Day 27

Some families spend the day after Thanksgiving at the mall. They get up insanely early, fight the crowds in search of bargains (probably sustaining injuries in the process), wait hours in line for items that may or may not be in stock, and arrive home exhausted and marginally successful.

As you may have gathered, we are not one of those families.

In our household, Black Friday is spent doing two things, depending on what gender you are:
a) Male: raking leaves and/or assorted yard work, followed by going for NY-style deli sandwiches and then watching the Food Network or sports for the rest of the day.
b) Female: going to this Christmas market.

Visiting the Christmas market is a four-year tradition now. We first went the year before I went to Cambridge, I believe. The event is not nearly as fun as Christmas markets in Germany -- this one doesn't have mulled wine and is indoors, for example -- but it's a pretty good time. There are a lot of vendors, and there is a huge area set aside for German Pyramiden, Räuchermänner and assorted wood carvings and ornaments from Germany. Those, along with the smell of roasted almonds that hovers over the place, make me nostalgic. The only thing is that most of the vendors at this market stay roughly the same from year to year; it's all brand new the first time you visit, but you kind of get inured to the stained glass, picture frames, knitted hats and doll clothing by year four. (It's all very folksy.) But it's something to do, a chance to get out of the house and once in a while you'll find something interesting.

I'm looking forward to the next Christmas market we're visiting, in Canada. If it's anything like last year's, it'll be more authentic, with more actual German stuff, more German food (and Glühwein!), and more Germans. (which is perhaps a disadvantage) It'll also be about 20 degrees colder, but this one's mostly indoors as well. If you're planning on taking a trip to Canada, I recommend checking it out.