COVER N. 200 -  GERMANY

Postmark: München 80331- Münchner Christkindlmarkt - 24.12.2022 

Posted on the 24th December; Received on the 12th January 2023
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200 covers.... almost one year and 8 months since the first cover I received....Time does fugit!

It took exactly one year to achieve the 100th cover mark, so, considering that  I was able to double that figure in  the course of the ensuing 8 months I am quite happy to note that things have gathered some momentum.... Thanks a lot Alex for all your care and help. Yours is the cover, mine is the honour and pleasure to exhibit here,  as I reach this enthusing milestone.

I have said it before, but I couldn't be more thankful to fellow collectors who continuously help me adding diversity to my cover collection,  I won't name them, for I could always risk letting someone out, but truly generous and kind human beings they are.

Thanks to them and to the members of the LCCC who chose to include me in their circuits I now have to start thinking about organising my country list in some other way since as it is, it is becoming too long, within the layout of the blog. Will have to do something about it soon :-)

As I also have written here before, I am no believer, so Christmas for me is much more a cultural mark that is somehow embedded in my "programme for the year" than anything else. But I have to concede that there are some particularly likeable features associated with the season that I do enjoy, in spite of all the discomfort that the social, economic, sociological contrasts and antinomies, brought to light by the way Christmas is felt and celebrated, cause me.

One of them, and probably my longest living Xmas related passion, is getting my teeth on "Rabanadas", a very traditional sort of  sweet French Toast that is probably the more ubiquitous Christmas treat in Portugal, since I believe they are eaten all over the country, Islands included.

On the other hand, my most recent Xmas related joy is receiving letters and covers themed on Christmas. I even found myself writing to Santa.....

As such I was very pleased to get this cover from Alex, since it spells Christmas all over it. 

The nice 0,85€ stamp with the image of a forest of  lovely Tannenbäume with the legend Friedvolle Weihnachten (Peaceful Christmas) was issued by Deutsche Post on 02NOV2022 as a reminder of the contradiction  between what Christmas stands for and the horrendous conflict that rages nearby and it complements the traditional Christmas issue which also features a 0,85e stamp although with a surcharge of 0,40€ to be used for funding social projects, I presume.

The 8 cent stamps illustrated with... an eight, were issued on 03DEC2015, and I suppose they have no other purpose behind than to fill in the gap for a price increase in postage that occurred in the course of the year.

To complete the needed tariff, Alex used an ATM label which was first issued on 03JAN2017, themed on writing and receiving letters.

To round it all up, Christmas is again the highlight in the very nice pictorial commemorative postmarks, that were issued in celebration of the Christmas Market of Munich.