Currently | December

CREATING | a little bit of holiday season homeland-nostalgia by getting out our candle holder that my sister bought for me at the Cologne Christmas Market many years ago. 

KEEPING UP | with running (and cycling), because it’s truly been keeping me sane these last few months. 

LOVING | the blue skies this time of year. It’s been a fairly dry winter so far and since it’s not been raining, we’ve been blessed with beautiful blue skies.

ENJOYING | the 2nd Christmas holiday. Because it’s a holiday in Germany and everyone should get not one, but two holidays for Christmas.

READING | has been a bit on the back burner this month, but I am so excited that I found Barack Obama’s book “A promised land” under the tree and I can’t wait to dive in. 

ADORING | our Christmas tree. We used to have this tiny, little (very obviously fake) tree for the last few years and I always wanted something a little bit bigger and a little bit nicer. This year, I finally invested in a bigger tree and I cannot tell you how happy it makes me. 

SENDING | Christmas New Year’s cards. It’s been a weird year to send cards and packages for Christmas. I opted to order most things online, but am still not sure if things made it to their recipients on time. I hope you’ll enjoy something from me in the mail, whenever it arrives.   

EATING | German spritz cookies. They really made the holiday season extra special for me this year.

DRINKING | coffee, and tea –  all day, every day. 

WATCHING | holiday movies. We watched “It’s a wonderful life” last night and I also found a German holiday mini-series on Netflix that I am halfway through. It’s nice to watch something in German for a change!

THANKFUL | that I was able to take the days “between the years” off. The last couple of weeks before Christmas turned out to be very stressful at work and I put in some serious overtime to meet a deadline and I am just relieved to have 10 days off before I have to open my work laptop again. 

HOPING | that you were able to make the best of this weird holiday season and that you found something to smile about.

What’s going on with you currently? 

  1. Loved your new year card! This is the best time of year for mail!! We are doing birth announcements after the new year. No way I could get my act together and send Christmas cards! But we will extend the fun mail season and send ours out in the next couple of weeks!

    We had a quiet Christmas with the 4 of us. It wasn’t what we would choose but was the right choice with Paul in daycare and at risk of getting/spreading Covid. I hope 2021 holidays are more normal. I am not optimistic about Easter but hopefully the 2nd half of the year will feature more normalcy!

    1. You’re totally excused from sending Christmas Cards this year for obvious reasons ;)

  2. I found the same book under the tree! :)
    Thank you for the card.
    Happy New Year.

    1. Oh yay, curious to hear how you like the book :)

  3. I have some Christmas cards I’d like to mail still too, so they’ll be New Year’s cards. Oh well, better later than never, right?

    Love your candle holder – so pretty! And yay for getting a bigger tree this year.

    I’m glad you have such a long break from work. It’s nice to just relax and not think about any of that for awhile.

    I do want to read Obama’s memoir, so I hope you love it. My sister got the photo book Barack Before Obama for Christmas and I need to borrow her copy someday soon.

    -Lauren

    1. New Year’s cards are totally acceptable ;)

  4. I love your positive end-of-2020 list! I’m so glad that you’re finding the joy where you are now, despite the fact that you are far from your family. So glad to hear that you have a new and fabulous tree, that you are enjoying your cookies, and that you have time off to rest and reset before 2021 makes its appearance. I hope you enjoy your time of rest! (Also, so envious that you are reading Obama’s memoir… it’s high on the list!) (PS – I changed the firewall plugin for my blog, in an effort to fix the comment debacle.)

    1. I noticed that you’ve been focusing on the things that bring joy during this weird time… it’s the only way I know how to navigate this time ;)

  5. I took the last week of the year off for the first time ever, and now I need to make sure I can work out my PTO schedule to do it EVERY year. It’s been so nice to have this slow period before the new year kicks into gear.

    1. Yes! It really should be mandatory to have the time between Christmas and New Year’s off! ;)

  6. I am still waiting for my New Years Card but I am sure it will arrive some time. Mine seems to be on the way too. December was more hectic this time around for me and I enjoy the quiet days we are living through right now.

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