Hello December

And now it’s here: the last month of the year, month of all the holiday cheer, sparkling lights, candles, baking and coziness. Oh, how I have anticipated you. December is always a bit bitter-sweet, isn’t it? On one hand, I really enjoy and embrace the holidays, but on the other hand, another year is coming to an end and that leaves one with all kinds of reflective thoughts about what has been and anticipation for the new year ahead.

Things I am looking forward to this month:

★ Get my holiday cards made and sent out. As you know, I always do a Christmas card exchange and that means I send cards to a lot of people.  I love the process and look forward to it all year.

★ Send out some gifts. I always think that I’d like to celebrate Christmas without the gift-giving, but then again, I really like to buy small gifts for people for the holidays.  It doesn’t have to be anything big or expensive, just a small little gesture of appreciation. I am trying to be done with Christmas shopping + sending by the 15th, hopefully. The good thing about having to plan for people overseas is that I have to be ahead of the game. I already have my gift list pretty much planned out, I just have to get it all ordered and/or shipped.

★ Make some donations for a good cause. I always try to do this every year and I do have money set aside in my budget for this. It’s a small gesture with a huge impact on the less fortunate.

★ Bake some Christmas cookies. It’s part of the holiday season for me and everyone deserves some damn Christmas cookies.

★ Decorate our tree. I’ve debated of getting a bigger (or even a real!) tree this year, but I love our tiny tree. It might be my favorite holiday decoration. I am thinking about getting some new ornaments to switch it up a bit. 

★ Do some Christmas-related activities with J. We haven’t really decided what we want to do, but maybe we’ll go to another theater play before Christmas or spend a day in th City.

★ Watch Christmas movies. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, I can’t wait to watch many, many Christmas movies this holiday season. 

★ Stroll around the neighborhoods to see the Christmas lights +  decorations. It’s always so much fun!

Things I am not-so-much looking forward to this month:

★ How fast this month, no doubt, will be over. Good times always fly by way too fast.

★  Not spending Christmas with my family. I hate not being around my niece and nephew on Christmas Eve. Kids just appreciate Christmas in a whole different way and not being with my family makes Christmas feels a little less like Christmas.

★   Missing out on my Dad’s Christmas cooking. I am sure he’s going to come up with something awesome for Christmas Eve. Do you have a traditional Christmas meal or do you change it up every year?

★  Not visiting the Christmas markets with family and friends. Walking around in freezing temperatures, hopefully on a thin blanket of snow, and then gathering around a Glühwein stand while our fingers and toes are slowly revived by one (or multiple) steamy, hot beverage(s), I mean, THAT really is what Christmas is all about, am I right?

What’s on your ‘to-do’ (and ‘to-enjoy’!) list the next few weeks?