Christkindlmarket Chicago: My Visit Was A Dream Come True

I have wanted to visit the German Christmas Market in Chicago for y-e-a-r-s. My busy holiday schedule made it impossible until this year. The moons aligned; the snowy weather held off and my husband had time off of work. We jumped in the car and made our hotel reservation from the road.

The Christkindlmarket is set up in Daley Plaza near the live Christmas tree and is open from November 21-December 24. Each vendor has a wooden hut with a striped tent roof and a plaque that names the shop and the German town where they are from. 

Here you can see an extensive selection of cuckoo clocks, and then the sign identifying them as Black Forrest Clocks. I am so happy that the official Christkindlmarket website has a vendor page with links to each company. If you saw something and regret not buying it at the market, there is still a chance you can order it online. Nice!

Hands down, my favorite find was a real gingerbread cookie necklace. They were baked and decorated in Neidenbach, Germany and flown here for the Christkindlmarket.

People were wearing them all over the market. When I got home, I hung it on my tree. So cute! The message is: Ich hab dich soooo lieb which means I love you sooooo much! All of the German shop girls commented on my cookie and smiled at Dan, telling me that he must reallllllly love me. When we went back to the market the next day, one of the shop girls recognized me and said "Sooo lieb" to me, to tell me that she remembered.

I will write more about our visit in another post, but you can see that the Christkindlmarket in Chicago really is a must visit, if you get the chance!