Every December while she was growing up, Gerianne Pertl’s house was completely devoid of decoration. Weeks would pass with other houses lit up red and green, while hers would remain entirely plain. “I would beg, ‘Can’t we help Santa Claus decorate the tree,” she says, but her parents wouldn’t budge. And then Christmas Eve would arrive, and she would crawl into bed, fall into a fitful sleep, and wake up to a winter wonderland.
“It was a complete fantasy land,” she remembers now. “I mean, garland on the fireplace, on the railing, on the stairs. Elves on the lamps. You name it.”
Pertl’s parents – Jerry and Grace Mielke – loved Christmas. As part of that love, they abided by a traditional German approach to the holiday season that called for holding off on decorating until Christmas Eve … and then going absolutely all-out.
That spirit of unfettered Christmas maximalism is more than apparent when you walk into Kristmas Kringle Shoppe in Fond du Lac, the store that the Mielkes founded in 1978, which their daughter Gerianne has ran for the last seven years.
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One step inside, and you’ll hear Christmas music echoing over the high warehouse ceilings. You’ll look up and see the gabled roof of a Christmas village home. You’ll walk past a legion of smiling Santas and what feels like one million twinkling lights and ornaments on dozens of trees. Even the most grizzled Scrooge among us might have a hard time repressing the impulse to wish peace on earth and goodwill to all men.
The overwhelming cornucopia of good cheer had a surprising beginning – in the corner of an office supply shop. In 1926, Pertl’s grandfather opened Wegner Office Supply in Downtown Fond du Lac, later taken over by his daughter, Pertl’s mother Grace. Kristmas Kringle Shoppe began as a display in the corner of the original shop in 1978.
“It kept growing and growing and taking over more of the store, until they finally decided to build this building,” said Pertl.
The couple bought a vacant lot near the highway, and Jerry designed the building to evoke an Old World German Christmas feel, building a model of the space in his garage before approaching an architect. Kristmas Kringle Shoppe opened in its new location in 1994, and Gerianne – who began running Wegner Office Supply in the 2000s – took it over full-time in 2019, after her parents’ had both passed.
A lap around the first floor (there are two floors, FYI), will take you past nooks dedicated to particular makers, some imported from Italy, Ireland and others overseas, such as Old World Christmas, De Carlini and Christopher Radko.
Head downstairs, and you’ll pass more than a dozen trees, each one sporting its own theme, with the ornaments on the branches all for sale. There’s a Packers tree, a farm tree and a Disney tree, amongst others. One such tree is decorated entirely with handmade ornaments designed by Gerianne’s father Jerry, who would send his designs to Italy to be made.
And that music echoing through the place is coming from a handmade wooden music box – which appears to be a vinyl player from a distance, but get close and you’ll see the spinning disc is actually metal with holes punched in it, prompting the machine. It was handmade in Vermont by a maker who refurbishes it every few years.
The place feels exceptionally fitting for the season in December, of course, but somewhat unexpectedly, this store is open all year long. And no, it doesn’t change up its wares. It’s full-on Christmas in March. (Although the store does also have little nooks offering decorations and ornaments for weddings, first communions and other non-Santa-related holidays.)
Pertl says that business spikes at the start of November and dips after New Year’s, as you might expect, but that enough people continue to shop during the off-season that it’s worthwhile keeping Christmas cheer going all year round.
