Holiday Fun

Georgina Goldschmidt

• For busy students who are looking for some holiday spirit good food, good drinks and crafts are an easy train ride away at the annual Christmas Village in Center City’s Love Park.

• Christmas Village will continue until 5 p.m. Christmas Eve.

• Christmas Village, a German style outdoor market, is now on its fifth year. The number of people who come through has grown every year. For 2012, they expect to see around 500,000 visitors according to their press statement. It hosts vendors from all over the world, primarily European and Americans.

• Students may wonder whether this is a bit too juvenile for them, but it’s not. Inspired by the German outdoor markets, Christmas Village has over 90 booths with over 60 vendors selling a wide array of items and holiday goodies. Students looking to pick up unique holiday gifts will find that it may have just the right thing for them.

• “People should definitely set aside a few hours to walk around and really see everything” said Rebecca Heine, one of the many young shoppers. “For those with money to spend it has a lot of nice knick-knacks for the family”.

• Among the many stalls, student who are doing holiday shopping might be interested to look at Kathe Wohlfahrt’s authentic German Christmas ornaments.

• Indoors one can find Christmas pyramids, dioramas, glass and crystal ornaments, nutcrackers, music boxes, beer steins—all of which are each handcrafted in Germany.

• “Next week and the week after are prime ornament buying times for the Village”, said Bruce Chaftin, the manager of the Kathe Wohlfahrt tent. “We bring the Village traditional Christmas items like pyramids (which are the original Christmas trees) from the Rhineland region of Germany.”

• Even if students don’t wish to buy some of the pieces which are slightly out of the normal student’s price range with beer steins starting at $30 and higher quality items going up from there, there are plenty of stands in the park to choose from.

• Nepa Bhon is a vendor of Nepalese products including handmade lampshades, photo albums, bags and other general home décor items. The store residence is in New York, where the owner Roger Sayami has neglected the Christmas bazaars there for two years for the one in Philadelphia.

• “We like it better here because there are lots of people in New York, which make it not as worthwhile to do business there”, said Sayami. “And the people are nicer here.”

• Another vendor with plenty of good gifts for the holidays is Noel en Provence, a vendor of French items. The vendor Fifi Siksik is American and met her French husband while salsa dancing in the Riviera. – They live part of the year in Nice, in the French Riviera where

they pick up many items for their business.

• “We take a trip down the Danube and stop at all the outdoor markets”, said Siksik. “We become friends with foreigners and get good products at a good price”.

• Noel en Provence has been a part of Philadelphia’s Christmas Village for four out of the five years and prides itself on the European craftsmanship displays. The Siksik have noticed that students who shop in their stall tend to buy scarves, soap, perfume, and earrings.

• Among the many families spending time together at the market in early December, there were also many young people and students who are just soaking up the Christmas atmosphere.

• “It’s a little overpriced so I’m not doing shopping so much as just getting away from the LaSalle world for the day”, said Catherine Andrews, a junior at LaSalle.

• Lebkuchen is a German food stand offering a beautiful assortment of Christmas goodies like lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies), stollen (specialty German holiday cake) , as well as other sweets.

• For those wishing for something more savory, the German Grill offers bratwursts, latkes, various meats and German potato salad.

• If one needs to warm up with something a little stiffer than the hot chocolates and apple ciders that are to be found in many stalls, then meandering to the Chaddsford Winery might be a good idea.

• In this stall they offer two different types of mulled wine.

• The vendor throws in a complimentary mug on your first visit so you can come back again for refills.

• If just the shopping and food stands weren’t enough to tempt you, then the live Christmas music performed should be. There is usually a live singer on the stage erected behind the Love statue.

• “It’s my first time in Philly for Christmas and I wanted to check out ice skating as well as the wide array of shops”, said Katie Burrows, a businesswoman from Wisconsin. “The singing that they do in the square is nice, too.”