There are also other holidays that are near the Christmastime that are celebrated here, including Nikolaus, which is a holiday on the 6th of December. My laboratory group had our holiday celebration on this day, and we gathered together to eat delicious cookies and have an overall lovely time!
We had a competition for which 'domino' sweet was best, too. These are little German layered Christmas cookies that are quite traditional. As with most sweets at this time of year, they feature a layer of Marzipan (almond-paste), gingerbread and chocolate. Some of them can also have apricot jam inside, depending on how fancy they are! We also ate Spekulatius cookies, which are a kind of Dutch/northern European cookie that is similar to gingerbread but slightly more spiced. They are often impressed with a design on the top, which makes them fun! We also had more marzipan cookies, which were a marzipan 'bread' wrapped in chocolate. I am eating so many almonds these days! It has been very fun engaging with the traditions surrounding Christmastime (and becoming a geologist) here in Germany, and it has been wonderful to eat all the different cookies and visit the markets until the Weihnachtsmann (Santa Claus) comes!
