You know December is looming, when invitations for Christmas cheer and crafts are coming in! Here's a selection of wonderful events with a "Deutsche Weihnachten" feeling in the Boston area. Check what might be right for your family:

• Sunday, November 20, 2011, 12-5pm: Christkindlmarkt at the Boylston Schul-Verein. Stroll the vendor stands for Christmas ornaments and crafts, enjoy Glühwein and other seasonal refreshments and snacks. Click here for the flyer.
• Saturday, December 3, noon to 5pm: Christkindlmarkt at German International School Boston. Invitation only event! Please RSVP to jessica.allen@gisbos.org with the # of people attending. Please bring a copy of the invitation with you to the event.
• Sunday, December 4, 3pm: Wiener Sängerknaben/Vienna Boys' Choir, Holiday Concert at NEC's Jordan Hall: "Since 1498, the angelic voices of the Vienna Boys Choir have been charming and moving audiences. Theirs is a ringing sound of timeless purity, the sound of a great choral tradition passed down through the ages with care". You can preview their Boston program by downloading a PDF from here.
• Sunday, December 4, 4pm: Advent Worship Service held in German, First Lutheran Church of Boston, 299 Berkeley Street (corner of Berkeley and Marlborough Street). The church was founded in the 1830’s by a group of German Christians who had settled in Boston and is now known as the First Lutheran Church of Boston. A reception with German baked goods will follow the German worship service. Contact Simona Retter for more information.
  
• Tuesday, December 6 and 13th, 4:30-5.15pm: Weihnachtsgeschichten & Lieder/Christmas stories and carols. If you have a favorite Christmas story, please bring it to share.  At First Church in Belmont, 404 Concord Avenue, Belmont. This event is free; a contribution towards the rent is appreciated. No registration necessary. Contact: Dunja Pechstein.

• Friday, December 9, 6-8pm: Traditional Holiday Wein-Bar at the Goethe-Institut with Glühwein and German refreshments. Admission: $15 at the door. Click here for more information.
• Sunday, December 11, 12-2.30pm/2.45-5.15pm: Weihnachtsbasteln/Christmas crafts at the Goethe-Institut Boston for children ages 5 and 12 using all original craft supplies from Germany. Due to the great demand, a second session has been added from 2.45 to 5.15pm. Costs: $25 (includes supplies and snack). Please RSVP by December 4 to praktikanten3@boston.goethe.org  
• Sunday, December 11, 3pm: Sängerchor Boston presents Weihnachtskonzert at the Boylston Schul-Verein. Cocktails (cash bar), coffee & cake at 2pm, concert at 3pm, a la carte Imbiss immediately following, $7.00 Admission. www.saengerchorboston.org

Wouldn't it be great to learn German really quickly? I'm talking 8 weeks immersion and you are fluent. Sounds like there must be a magic potion involved? No, there is one big idea behind it: Speak and make errors. Lots of them. This recent blog from one of our parents might inspire quite a few of you. Sanjoy Mahajan, a new parent with a child in our preschool class and frequent contributor to the Blog on www.freakonomics.com shared how he learned German - and how his concept may be also applied to learning other subjects in a more effective way. Check out his two new blogs: How to Learn (Not Just) a Language Quickly and his follow up blog from November 2 The Way We Teach Math, Sciences, and Languages is Wrong. This is sure to create a buzz! Talk to him when you see him in the hallways. And remember, he is fluent in German!

For those of you in tune with the German popular music scene, "Rammstein" is a pretty big name! So when we received news that tickets for their April 29th, 2012 concert in Worcester will start going on sale this weekend (November 19), we wanted to make sure you are among the first to know about it! Click here for their complete US tour dates and ticket information.

The Congress - Bundestag Youth Exchange Program is an incredible program aimed at American High School students to live and attend high school in Germany for a year. The New England area has an allocation of 50 scholarships, all of which are processed through American Field Service in Portland, OR. It's a great program - and apart from spending money - completely free for participants! While knowledge of the German language is not even required, it's obviously a great head-start. We have a few graduates from our Saturday School who have participated in this program and reported back great things. Basic eligibility requirements for students:

• Be a U.S. citizen, national or permanent resident
• Have a GPA of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale
• Be between the ages of 15 and 18 by the start of the program. 

The door is wide open to applicants of all types.  Residents of Massachusetts apply through AFS Intercultural Programs. Deadline to apply through AFS is January 17, 2012. (Note:this program should not be confused with the one geared at young professionals where applicants have to be between 18-24). More information for the high school program under www.usagermanyscholarship.org  or review the following FAQs:

A parent mentioned the American Translators Association's Annual Conference to us which maybe of interest to those of you who would like to learn more about translation and interpreting. This event hasn't been held in Boston for decades, so it is a unique opportunity to network, visit or train with experts and other professionals in the field of translation and interpreting. The conference is held at the Boston Marriott Copley Place from Wednesday, October 26 through Saturday, October 29.

(We are reposting this compilation from last year - it should still be current!)
We thank everyone for their understanding that we may not use the street-level floor including the lobby at the CGS building (871 Commonwealth Ave.) on Saturdays when school is in session. We understand that many parents like to gather with other parents, meet new ones or "network".  We have a few suggestions on where to go to do so:

This Saturday, members of the Yahoo Group "Deutsche Familien in Boston" are organizing a German Bookmarket at the German International School in Allston (57 Holton Street). The market is open from 10 to 12pm. German books, CDs, and DVDs can purchased ans sold. If you are interested in selling, please register with Alexandra Grond at alexandra.grond@gmail.com. To register with the Yahoo Group, click here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ElterngruppeBoston/

The German Consulate in Boston is seeking to fill a part-time position in the Consulate's public relations department. To learn more, visit the Consulate's Web site or view the job posting directly. Applications are accepted until May 20, 2011.

The German Consulate Boston forwarded this invitation to us: "VENI, VIDI, VOCALDENTE! The Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Boston is proud to present *volcaldente*. With their program “startin’ something’,” vocaldente will present a wide variety of songs from the last ninety years of music history in an unforgettable a cappella performance, offering a unique vocal experience without amplification – unenhanced, unadulterated, and unmistakable." When: Tuesday, April 19th , 7:00 pm. Where: Goethe Institut Boston, 170 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 20116. Admission is free, but reservations are required. RSVP by April 15th with the first and last names of all guests via e-mail: event@bost.diplo.de. More information here.

We received this note about an upcoming German mass and art installation on Sunday, March 27 at 11.30AM at the St. Joseph's Chapel of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA followed by lunch and an introduction by the artist Angela Glajcar in the afternoon. Mass will be held by Pater Friedhelm Mennekes, S. J. who is well known in Germany as the founder of the "Kunst-Station" at his former St. Peter Parish in Cologne. The "Deutsche Messe und Skulptur-Schau", unique in the United States, is modelled after the Cologne Kunst-Station. From the announcement: "German artist Angela Glajcar will create a monumental, curving, floating sculpture of torn fiberglass fabric above the ain aisle of the Chapel. The project, unique in the United States, is designed to foster a dialogue between the world of faith and the world of contemporary art. It necessitates that worshipers encounter their sacred space in a new way." More on the flyer.  Directions and to RSVP contact sschmitz@holycross.edu.