Martin and I recently went to Potsdam, Germany for a fabric market. (Potsdam is just Southwest of Berlin and linked to the Berlin subway system.) We browsed the market together for a little bit then split up. I sought out fabric for Christmas projects; Martin looked for lunch.

Perhaps you’d like to look back on my end of things with me?

The market was filled with so much to touch, and so many women with a common interest.  I think that many of the shoppers made a lot of their own clothes, too.

Customers stand on one side of a table and sort through fabric.  You scoop up what you want and hand it to the other person on the other side of the table (like this man).  The place was packed… on the shoppers’ side of the table.

I saw stacks of wool and linen, carefully sorted plastic tubes of buttons, and even some holiday fabric from the United States.

I liked looking at all the laces and ribbons.  Those booths were the most crowded – with young women and older women alike.  I saw only one man following his wife to another booth.  She was handing him bags; he was complaining about being there.

He should have been in charge of lunch, too.  No?

I’ve been struggling to find fabric in Germany.  When I do find some, it typically starts at 19 euros/meter… or $30 a yard.  THIRTY BUCKS?!

Needless to say, we do not have a problem with excess fabric stashes in our house.

The most affordable fabrics I’ve seen in Europe came from this market.  And if you don’t mind squeezing your way around, fabric markets are hands down, the most amazing atmosphere to shop in.

Now to start sewing stockings with my picks (which include that green pompom trim hanging in the upper right of this last photo – Isn’t that a fun detail?!).

Are the stockings at your house handmade?  (any tips?)  Or do you have any experiences or dreams of fabric markets?  Do tell!

One thing I quickly discovered about visiting in a country where the primary language is not English is – now this is going to shock you – people don’t really read books in English.  English books are hard to find.  When you do find a store with an English section, the shelf is filled with books like Moby Dick and The Odyssey.

At first, I thought I was going to die.

Martin and I would be visiting in Germany for several weeks, and I’d be out of reading materials.  (It’s surprising how fast you go through books when you and your in-laws have no common language.)

Then I broke down and realized Germany was my chance.  I realized I could walk away from Europe having mastered many of the great English novels.  Wouldn’t my old high school English teachers be pleased?!

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Fast forward to today.  I’m sticking to my plan… even if I have found half a dozen bookstores selling huge selections of modern English fiction and nonfiction.  The nonfiction is usually biographies about Europe’s most loved Americans (like Obama), but that’s another story.

Just like in the US, the classic literature is really cheap here.

And that, my reader and friend, is where I want to suggest a classic novel to you.  Go ahead and gag and remember all of the tragedies of high school lit classes.  But when you’re done, do you want to know who gave me the idea for my latest classic book?

It was Gonzo.

You know… the Muppet who’s girlfriend is a chicken?

Yeah… he’s the one who said during A Muppet Christmas Carol, “You think this is good?  Try reading the book.”

So that’s what I’m doing.  I’m taking the advice of a guy who dates chickens.  And you can take his advice or mine – whichever you view with higher (or lower!) authority on the subject.  But either way, we’d urge you to read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

The book really touches you.  It makes you think of life a little differently with each page. I’ve never seen a play or film of the story that captures this sense of giving to one another in quite the same way. Charles Dickens writes about giving from the heart – not just money and more vacation days or breaks for late payments.  He describes moments like this:

He [Scrooge] had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a door-step.  The misery with them all [the ghosts] was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever (pg 22).

I might as well confess that the book is pretty short, which we all like at this busy time of year.  Plus it’s so cheap.  Like this copy on Amazon is only $3.95.  As you’re shopping online or at your bookstore, include a copy of A Christmas Carol in your cart.  A few dollars to be moved like I am finding myself (and getting bonus points for reading a classic!) is amazing.

After all, don’t people always say, “The book was better than the movie”?

Then pass the book onto a friend who – like me and perhaps you – has seen countless versions of the story… but never thought of the original.  Trust me.  The feeling of sharing this book with all of you is more incredible than reading it.

Happy reading!

Is this book something you’re read or ever thought to read before?

(Image sources for:  Gonzo and book)

Do you remember the holiday stories your parents used to read to you when you were very little? One that I remember involved St. Nicholas delivering treats to children while they were asleep. He wasn’t the customary St. Nick we knew of in the United States. This St. Nicholas was different. He left treats in kids’ shoes, and he didn’t visit the United States. (Or at least he never visited anyone I knew.)

So this year we’re living in Europe… and I’m thinking of that old story… and asking Martin if he thinks St. Nicholas would visit us even if we are a *tad* older than most of the Germans on St. Nicholas’s list.

Martin gave the thumbs up.  He even offered to stay up all night to see how St. Nicholas could get into our house.  (We read and read about the holiday and never figured that part out.  Chimney? Door? Window?  Hmmm.)

I rolled my eyes.  ”You can stay up,” I told Martin.  ”But you’ll never see St. Nicholas.  Don’t you know?  Only the family cat sees him.”

(That’s me quoting my childhood book.)

We put our shoes next to the door and hoped for the best since we didn’t have a cat to tell us what to do.  And guess what!

St. Nicholas came.  He does exist in Europe!

We woke up on Sunday (December 6th) to find pouches poking out of our shoes and stuffed with treats.  We hauled our baggies right to the kitchen table for inspection.

We received chocolates, handmade wooden ornaments, and little fruits called lychees in our (IKEA fabric) bags.  I honestly didn’t know chocolate santas could taste good.  Thank you, St. Nicholas.

Has St. Nicholas ever visited your house?  Any hints about how he gets into our house?  Or were we supposed to leave our shoes outside?  We’re quite the newbies at this, so please share.  (Just please don’t ask me to share my chocolate santa.  Because I can’t.)

I don’t know why, but today we have a day off in German class.  Today isn’t a holiday.   It is, however, a really good day to stroll through the city and embrace the small moments.  Don’t you think?

So I am out the door.

See you here again on Monday.

And thank you for the tremendous support of A Green Christmas.  The ebook has sold in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and of course it’s right here in Germany, too.  You make me feel like Santa’s given me bells on my toes.

Happy December.  Happy weekend.

(Window display from a local department store)

Your stockings are hung by the chimney with care.  But here’s the deal:  I’m curious about what you’re hoping Santa slips into yours this year.  In fact, I think it would be really fun for us to all share some ideas for stocking stuffers with one another – the type of stocking stuffers that others on Making This Home might find intriguing.  What do you say?

What’s something you’re hoping for?

What’s something you can’t live without and think more of us might love to find in our stockings?

For the sake of discussion, let’s say a stocking stuffer is something that costs $20 or less.  I can’t wait to hear your ideas.

(Image from Pottery Barn)

Raise your hand if you use a dusting spray.

My hand would have been up, WAY UP a couple of years ago.  The aerosol dusting spray can and I were best friends forever.  My sister is probably nodding her head as she reads this.  We shared a bedroom and not once did she have to dust.  I was all over it.  And the spray was all over our room.

But then I stopped.  Not dusting.  Just spraying dusting spray.

Martin and I were gathering cleaning supplies here in Germany several years ago, and I needed to find dusting spray.  ”No one uses that stuff here,” Martin told me.

I ignored him like all new wives do when their husbands offer cleaning advice.  How else would Germans dust?

I kept looking for spray.  We finally found some… and get this – the bottles were completely covered in dust!  No one was buying them.

Now I use a damp rag to dust everything.

I’m skipping the nasty spray bottle and fancy equipment, and I’m finding better success than I ever thought possible.  I’ll never reach for the bottle again.

The key is to wring out the rags really well so they’re just slightly damp.  That way you won’t leave water behind and damage your wood or leave water marks.  When they get really dusty, I rinse out my rag in the sink.  (Sometimes I have to use two rags.)  My rags are nothing but an old towel that I ripped up.

I’ve heard of people doing chemical-free dusting with microfiber cloths.  I haven’t ever seen something like that in Germany, and I like having one less cleaning thing to squeeze under the sink since old towels serve so many purposes.

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I’m not sure how surprised I was this last summer when we were moving some of my old furniture – you know, the furniture I dusted until the cows came home as a kid.  The wood was all kind of greasy.  It felt like dirty hair.  The grease was my dusting spray.

For more green cleaning tips, check out these posts: Green cleaning, Avoiding a moldy washing machine, Repurposing cleaners you don’t use, and Removing water stains.

So what do you say?  What are some tricks you’ve learned about keeping the house dust-free?

First Image from Flickr)