Tag Archives: festive season

What do I love about the festive season? #travellinkup

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December is my favourite month of the year for many reasons. First of all, I’m a December baby 🙂 Secondly, I really love Christmas time and New Year’s parties. Thirdly, I’m a genuine chocoholic so there’s no better time for me and my bad habit than the month of festivities and gift giving. Actually, I didn’t put gifts at all on this list because frankly they aren’t that important to me.

Chocolate Advent Calendar

chocolate Advent calendar

The excitement of opening one door at the time to find a small delicious chocolate each day. What could be better? In the past few years I decided to treat myself with a chocolate Advent calendar even though I’m an adult 🙂

St.Nicholas’ Day

When I was a child I got small presents for St. Nicholas’ Day (6th December). If you are good you get chocolate. If you are naughty, you get coal and a rod!

Christmas decorations & Christmas lights

At home, in the town…they just pretty up everything, don’t they?

Christmas markets

I really want to visit the Christmas markets in Germany. So far I’ve been to a couple of Christmas markets in Austria, Budapest, London and at the French Riviera.

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Chocolates & New Year

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I hope you’ve spent a wonderful Christmas with your family& friends. Are you already getting ready for New Year’s party?

I love family gatherings even though I feel a bit exhausted afterwards. Probably because I always eat too much and make it my mission to try every single kind of cake there is 🙂  I’m not ashamed to say that I haven’t baked anything for Christmas; I like baking and I make mean muffins but somehow I still haven’t done any Christmas baking because we always get so much cake from our families so there’s no point really.

Since it was my birthday a week before Christmas ( I’m now 32! Ouch! ) I got probably a few kilos of chocolates as my present together with other normal stuff and together with Christmas pressie. 🙂 So I’m starting the new year as a newly made chocolate magnate! I wish! 🙂 Anyway, since we got so much cake from my mum we’ll leave the chocolates for the time being and enjoy them after new year’s and my husband’s skiing trip (I’ll be home alone with the cat &chocolates, not a good combo).

Bday chocolate presents

Birthday chocolate presents

Birthday and Christmas chocolate presents

As far as New Year’s wishes and resolutions I wish you all love & health & happiness. I’ve had a good year but I was too preoccupied with an issue that I have no control over to be able to fully appreciate what I do have e.g.good health and loving family &friends and a very cool job sometimes. I don’t want to feel that anxious and frustrated anymore. However, that’s easier said than done but I will try to express more self-love. And hopefully that which I have desired for so long will eventually happen.

Regarding this little piece of blog world that I call my own I can say that it has brought me so much joy! It’s wonderful to chat with other fellow travellers and to explore other blogs and to get ideas for new trips. Where am I travelling next year? I’m not sure yet. I have a few ideas but it really depends on some other things too so I’ll keep you posted. And I’ve got something exciting planned for my readers! 🙂 Stay tuned!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and lots of exciting new trips!

xoxo

Tanja

Let’s be friends Facebook // Bloglovin’ // Twitter // Google+

A cat & Christmas

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my cat (last year)

Don’t you just love them? Even if they jump on your Christmas tree and knock it down for the umpteenth time. And break a cherished Christmas bauble and destroy the Christmas lights but luckily avoid to be electrocuted by them?Of course, I’m talking about cats!

We’ve got a new Christmas tree this year because our previous one was really old and started to look rather sad and run down. We haven’t put up the new tree just yet but I’m worried what’ll happen once we do. It’s quite bigger than the last one so it’ll have a lot more decorations too. Hopefully my cat won’t be able to knock it down that easily anymore. But if he does, I just hope the tree doesn’t hurt him. And I also hope that my cat doesn’t destroy my lovely Christmas baubles from my trips. I’ve got a few special Christmas tree decorations from Oslo and Austria 🙂

My family’s tradition is to put up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve day (24th Dec) but I like to do it a bit earlier, just after my birthday passes. So, the operation Christmas tree will start next week!:) And I’ll decorate the house a bit as I usually do. I still haven’t finished my Christmas shopping because I’ve been away for work quite a lot this month (Vienna).

So, have you got a cat? Or a dog? Do they attack your Christmas tree? Have you already done up your house for Christmas?

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Merry Christmas!
XOXO
Tanja

Let’s be friends : Facebook  Bloglovin’ Twitter Google+

The festive season in Nice (France)

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I’ve been in Nice (France) for New Year’s a couple of times. You might not associate beach and the palm trees with Christmas spirit but Nice has it in abundance. The biggest city at the French Riviera likes to show off a bit in the winter time which means that you can enjoy the festive decorations and the Christmas Markets as much as you can in traditionally more Christmassy destinations (e.g Austria &Germany ). But in a milder weather 🙂

This year I visited the Christmas markets in Vienna, but last year and the year before that I spent a couple of days in Nice just around New Year’s. I really love Nice and it’s my favourite town at the French Riviera and I’ve been lucky to see it in different seasons. The main venue for all things festive is of course the main square Place Massena. You’ll find a giant Ferris wheel there as well as a Christmas market. You can drink vin chaud (mulled wine) or eat pancakes&waffles or choose some other sweet or savory snack to nibble on while you browse the goods at the Christmas stalls. Everything is beautifully decorated and lit so you have to take a stroll in the evening to fully appreciate the festive lights. Another festively decorated square is the Garibaldi square. All the palm trees along the Promenade des Anglais are festooned with Christmas lights too. The Old Town under the Colline du Château and the streets around the Cathedral look very Christmassy and are as usually full of people. The main shopping street Avenue de Jean Medecin prides itself with exquisite lighting and nicely decorated shops’ displays.

But unlike in Austria or Germany in Nice you can almost have a picnic at the beach if it’s not too cold 🙂 And you can ice-skate too 🙂

So, enjoy the photos of the festive season in Nice (they are not from this year but from the previous years).

window display

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