... aka Tasks the First, the Sixth, and the Twelfth: The Winter Wonderland, the Hanukkah, and the Wassail Bowl.

- If you are lucky enough to live in a snowy place, or even if you aren't, take a walk outside and post a picture of something pretty you encountered on your way.

- Make a traditional Hanukkah food like doughnuts or potato latkes. Post a picture, or tell us how they turned out!

- Drink a festive, holiday beverage, alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Take a picture of your drink, and post it to share - make it as festive as possible!

No snow anywhere in sight where I live (and as every year, we're dreaming of a white Christmas without, however, much hope for there actually to be one), but yesterday being the first Sunday of Advent, I decided to at least pay a visit to one of our area's many Christmas markets.  For preference, I'd have made it either the one in Bonn or the medieval Christmas market they annually have in another town nearby, but as I also had things to do at the office, it ended up being Cologne's main Christmas market right next to the cathedral (our offices are a 5 minutes' walk from there).

And since both latkes (Kartoffelpuffer / Reibekuchen, or in the local dialect, "Riefkooche") and mulled wine (Glühwein) are a fixture on every German Christmas market, yesterday's visit provided for those as well -- alright, not homemade admittedly, but I decided I'm going to let the Christmas market tradition stand in for "homemade" here instead ... and, in the instance of the latkes, also celebrate the cross-cultural / cross-religious spirit.  Oh, and I did get to take home my pretty, colorful mulled wine mug, too!