|Glühwein| The rains had begun. The forecast for southern Germany wasn’t looking good for the first two weeks of December, a slog of on-again-off-again drizzles accompanied by great pushes of open downpour predicted to haunt those who sought to enjoy crisp (but dry) holiday nights. However, the people cannot be stopped. And as an American…

|Reibekuchen| This year I don’t want to cruise through the Christmas season. I don’t want to enjoy just enough cheer and just enough holly-jollies to barely make it to February without already forgetting what happened in the month-long haze of meats, cheeses, desserts, and wine that we call the “Holiday Season” proper. So for posterity’s…