Some twists and turns in 2020 had me set up shop in the homeland for a while. After 25 years in the US, I am spending my first winter in a quarter century in Germany (our annual trips were almost always in the summertime). It’s the ultimate test of how deep the love to the motherland really is: short, cold, grey days during a strict pandemic induced lockdown. Everything that makes a German winter doable and fun is gone: no Christmas markets with Glühwein, no restaurants and cafés, no shopping, no travel, no skiing or skating, no firecrackers, no parties, no Kaffee and Kuchen gatherings. As of next week, I will be allowed to get together with a mere single person at a time and not outside a radius of 15 kilometers (<10 miles) from where I live. These Germans are not messing around. Unless you want to cough up 500 Euros, you’d better abide. Want law and order? Come to Germany. Not all is a downer, though: today, on the last day of Christmas, I woke up to a winter wonderland and took my camera for a walk (still allowed!). Below are some of my captures. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year. (Not a shabby start with the great news from Georgia.)