I love Christmas. Well, I love all holidays, but I love the holiday season that goes on from late-November until the beginning of January, and Christmas is the best part of that season. I have a lot of feelings, and I'm a sucker for family moments, precious memories, and a little bit of magic. Christmas has all three of those.

I am blessed to be going home this year for Christmas, and I've been counting down the days to when I finally get to see my friends and family back on the other side of the Pacific. But, until that day comes (a week from Tuesday!), I have to find Christmas things to do on this side of the world. When some of the other JETs told me that there was a German Christmas Market in Osaka, barely an hour away from us, I had to go!

The German Christmas Market is a yearly event in Osaka, which takes place under the Umeda Sky Building (another great place to visit, day or night!). This year it's running from Friday, November 18th, all the way up until Sunday, December 25th--also known as Christmas Day! Admission is free, but you do have to pay for anything you get there, of course. If you want more information, Osaka's events website has some details that I didn't cover here.

This event is really cool for a bunch of reasons. One, it gives expats and Japanese citizens alike the chance to experience some German culture. There's live performances of Christmas music, St. Nicholas walks around and poses for photo ops all night, and there's plenty of shops with hand-made products that you can buy. To add to the "authenticity," the vendors are a mix of Japanese people and German people, and I heard a mix of all languages echoing around the square as I walked around. It was really cool to see everyone interacting freely.

My favorite part was that there's a ton of delicious food and, of course, drinks sold at the market. Since everything's sold at festival prices (usually ranging from 500-600 yen per item), most people try to pick one or two things to eat. I have no self-control, so I tried most of the staple foods that were being sold at the market. It was really nostalgic for me to eat ham and sauerkraut at the festival, since my family always has it for dinner on New Year's Day. Some of my friends were really surprised to learn that we believe eating sauerkraut gives you good luck for the new year--although I still wonder if my parents told me and my brother that just so we would eat it. Other foods included bratwurst, waffles, and candied nuts and gingerbread cookies. Drinks were flowing all night, and you can buy a commemorative mug for your mulled red or white wine, hot chocolate, or tea.

Overall, it was a really fun event filled with people from all over the world. Was it a little consumer-based? Naturally. But was it a great was to get in the Christmas spirit and enjoy as much meat and potatoes as we could? Absolutely!