Hello from Berlin, Germany, where I am for Christmas with the family (yeah, wife and kid are with me on this trip).

But of course the primary reason is to attend the Chaos Computer Club‘s annual Chaos Communication Congress, where I will be speaking on the 27th of December (at 8:30pm!).

For those who came in late – the Chaos Computer Club is the world’s largest hacker organization. While they do a lot of good stuff all year round, their annual gig (which is *always* on Dec 27-30) is known to be one the best organized techno-events in the world, and gets people pouring in from all over the world. Tim Pritlove (the “Atul Chitnis” of the Chaos Communication Congress :p – i.e. the project lead) was our closing keynote speaker, and really got people all enthu!

I will be meeting a lot of old friends there (including Harald and Milosch, who are both active CCC members), plus a lot of new ones. Joi Ito, the new Creative Commons chairman, is there again this year (and he will also be in Mumbai as well, for the Creative Commons India launch). I hope to meet Nils Magnus of LinuxTag (the European equivalent of FOSS.IN) as well. And a lot of people whom I have never met face to face, but have interacted with for years, pinged me to say that they will be there. This is going to be fun.

This evening, the 24th of December, is Christmas for us here in Germany, and after 6 years, I am again in my birthplace for the occasion, with family. Mom has roast duck goose ready for dinner, the *real* pine tree is decorated by Anjali, and all lit up, music is pouring in from all over the house, and there are chocolate cookies and other goodies all over the place. *This* is how Christmas should be.

I will have more to write about over the next few days, but until then…

A Merry Christmas to everyone around the world!