Holiday Inspiration: Christmas Baubles

It feels like every year we start decorating for Christmas earlier and earlier. Now it seems it's practically a tradition to set up your tree and begin adorning it as soon as Thanksgiving is over. In Europe however, this tradition is not as common. In fact, it's much more common to decorate a day or two before Christmas instead. While we're not going to split hairs in a debate over which is the better time to begin decorating, we will say we're still excited to be adding our last minute holiday touches! As far as traditional decorations go, one of our favorite Christmas tree decorations is the timeless glass ball ornament. These shiny baubles date all the way back to 1847 in Lauscha, Germany. Nowadays many baubles are mass produced in plastic rather than glass, however when you find the quality glass ornaments like the ones made centuries ago, no other ornament compares. It doesn't matter if you have a miniature tree or the biggest Fraser Fir in the lot, these colorful and classic glass baubles can make any old tree one of sophistication and beauty. If you're like us and the rest of Europe, you've got some decorating to do! We've just marked all of our holiday items 30% off, so come visit us and enjoy this wonderful holiday season!

Available at The Paris Market.

Notes from Abroad: The best of the bakery

While enjoying the holidays abroad with family, we wanted to share some of the things we love most about Europe during this wonderful season. This week it takes the form of delicious breads and pastries from the local bakery! It goes without saying that bakeries all across Europe have their own unique and delectable flavors specific to their regions. As we are currently in the southern most corner of the Black Forest in Germany, we rounded up this collection of our favorite delicious and traditional Schwartzwalder treats to share with friends and family back home!

Stollen - a traditional holiday loaf filled with dried fruits, marzipan and dusted with powdered sugar.

It wouldn't be Germany without the pretzels! / The Berliner - a jelly-filled, sugar-dusted favorite!

Weckmann - another beloved treat around the holidays in the form of a little man made of sweet bread.

Schnecken- or "snail", a delicious sweet rolled pastry filled with any number of nuts and dried fruits.

This Just In: Handmade Card Cases

There's nothing like finding the perfect case to keep all of your personal cards in. Fortunately, with our new collection it seems we've struck the motherload! Delicately designed, yet sturdy and crushproof, these German silver cases were moulded and struck from the original hand-engraved die stamps of the 1920's & 30's. Perfect containers for pocket, purse or desk; each case neatly fits business, calling, credit cards, driver licenses, money, cigarettes or what-you-will in a quality retro fashion look. Each is hand assembled with a spring loaded clasp and comes with a durable hard lacquer finish which preserves its lustre for years of continual use.

Handmade in Germany and available at The Paris Market.

Currently Inspired: Vintage Beer Steins

Collected from every imaginable corner of Germany, our bar is now fully stocked with these beautiful authentic beer steins! Adorned in a variety of historical motifs, these decorative mugs are gorgeous, humorous, ornate, kitsch, and classic all at the same time. Perfect for any collector or beer drinker, our steins are available in several shapes and sizes. If you're like us and curious as to what the word stein means, it is derived from the German word for stone, as many beer steins were traditionally made out of stoneware. It is said the pewter lids adorning the tops of the mugs came in to use around the time of the Black Plague in an effort to prevent diseased insects from falling into the steins. It's near impossible to pick out a favorite or even several favorites, so we'll just highlight a few mugs that we find interesting.

Cheers!