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Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Scenes from Christkindlmarkt, held on Saturday, December 9, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon

Christkindlmarkt was held on Saturday, December 9; one of two rainy days out of many, many sunny days in a row. It poured!  

While at first disappointing for The Congregational Church UCC in Tryon, especially the planning team, participants ended the day with an appreciation for being a part of the church and the wider community. Memories will include children working hot-chocolate and craft booths, highschoolers hauling around stacks of chairs on dollies, parents taking time out of their weekends to work together, Santas (and Mrs. Santa) walking around in damp suits, and retirees working, wet and cold, all together, and still laughing. 

It was a day of inspiration and connection – people being gracious and showing up for one another. 

Many vendors were also very gracious and kind. Most mentioned they “did better than they thought they would,” and all of them said that they at least made more money than their vendor fee, which was a relief to the Christkindlmarkt Team. Some church-member vendors said they even made more money than they did last year!  It seemed that while, due to the weather there were about half of the shoppers than last year, many came and found some treasures. 
The team will be evaluating the day so that Christkindlmarkt will be even better next year and will work on getting the final numbers together to assess how the church made out; but that may be a small part of the story. The real story is that people showed up, worked with each other throughout the year, and in a huge way on Saturday.  It will be remembered by the church’s beloved community as a day where the Christmas/human spirit was inspiring.

Submitted by E. Harvey Zipf 

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