holidaze
holy crap i can’t believe it’s almost christmas! i haven’t quite managed to get into the christmas spirit this year - not that i’m not looking forward to the holiday or anything, more like i haven’t mentally adjusted to the timing of it. it wasn’t until the winter solstice two days ago that i actually realized that the holiday was practically here. i blame my lack of orientation on not having a job or teammates to remind me of the excitement of end-of-year vacations.
I’m sitting in a crowded cafe in between various last-minute errands: it’s the 2nd to last day of grocery shopping for the long weekend, so everyone is bustling about like ants in a colony trying to cross items off of their shopping lists. in germany christmas is a 3-day affair, with Heiligabend (Christmas Eve) being the day when presents are typically exchanged, and erster Weihnachtstag (Christmas Day) und zweiter Weihnachtstag (“second Christmas” or Boxing Day) additional public holidays. Stores typically close after 2 pm on Christmas Eve, and remain closed on both 1st and 2nd Christmas Days.
Ulrich’s kids usually spend Heiligabend with their mother, then the erster Weihnachtstag with us. because Ulrich and I both enjoy cooking, we typically overload ourselves with food planning and shopping activities for both Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. this year, however, we pledged to “take it easy” on Christmas Eve because we almost burnt ourselves out cooking for our 2-day American Thanksgiving feast last month. instead of a full three-course meal, we are planning to make only Taiwanese sticky rice and fry up some store bought dumplings for ourselves tomorrow. On Christmas Day, however, when Ulrich’s kids and mother join us for dinner, we’re going all out with a full menu, featuring a very tedious-but-worth-it recipe for vegan savoy cabbage rolls - we actually made the same recipe for ourselves on Christmas Eve two years ago and didn’t manage to get dinner on the table until around 11 pm. it seems impossible that we could manage our time more poorly this year, but we’ll see!
alright, my time’s up at this cafe, and it’s time to yield my seat over to some other fatigued christmas shopper looking to stretch out their achey legs. wishing you, dear reader, a very merry christmas if you celebrate, and if not - a lovely weekend with something delicious to eat and perhaps a cozy book or show to settle down on the couch with!