Germany might well best the U.S. in the celebration of Christmas. Plazas all around town, flanked by historically imposing buildings such as the Marienplatz, lit up with holiday lights and filled with midieval huts selling traditional holiday crafts and food. A lot of food, including all types of sausages, Gluwein (a warmed wine concoction with which--spoiler alert--one must pace oneself), and of course gingerbread. Thousands of locals, plus two Americans clearly not acclimated to the weather, all sharing in the Christmas spirit.
And they seem to largely pull it off without the plastic, commercialized brittleness that seems to creep into many American attempts to do the same.
Speaking of weather, we probably overdid it our first fill day. After dropping off our holiday cards at the Austrian post office, we spent the greater part of the afternoon and evening outside. We didn't realize how cold we had gotten until is was a little too late (the Gluwein didn't help), and we shivered our way back to our Air BnB a little less-happy than what we would have liked.