Spent my Christmas in Osaka and Kyoto! How about you!? Check my Instagram (dec_vs_japan) for all my pics!

Merry Christmas & belated birthday Dec (fellow December kid FTW), German Christmas Markets are certainly a thing in the Northern UK as well, though the last couple of years have been heavily impacted for obvious reasons. Glühwein/mulled wine is my hot beverage of choice Oct-Feb, not that I actually drink much but it's perfect for sipping on in good company. Black Friday is traditionally the Friday after Thanksgiving in the US and was first introduced to combat what historically was a lull in consumer spending, the UK has imported it over the last decade and it's now extended to a 2-3 week period; kinda cannibalised some of the Boxing Day sales madness, makes me glad I've escaped working retail now. The pictures/Insta stories you've posted of Kyoto look gorgeous.

Happy belated birthday, Dec! Hope you had a good day and also a nice Christmas! I was surprised to hear Japan kinda "took over" the concept of our German Christmas Markets 😮😄 And I have to say... I'm actually not really a fan of hot drinks, I rarely drink coffee and even more rarely tea... but the hot wine (Glühwein) you mentioned is a MUST in Winter! 😁

Merry Christmas ☃️!

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to you Dec🎄🎉

Interesting topic. Black Friday in the US is the day after Thanksgiving. It was started by the retail stores because Thursday was Thanksgiving and a holiday and it was a way to kick off the Christmas shopping season. Now, its turned into a madness day. Stores contributed to the madness by having special sales on certain desired items like TVs selling at $10 for the first 10 people. This created this huge mob waiting for the doors to open.

Happy new year🥳🥳🥳🥳