Merry Christmas from Bavarian Football Works!

Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Tra la la la la, la la la la
Berni looks a bit too jolly...

Christmas is a very big deal in Bavaria and Munich. In late November, not long after Americans recover from their Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas markets — Weihnachtsmärkte — open up across the city. Munich boasts over two dozen of them, from the giant Christkindlmarkt outside the town hall at Marienplatz all the way to the market at Munich Airport.

Beer gardens, otherwise closed for the winter, transform into magical places where people gather together to enjoy some bratwurst, sweets, and other Schmankerln, drink a cup of spiced wine (Glühwein, “glow-wine”), and shop for Christmas gifts at homely stalls. There’s even a medieval-themed market not far from Odeonsplatz that’s my own favorite.

Of course, the writers at BFW are scattered across the globe far from Munich, just like yourselves, and by no means all of us celebrate Christmas — like Franck Ribery and others near and dear to our beloved club. Yet somehow we have all found ourselves here because of our love and interest in all things Bayern Munich. So as our shared club celebrates Bavaria’s big holiday (well, perhaps after Oktoberfest... and Starkbierzeit), we also want to extend season’s greetings to all of you.

So wherever you may be, and whatever you may be celebrating around this time of the year, we wish you a happy time with family and friends, good food, strong drink — spiced or not! — and a wonderful, restful end to 2018.

In that spirit, Frohe Weihnachten! Merry Christmas from all of us in the BFW family.