Christmas Traditions - Weihnachtsteller - Christmas Plate

The Christmas Plate - As a kid it was impossible not to love this. How could you not... Each plate had a fun festive design (snowmen, santa, Christmas scene) on it which was made of cardboard, aluminum or ceramic and it could be a nice keepsake afterwards as well.


Of course the plate was of little consideration by the kids since it was usually burried under the treats which usually consisted of the obligatory Christmas Santa but also had...

1. A Niederegger marzipan loaf
2. Christmas cookies - a wide assortment of shapes and styles - star, round, christmas tree shaped shortbread, Pfeffernüsse, marzipan, lebkuchen and the list goes on
3. Dominoes - a cube with 3 layers (gingerbread, Jam and Marzipan) covered in chocolate
4. Jellies in the shape of circles and stars
5. Marzipan pig (it represented good luck)
6. Gold chocolate coins
7. Marzipan balls
8. These cool little chocolates in the shape of christmas packages wrapped

But as my dad said along with the treats you had to get healthy things as well

1. Walnuts & Hazelnuts
2. An Apple
3. Clementines

My dad  had so much fun putting these together for each of the kids on Christmas Eve. As you can see from the list you can really go overboard

And no, this wasn't something I got, but you have to give the guy who put this together credit. Like all Christmas traditions these days it seems quite commercial, it was for the kids and could be quite simple and made completely with home made cookies and treats.
The hardest thing about this tradition was that they'd give us these before our Christmas Eve dinner and we couldn't eat anything from the plate until after we finished our meal. But boy did the "goodies" taste good after having to wait.