Herzlich willkommen, y'all! It's a Texas German celebration Dec. 13-15, on the old downtown streets of Tomball at the  German Christmas Market. Come and enjoy the family-friendly ambience - Gemütlichkeit - of Tomball's unique music/street festival with four stages of live continuous music, and an open-air market along with antique shops in the old town area. SqueezeBox, featuring Mollie B and Ted Lange, will appear all three days at the newly renovated and named stage, Grady und Sandra Platz, at the corner of Pine and Market Streets!The new tent over the stage, dance floor, and audience seating area will now be much more weather-proof. Of course, music can be heard throughout the festival all weekend long, featuring Chris Rybak on his own party stage, Auf Geht's, Das Ist Lustig, TubaMeisters, HomeBrewed Brass, Kevin Anthony, Dujka Brothers, Evelyn Billington, and Mike Stroup Trio. Enjoy folk dancing by the Rathkamp German Folk Dancers, Keine Kunst German Folk Dance Troupe, high school German clubs, and local clogging groups. Sinterklaas (the original Dutch Santa) will be strolling the marketplace, along with Ghillie the Elf, a live Christmas tree, entertainers, and Santa Claus himself. These characters welcome free photo requests, so bring your camera. An estimated 200 unique and interesting street vendors will line Market and S. Walnut Streets, selling German Christmas items, arts and crafts, and much more. Visit the "Weihnachtshaus" inside the Community Center at 221 Market Street at the corner of Cherry Street, which will be filled with accordion music and German clothes and souvenirs for sale. Kinderfest (kid's area) will provide entertainment and fun for the young visitors. It includes carnival rides, bungee-jump, rock wall, petting zoo, pony ride, walk on water, and more. The kids (and grown-ups) will enjoy Story Time with Ghillie the Elf at the Gazebo. Food vendors will include traditional German food and drink, glühwein (warm wine), beer, Christmas stolen (fruit bread) and other homemade breads, kaffee und kuchen (coffee and pastry), bratwurst, red cabbage, schnitzel, apple strudel, etc. The menu also features festival foods like funnel cake, corn dogs, hot dogs, hamburgers, kettle corn, and barbecue. The Festival is sponsored by the City of Tomball, Tomball Sister City Org., and German Heritage Festival, and is proud to continue to offer FREE admission, parking, and shuttle. Shuttle parking is in the east lot of Tomball Regional Hospital with shuttles running continuously on Saturday and Sunday.  See the schedule.