Lebkuchen Schmidt Festive Chest 2016 Celebrates the Nuremberg Christmas Market

Year after year the Lebkuchen Schmidt Festive Chest - the largest and most grand of the Chests - continues to be the best seller - here in Canada and in Europe.

Every year the artists at Lebkuchen Schmidt based in Nuremberg Germany design and create new designs for the many Chests and Tins in their annual collections.

Many of this year's Chests and Tins celebrate the famous Christmas Market - Christkindlesmarkt - held in the Nuremberg each Advent Season. And the Festive Chest bears a beautiful illustration of the market in the Square surrounded by churches and fountains.

When I was a little girl my parents took my siblings and I to the Nuremberg Christmas Market. I have such good memories of that visit - the little flakes of snow falling from the sky, stall after stall of magical items including the two Zwetschgenmännle (Prune Men) that I bought and carried home to Canada, and the little cafes around the Square where we stopped for hot chocolate.

I have visited other Christmas Markets in Germany as an adult and enjoyed the hot Glühwein (mulled wine) in real mugs, the salespeoples' pitches and handcrafted wood carvings.

 
The top of the 2016 Festive Chest shows the Nuremberg Market Square (or Nürnberg Hauptmarkt) decked out for the Christkindlesmarkt. We can see the roofs of the many stalls where all manner of gifts and treats are sold. On the left is the famous fountain called the Schöner Brunnen - a tall spire surrounded by an iron fence. In the fence are two brass rings and legend has it that good luck comes to anyone who spins those rings!

To the right of the Fountain is the facade of the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) built in the mid-1300's and is notable for the clock figures (Männleinlaufen) that are displayed each day at noon and the balcony of the church on which the opening ceremony of the Christkindlesmarkt is held each year.

And this is just the outside of the Chest that we have been discussing. Read more about the scrumptious treats and pastries you will find on the inside of the new Festive Chest 2016.