That's the thing I hate the MOST about winter...NOT the cold, but the dark. I get home from work and the day is over, really. Makes you feel like you never get to really LIVE - go to work in the dark, come home in the dark, and if you don't get out at lunchtime...might as well be living in a cave.
Germany was even worse than here. It was so much warmer that it doesn't seem like it could be farther north, but it sure was dark in the winter!
The Teuton culture is dark, for sure, very dark, I reckon.
And also very pretty, Christmas is a very German thing, I think. Christmas is one of the prettiest things in all life.
Speaking as a 1/4 German.
Dark....cold....we hates it, Precious!