… mehr war zur Frage nach einem Weihnachtswunsch aus meinem Mann nicht herauszubekommen.

Cookie and Chocolate and something to play with and a  surprise, that was all I got from DH when I asked him what he might want for Christmas. (I just recognized that I forgot to tell you that story, so there is still something Christmas related.) I might have to explain the phrase, because it refers to two popular adds in Germany. One was for a cookie with a chocolate side that was marketed as “you don’t have to decide between cookie and chocolate, you can have cookie and chocolate now”. (Yes, we did have chocolate coated cookies before in Germany. So if you don’t have a new product you need more clever marketing. I do not even remember which brand it was…) The other used to be a commercial where a father went on a business trip and then promises his kid to bring him a gift when he returns. So the kid asks for chocolate, something to play with and a surprise. So poor daddy would have to buy three gifts, if there was not the super great “Überraschungs-Ei” (=surprise egg). (Today it is called Kinder Überraschung, but the product is the same. An egg shaped shell of chocolate with a tiny toy inside which is a surprise because you don’t know what you will get.)

So, was macht man mit so einer Angabe?

Man läßt den Zufall walten. Ich machte einen Spziergang über den Weihnachtsmarkt am Neumarkt und kaufte an jeder fünften Bude den billigsten Artikel. 🙂

So.. what to make of this?

I took a stroll over the Christmas market at Neumarkt and bought the cheapest thing at every fifth booth. 🙂

Und das kam dabei raus. (Klick aufs Bild für die größere Ansicht.) Die Freßbuden habe ich rausgelassen, denn eine vier Tage alte Bratwurstsemmel mag keiner mehr essen. Und es ist erstaunlich, für wie wenig Geld man was bekommt. Die meisten Sachen lagen zwischen 70 Cent und 5 EUR. Einen Stand mit Lederwaren habe ich ausgelassen, denn da kostete das billigsten Kartenetui 14 EUR und war häßlich und nutzlos. Die warmen Puschen (hinter der Unicef-Karte) kosteten 7 EUR und die Schokolade war teuer. Aber Schokolade mußte sein, die war ja gewünscht. Das ist eine Schraube und eine Mutter aus Schokolade und so exakt gearbeitet, daß man sie wirklich ineinander drehen kann. Das war’s dann wert. (Und ich weiß jetzt, daß der “Weihnachtsmarkt der Engel” genau 95 Buden hatte. *g*)

And that’s the result. (Click on the pic shows a bigger version.) I left out all the food booths because a four day old sausage in a bun is no pleasure at all. And it is surprising how much you get for few money. Nearly all gifts were between 0,50 EUR and 5 EUR. I only left out a booth with Italian leatherware were the cheapest thing was an ugly card holder which would be useless to DH. The warm slippers (behind the UNICEF postcard) were 7 EUR and the chocolate was really expensive. But that was okay because I would have to buy chocolate anyhow (see above) and it is not only good chocolate, it is also shaped as screw and nut and they are functional! That was worth it. (And I now know that the “Market of the Angels” had 95 booths in 2011.)

Ich habe alles einzeln eingepackt, beschriftet (“Überraschung 1”, “Überraschung 2”,… “Schokolade”, “Keks” – der kam aus meiner eigenen Produktion) mit einem langen AlterfilS 80 aneinandergeknotet und dann durfte mein Herzblatt Stück für Stück auspacken. Kommt davon, wenn man so was wünscht.

Then I wrapped each item, stuck labels to it (“Surprise 1”, “Surprise 2”,… “chocolate”, “Cookies” – I took one I had made myself for Christmas), connected all parcels with one long thread AlterfilS 80 and then under the Christmas Tree DH had a lot of items to unwrap. You get what you deserve if you make wishes like that…

(Ganz am Ende hing dann auch noch ein “richtiges” Geschenk, ein schönes antiquarisches Buch. Ich bin ja dann doch nicht so.)

(The long thread ended in a real gift then, I found a beautiful antique book for him also. I’m not that stone-hearted.)