find Angels and Elves, Santas, and a 3-D Gingerbread House. Click here to explore our selection
Nativity Advent Calendars - with bible verses revealed underneath their doors. Click here
and wonderful Advent Calendars of European Cities from Brück and Sohn (Printers in Meissen, Germany since 1793). This one, one of many, is of Dresden, home of the first Christmas market in Germany. The first reference to Dresden's Christmas market was in 1434.
The Danish have their own distinct way of capturing the Advent season, with their Advent candles. Everyone enjoys pausing each day to burn down the candle one additional notch as they await the anticipated celebration of Christmas on December 25. We carry three and know you will delight in their use.
You may want to follow our Advent Board on Pinterest for more.
