FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

The week started with spring temperatures ! 15°C is very seldom in November. Unfortunately it rained and I couldn't go out for a walk. I slept badly, kept waking up, and had wild dreams that I can't remember. My cat Rosie was happy and wandered all over me until I fed her at 3 a.m. When I woke up again, it was already after 9 a.m., and my breakfast was already on the table. After I inhaled my medication, I tidied up a bit, and then it was time for my pedicure to cut my toenails. She is also of Italian descent and we chatted a lot together.

In the afternoon we had a funny game, it was a box with plenty of little cubes in which were herbs and we had smell and guess what it was. Our 100 year old made not one single error, while I only found one smell, the others were not much better. 

The next day we tried to make a creche, which was a disaster. The girl brought completely the wrong materials, so everything went wrong. They can throw the result in the trash.

Here is the result 

The Christmas tree in our restaurant looked real great. It was Kim who had done it alone. We just supervised !

 

And this is the decoration at the entrance. 

I wanted to take a nice photo with Rosie and Santa Claus for my Christmas card, but that ungrateful cat just kept sleeping. 

Our Park looked rather neglected, the lawn was not mowed and all the leaves covered the grass. From far you could think it looked like a hayfield. But this morning two gardeners came with machines and made a huge racket. It took almost all day, but now it looks beautiful.

 

It's the end of the week and I am relieved ! I did my Christmas shopping today and found everything I wanted. 

On this occasion, I also saw how the Christmas tree in front of the church in Waterloo was being decorated. The baubles were as big as footballs! The main street was already quite decorated.

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE DECEMBER 11

 1. Do you struggle with the commercialization of the holiday season? What helps you keep your focus when the season’s busyness and commercialism start to take over? 

Honestly, I don't care. There are so many made-up holidays, like Grandmother's Day! It's all just business, but people forget that and start hearing Christmas carols in November, so by Christmas they're completely overdosed! 

2. What's one small thing you want to savor before the year ends? 

 

No idea, I savor  during the whole year ! Why wait until the year's end ?

3. December 9th is National Christmas Card Day. Do you still send Christmas cards? If so does yours include a photo or is it a more traditional card, or maybe homemade? How do you feel about the tradition of exchanging cards at the holidays? If Hanukkah is the holiday you celebrate in December do you send cards to mark the occasion? 

I send self created Christmas cards but I do everything by computer. Of course I include pictures and send them into the whole world by WhatsApp or email. I don't know anybody who doesn't own a tablet or a smartphone or even a computer.

These are from previous years, 

4. What's your least favorite holiday related task? What's your favorite? 

All the preparations. But I don't need them anymore. Apart from packing parcels, I don't really have any specific tasks. Once that's done, that's my favorite task.

Christmas in the past with a lot of parcels

5. Let's do a little holiday this or that? 

• shopping or wrapping
• baking or decorating
• eggnog or wassail
• real tree or artificial
• turkey or ham
• white lights or colored lights 
• ugly sweaters or matching pjs
• peppermint or cinnamon 
• presents Christmas Eve or presents Christmas Day
•  
• The only "this or that" would be to give the presents on Christmas Eve, which is tradition in my family and in Germany, we are no morning people. And the kids sleep better when they get the gifts in the evening and not having to wait until the morning    

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I feel a bit like living in two worlds. The past and the present especially now during Christmas time. I help decorating the castle's Christmas trees, but in my room I haven't done anything yet.

I just let it go. Now my mini family will come on the 20th and we will celebrate Christmas a bit earlier, because then they have to go to my SIL's mother and father who are divorced since ages, one lives far away from Amsterdam at the German border and the other only 60 km far, but still the poor once have to drive from one to the other. 

Tomorrow I intend to go Christmas shopping, just little things not like when we were a young couple and then grandparents.  

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - CANDLES

candels

 

more participants here and Image-in-ing here