The Last Post of Christmas

This is the last one you're going to get for a year.  ::cue wailing::

I know, I know.

But there was one last thing about Germany and Christmas we wanted to tell you about.  It's a little wooden dude called a Räuchermann.  The Spooky Christmas Man brought this nightwatchman version for Paul this year, but he could have just as easily gotten a baker, a mushroomer, a hunter, a policeman, a teacher, etc. etc.  There's all sorts of variations.

It isn't just a little wooden dude, though.  Nope.

If you pop him open, there's a little platform inside where you put a little cone of incense.  And after you light it and close him back up, smoke comes out of his mouth.

The point is to make it look like he's breathing cold air (or smoking a pipe, if there's a pipe).  And I hereby and therefore deem this traditional thing officially "Toll!" (awesome, super, great--in German).

And it smells really good.  Like most Christmas things, you know.