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Last weekend I had the happy opportunity to visit Vancouver’s German Christmas market. There were lights, a carousel, Christmas, trees, elves, Santa and many delightful shopping and food stalls.

Many of the stalls sold Christmas decorations, ranging from intricately crafted glass bulbs with glass cacti and flowers to finely detailed doilies. There was also a single stall selling soap. This was exciting soap though: each and every one was shaped like a piece of fruit. Each and every piece of soup fruit smelled exactly like a freshly picked offering of the fruit it mimicked.

Stalls for warmer winter wear were common. Toques, scarfs, headbands were aplenty and surprisingly there was far more alpaca wool than normal wool. My dear friend took advantage of this and got me a super snuggly and warm alpaca toque since I’m allergic to sheep’s wool. It’s also reversible, beat that, normal wool hats.

My favourite stall was the one that sold incense burners. These were not your half Chinese gramma’s incense burners though they were clearly German in construction. The burners were all designed as miniature stoves, heaters, and even trains. If there is one thing Germans seem to love it’s tiny working versions of big industrial products and all those burners were immaculately adorable.

Chocolates, candies, cheese and mushrooms could all be found for home use or as an immediate treat. The food was rich and filling, I immensely enjoyed a pork hock in a bun with sauerkraut and spicy mustard. I also got to try a chimney cake for the first time. Chimney cakes are funnels of dough spit-roasted over charcoal until golden brown sprinkled with cinnamon or another topping then the inside is coated with a spread of some kind, mine had Nutella. Our ticket also came with a single serving of Glühwein (literally glow wine) or as we are more familiar mulled wine, served in the boot cup at the top of this mumble.

Finally, it was time to ride the carousel. Steel horses spinning round and round while you get to watch the world whirl past are fun at any time of year but even better with German food and a mug of Glühwein running through you. With a last look at the cheerfully lit stalls and their friendly owners, it was time to head home but I will definitely be back next year.