Life & blog update: December 2020

my kids

Life & blog update: December 2020…was supposed to be a great month but it’s 2020 after all, so what did I expect?? Actually, things were pretty good until my birthday and then things just went downhill again. But let’s start from the beginning.

As usually, December 1 means that I get to open my Advent calendar. But this year I didn’t get a chocolate advent calendar but I got an L’Occitane Advent calendar as a birthday gift. It was full of small bottles of shower gel, shampoo, body lotion and all other goodies. I got a lot of great products but to be completely honest I missed chocolate. 🙂

We put up the Christmas Tree exceptionally early this year, even before St.Nicholas Day. All the Christmas markets were cancelled because of partial lockdown that was on from the end of November (e.g. restaurants and gyms closed but schools remained open until mid December when they switched to online school). However, at least there were beautiful Christmas lights and Christmas decorations in the city center and at Trsat Castle. Opatija was even more fabulously decorated than last year. And we saw Christmas decorations in Njivice as we did last year and in Crikvenica too at the end of the month. All things considering, not too bad.

Of course the kids were thrilled with their gifts from St. Nicholas (my son woke up three times during the night asking if St.Nicholas has come). Santa Claus brought them many, many great gifts too. It was fun to see them decorating and un-decorating the Christmas tree throughout the month. We had a fun, family Christmas photo shoot on my birthday (I’m now 37!). I didn’t get to have a birthday party that I’d wanted but that’s not that important really.

I’ve been very pleased with my blog in the past few months. After being inactive for most part of the year I finally went back to blogging more regularly. I posted a bunch of Christmassy posts in December. I liked sharing with you some of my travel Christmas ornaments too. I plan to continue that blog series next Christmas. Also, you can check this post. I got asked by Jenna from Classy Lifestyle blog to contribute with my advice on travel.

Published posts in December

12 Best Christmas Songs

Friendly Friday Photo Challenge: Red and Green (My Christmas tree)

Life & blog update: November 2020

My Christmas Tree Travel Ornaments: Austria

My Christmas Tree Travel Ornaments: Oslo

My Christmas Tree Travel Ornaments: San Marino

12 months & 12 photos-2020

What else? I baked a cheesecake for the first time. I’ve made three types of Christmas cookies too. We had several fun board game nights. We got to spend time with our families too. My daughter has started to walk full-time and we managed to put the shoes on her by the end of the month so she’s walking outside as well (funny how both of my kids have an issue with shoes). Fortunately, they’ve both been in good health and in good spirits. We saw an interesting Santa Clause show at the puppet theatre.

Now, onto the bad moments. One of my best friends contracted corona virus. Her symptoms were mild but she’s lost the sense of smell which is now slowly coming back to her. Our Christmas Eve was ruined because of neighbours (I won’t get into details here). A massive earthquake hit Central Croatia (6.3 Richter scale) just a few days before New Year’s Eve. A lot of people lost their homes and there were casualties.

I’m healthy. I have a roof over my head. I’ve got my family. I’m lucky. Things will get better in 2021. Will they???

Wishing you all the best in 2021!!!

Have a great January!

xoxox

Tanja

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22 thoughts

  1. Pingback: Life & blog update: January 2021 – the Red Phone Box travels

  2. When you have young children, Christmas is very special. It isn’t the same when you kids are grown up, so savour each moment. How delightful that they can enjoy ST Nicholas as well as Santa Claus! Every kids’ dream! So sorry to hear about the earthquake in Croatia. Such an awful tragedy at this time of year.

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  7. Happy New Year Tanja! Hopefully this one will be a bit better 😊 I love the L’Occitane products, and the good thing about having them in an Advent calendar is that you can try them out before buying the full-size version! Though I think I would’ve missed chocolate too! 😊

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  8. Sretna Nova and belated happy birthday – hope January will treat you better.

    I enjoyed reading your posts about your ornaments – such a cute and useful things to bring home!

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  9. Sounds like you had a rough December, but I’m glad to hear that you made it through and are doing well. Your kids are so cute, and it’s really endearing that your son couldn’t wait to get presents from St. Nick; I was like that when I was around his age! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and here’s looking forward to a better 2021. 🙂

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  10. I don’t mention much personal stuff on ABAB, but 2020 has been a terrible year for us – I won’t go into details. So I wish you, Tanja, your lovely family and EVERYONE all the best possible things that 2021 can bring!

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