Our Christmas

This was our first official Christmas in our new home. We had the keys last year, but hadn’t technically moved in. (Moving day was the 30th.) While I was bummed that we again couldn’t see family for the holidays this year, I wanted to embrace this quiet Christmas in our own space as much as possible. Heck, I even decorated our Christmas tree a whole week early (how very un-German of me – ha!). 


We had a nice, cozy and quiet Christmas weekend. We started off Christmas Eve with some Wintry Blend coffee and I put a makeshift Christmas plate together (‘makeshift’, because purposefully didn’t buy a whole lot of treats and hadn’t baked any cookies, because we were expecting a package from my Mom, which still hasn’t arrived, so I only had some Spekulatius, toffifee and Ferrero Rocher available). 


At lunch time, around 10 pm German time,  we skyped FaceTimed with my family. Everybody was gathered at my sister’s house for Christmas Eve and it was nice to see everyone for a little while.


We watched ‘The Polar Express’ in the afternoon and then I set the table and we cooked ourselves a nice dinner.  We had scallops wrapped in bacon as an appetizer, followed by Ribeye steak with baked potatoes and green beans. We were too full for dessert, but I had the apple blossom with vanilla ice-cream later that weekend.

Afterwards, we watched “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” – one of the movies J watched as a child.


Christmas Day we just stayed home, I read for a while and we watched more Christmas movies,  “The Santa Clause” and “Elf”. Buddy is just so damn excited about Christmas and I have “Santa Claus is coming to town” stuck in my head now. It was cozy and quiet and just the way I like it.


My sister sent a package with a handmade shopping bag and my niece and nephew prepared this paper cutting kit for us to put together (as they couldn’t send it assembled). Isn’t that a beautiful looking star?


I got Monday off this year, which was nice, because it meant a) we had a long weekend and b) it felt like having a ‘2nd Christmas holiday”. I will also get January, 2 off and since I am not taking any time off between Christmas and New Year’s this year, having a short week and two long weekends in a row makes the whole thing much more bearable.

I went for a long run on Monday, we cleaned up and did some laundry and watched  “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” in the evening. It’s one of my favorite Christmas movies. It’s so silly that I have to laugh out loud every time I watch it. Yes, you are correct: I am easily entertained, haha.

One of my favorite things about Christmas was receiving so many lovely Christmas cards and I wanted to thank each and every one of you who sent one this year. I always love sending and receiving cards for the holidays and I was thrilled that so many of you feel the same way. They truly made my holidays extra special.


Last but not least, I also wanted to mention, the Holiday Card Swap that I participated in this year and which was  hosted by Lacey and Merenda over at https://fairytalesandfitness.com.

The objective was to just add a little holiday cheer to someone’s mailbox by sending a Christmas Card and a “little something” …. It was supposed to be really just a “little something” that would fit in the envelope and therefore not result in extra postage. The suggestion was that you check out the person’s blog or social media account, learn a little more about them and then pick out something they might enjoy… a coupon for an item you think they would like or perhaps  a race sticker, a gift card, etc.


I received my card from Juliana from 4wellrules.com last week. She sent a super-sweet card and included a $10 gift card to treat myself to some holiday drinks at Starbucks. I thought that was really sweet, because I know it’s hard to pick something out for someone that you don’t know very well. Thank you so much, Juliana. That was a really nice surprise in my mailbox last week and I appreciated your thoughtfulness!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend and were able to unplug (from social media) and connect with family and friends. Thanks for being – in one way or another – part of my holiday weekend. 

  1. Sounds like you had a lovely Christmas! I hope the treats from your mom arrive soon! The star kit your niece and nephew sent you is such a sweet thing to do!

    We had a nice Christmas. It was good to see both of our families. We try to spend Thanksgiving with one family and Christmas with the other. But the last 2 years we’ve spent Christmas with both of our families since it fell on a weekend. Phil’s mom is a widow and doesn’t have any siblings/family in the area so it’s hard to leave her alone for Christmas. hopefully some day she’ll feel comfortable enough to come with us when we spend Christmas with my family.

    1. Thank you, it was. I mean, I have to admit, even though it sucks that we couldn’t see family, it also meant we didn’t have to spread ourselves thin trying to see everybody. I can imagine that if your families are close(r), it can be a whole different kind of hassle ;) but it sounds like you and Phil are finding a good balance. It would be great if your MIL would join with your family for the holidays some day.

  2. looks like you had a great time! missing family stinks, but it’s also nice to have a quiet time together. happy new year too :)

    1. Yeah, we have to make the best of it, right? ;)

  3. Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas (if not thinking about missing out on family time).
    We had a very low key Christmas ourselves and I enjoyed that we actually relaxed a lot.
    Have a great New Years Eve,
    Tobia

    1. I am glad you had a nice, quiet Christmas as well :)

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