Merry Merry

I'm sitting in my living room, about to get ready to go for a walk. The city is just about the most gorgeous this time of the month. We've got our festival decorations up and the Christmas tree is so pretty and my home feels calm and festive and warm and cozy. And I'm thinking, you know what? I've got it good. This is a great way to spend the day. Then again, it just isn’t too early to crawl into bed.

If one has to feel this holiday spirit, there's only one way to do it. Throw a party. Fortunately, I’ve always had a good number of friends who have been hosting Christmas parties over the years. This time it looked like the usual party throwers were either in love, or in Goa. So I decided I’d invite a house full of close friends, serve up a full course meal with different types of holiday cakes, wine and tarts, while everyone gets warm, toasty and sugar-rushed.
In the world we live in, it's so easy to evade old practices and just live your life from one harried day to another, so a night like this is even more of a treat. It was truly one fantastic night with friends and merriness. And coming off of Tuesday night's holiday rush it's a perfect build up to Christmas. I'm off to sip on my wine and watch an episode of "Dexter”. But before that it is time for a little Christmas music roundup. Enjoy the tracks below:

Sarah Mclachlan ‘Winter song’


Sting ‘Gabriel's Message’


Boyz II Men ‘The Birth of Christ’


Wishing you season's greetings, great music and all that warm fuzziness. Merry Christmas!

It’s become visible to me that I have been infected with the Christmas spirit (no, not the alcoholic sort). Normally, I’m quite cynical about the whole thing but I’ve just been so happy lately… guess it’s all the colours.

(As promised, here are pictures of my hard work)






Today it was all quite odd. I got all cheerful and even a little syrupy when I heard a couple of carols. I found myself singing along to them at work; taking pleasure in it - that’s right – actually plastering a smile on my face all day long rather than worrying about my work.
I also spent some time this evening putting up the tree with my dad’s help (It’s finally complete!), feeling all Christmassy with Christmas music playing in the background cheering us on. What concerns me more though is that I willingly wanted to put up the tree without my dad asking me to.

So, am I ill? Do I need to go the doctor? Or am I just getting soft in my old age? Answers on a postcard (or email) please!

Today was also the beginning of the Christmas party merry-go-round, starting with a Christmas lunch at our main office and I was able to be in public without making an idiot of myself at least once. So the meal went well, people were eating and chatting, everyone was happy and I did get to meet my favourite blogger.

And finally, my horoscopes have informed me that as one door closes, another opens, that someone special will be arriving shortly and that I will learn new work skills. So, if I’ve got it right then I will lose my job, get a new one and probably have an affair with my new boss! Great. Something to look forward to this Christmas then!

I have stumbled upon a few Christmas tracks that are definitely worth a listen. I highly doubt any of these are really good, but they’re at least worth a quick listen and they’ve found their way onto a Christmas album I’ve slapped together.
The music is equally as iconic as the festival itself, if not more so, having insinuated its way into the Christmas ethos in the irrevocable way that only music could. At any rate, for us -- plum cakes, wine, candy canes and caroling -- this is what Christmas is all about. Here’s Boys II Men with ‘The Christmas Song’. Happy holidays, everybody!