Some Midwinter Cheer

The weather here continues to remain as un-Bing Crosby Christmas Special as can be, but I hear rumors that Old Man Winter is beginning to take his annual months-long crap over the Midwest.  I have to say, I do not miss the Midwestern fate of seeing green as far as the eye can see in December, when a good snow-fall would be appropriate and appreciated, but then being forced to drive on iced-over roads from mid-January until April, when it is suddenly 95 degrees with 100% humidity.  Snow at Christmas stirs nostalgia in us for a fictitious era that never really existed (do you know anyone that's actually roasted chestnuts on an open fire?), whereas snow in January and beyond is just inconvenient.

And so my belated Yuletide gift to you, my friends, is a bit of Christmas to brighten those miserable winter nights (that begin around 4:30).  Also, I just haven't gotten around to posting these yet, and I took too damn many pictures not to put them to good use.  A few days before Christmas, AH and I were lucky enough to spend a few days in Strasbourg, France after a train strike foiled our plans to head to Cologne, Germany.  But I have to say, things turned out quite splendidly despite Europe's best attempts to slowly mold me into a Republican (grumble grumble, strikes, grumble grumble).  So may I present:  How Christmas Threw Up All Over Strasbourg!

Strasbourg: the Capital of Christmas.  They're not kidding, man.  They have turned Christmas into an industry.  Seven Christmas markets, all within town limits. There was nary a hall, alley, or bathroom that was not thoroughly decked.

AH's espresso even came with a little Santa chocolate.  That's commitment, friends.

Giant Christmas tree, in the Peace and Unity (?) Christmas market.

Pretty blue tree in the Swedish (?!?) Christmas market.

FOOD.  So much food.  Those pots are cooking a wonderful concoction of potato, cheese, sausage, onion, and ham.  Add in bread, salt, and hot wine, and you've got the major food groups of our visit.

The largest Christmas market was in the main square in front of the Cathedral.  Speaking of which...

Damn.  Absolutely breath-taking.  It made Notre Dame de Paris look like it 

had all the visual interest of that mega-church they just built out on the freeway.

And while there was a nativity on display inside the Cathedral, the delightful crassness 

of Christmas, Inc., still managed to make its way inside.

Ice skaters next to the Cathedral.  I tried to convince AH that it would be incredibly romantic of us to strap on some ice-skates and glide hand in hand.  He flatly informed me that Wheelers don't skate (Papa and Mama Wheeler, what did you do?!).  I did manage to convince him to watch the skaters for a bit with me while we drank our upteenth cup of vin chaud.

         Fun fact:  storks are A Thing in Alsace.  I cannot TELL you how much I coveted that hat.  However, I have been lured into the "kitschy vacation thing that's hilarious now but will eventually fester on a shelf in my in-laws basement" trap before, and so I wisely restrained myself; last time I fell into that trap I paid $20 for a hat in the shape of a giant crab (did I think I was going to shoot an STD-awareness PSA?).  

        I did spy a family of five that apparently had either A) never fallen into this trap before and were deluding themselves that they could totally wear these back home or B) recently formed a family singing group, Sotto Storko.

More food porn.  Because you know you want it.

Seriously.  If there's a way to describe this apart from "Christmas Vomit," then it seems 

that I am at a loss for words.