Difficult. It’s more than difficult to return to normal pace of living and working after this winter break week between the Christmas and New Year holidays. if one adds the few days before this period extends to good ten days. It’s even worse that Jesus Birth and New Year turn occurred mid week followed by a weekend, bringing my inner calendar upside down. For example, this Friday morning, January 2, I woke up -and much to my confusion – I needed about 5 minutes to realize that with shops closed in Greece today, it is a Friday, another day off…
Anyway this week or better say, these ten days, one usually deals with decorations, shopping, visits and phone calls, exchange of wishes we repeat every year… And cooking and cleaning a kitchen that always seems to be full of dishes, cups, glasses, pots, trays and pans that need to either be hidden in a dish washer or … I don’t know… be thrown away?
Somehow, the kitchen turned into my nightmare this year as I decided in favor of meals only cooked at home and no delivery.
A Christmas overproduction with stuffed bird roasted with apples, potatoes, root celery slices and mushrooms. The sauce I promised will be delivered in Xmas 2026.
Even if I did no seasonal baking, simple things like preparing the stuffing for the bird or the traditional Russian Salad developed into an hour-long procedure due to the cutting.
Not to mention the time needed to removed the skins from the boiled chestnuts or release the seeds from the pomegranate.
As i was down with a seasonal infection on December 25th, the pictures are from the lunch on December 26th.
… And when you clean the kitchen and everything is in its proper place, here comes the time for …dinner or a friend drops by in the afternoon for coffee and cookies.
The dinner can be a light one with sandwich snacks and a fruit salad for the healthy touch. But sandwiches also mean in fact dozens of spreads, herbs, cheeses and charcuterie coming out the fridge and getting back there again, leaving behind dirty dishes and glasses and those tiny little dill cuts on my white kitchen floor.
But don’t get me wrong. To tell you the truth these things are pleasant to consume after all, they fill you body and your soul with warmth as somebody prepared them with love and have you look at the future with new hope.
I personally decided to believe that things will get better in the New Year, the next 363 days.
I have also decided that the decade 2015-2025 was the worse as I lost my mum, my dad and my brother. Plus two very dear cats, aged 17 and 15.
So I want to believe that this cycle of my personal life is over. I’m truly convinced that things can only get better.
Have a nice time and keep the struggle, because there is still so much pain in this world.
*thumbnail: random picture from X. Unfortunately i didn’t notice the account name for proper credit.
Hello,
I just want to wish you a very much better next decade, and thank you very much for your website, which I look at every day.
And good for you being optimistic about the New Year. One has to, really, otherwise what is there?
Romeo.
thank you & yes, you’re correct. optimism is all we have
I think the picture is from the film “Home Alone”. The boy is Kevin McCallister who has been accidentally left behind when his family went on holiday at Christmas. The face at the window is one of the burglars who try to rob the house.
I wish all of us a 2026 that is a lot better than 2025 has been.
I don’t know you but I feel your words as we are already in 2026 I wish you health and happiness 😎💋
thank you