A little on Christmas in Germ

The traditions here for the holidays are different to say the least. The dude in the photo is Nikolaus who shows up in these here parts on December 6th. Depending on where you live in Germ there are different traditions on exactly how he leaves you a gift or two. And then on Christmas Eve the Christkind comes and leaves gifts under the tree, at least around here while you are at the children's church service.

Bernd shocked me this year by suggesting that we go to downtown Munich on Saturday the 23rd for breakfast and for just a bit of poking around. OK by me! We ran across this guy in our new Karstadt Oberpollinger store (quite mahvelous, go check it out!)...he was handing out candy to kids who were not afraid to approach him, and he tried to reassure those who were terrified that they should not be afraid of him. I thought he was rather impressive and I like the expression on the girl behind him as well.

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy 2007. Another year closer to the end of the Bush reign!