About Resolutions ... Happy New Year !

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Hello dear friends <3  I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas time with your loved ones . I spent Christmas with my family and it was wonderful !!! Sitting at the fireplace , chatting , listening to music and ..... eating way too much . And that is when you think ..... Well ,it’s that time of year again…the time when many of us make a long list of all the ways we want to make our lives better over the coming year. We’ll start out strong today, we’ll continue tomorrow, and then next week we’ll be back to our old habits. It’s like we purposely set ourselves up for failure or something. New year resolutions are always a bit of a challenge for me, but this year, I’ve decided to keep it simple. I want to do whatever it takes to maintain my happiness personally and professionally. That’s it. I figure if I can do that, everything else will fall into place naturally.
Otherwise we mostly end up like this 

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What I really wish for the new year is Health !!!  Have a great New Year 

everyone and may your wishes come true <3
Love - Hugs & XXX 

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Hello you dearest <3 yesterday I arrived home for the Holidays ! Finally we are all together and the holy days can begin . Unfortunatelly I have to leave 1 of January but there is one week till then and spending time with my family is all that I want . On Sunday I bought the last presents and now there are all under the tree .

 All my suitcase was full of presents ....there was just a small piece of space for a few shirts and one pair of jeans BUT I want to spend most days in my p.j's so what the heck . Last weekend we went with my daughter to the Athens Metro Mall and it was helllll . You could only see stressed people , crying kids , angry couples ....well you know , just the usual a few days before Christmas .

Sometimes I wish everything could be so much lighter and easier like it was some years back . This picture shows Athens in the 60's at Christmas time . Wonderful , don't you think ?

Anywaysssss .... I wish you all MERRY CHRISTMAS , LOVE , HAPPINESS AND TIME WITH THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE !!!!
The snow is fake but it really was freezing cold :-)

Bake some Christmas

HoHoHo everyone .... 8 days to go till Christmas and things are crazy as every year . It's not only the Chrismas preparations , gifts and so on ... it's also that I am in the middle of my exams and that somehow does not allow me to be as happy as I want as I try to do several things at once . BUT nevertheless I feel all this awsome Christmas spirit everywhere . Walking in between lights and beautiful decorations makes me feel like I did when I was a little girl . 

 Last Sunday I did some Christmas baking ( away from home , in a foreign kitchen ...yes feel pity for me ) just to remember my childhood in Germany . There is no Christmas without it . My favorite is the Chocolade Bread . It's so simpel , delicious and it makes a lot of pieces . Try it and I am sure that you will bake it very often !
That's what it looks like ....

and here is the Recipe :

250 g Butter
250 g Sugar
250 g dark Chocolate ( chopped )
250 g Hazelnuts ( grated )
100 g Flour
6   Eggs
Chocolate glaze

Whisk the butter and sugar till they are foamy and insert the eggs , stir them well . Insert the flour slowly . At the end put the chocolate and the hazelnuts inside . Again stir all the ingredients together .
Put the mixture on a baking tray covered with baking paper .
Bake for 20 min . at 180 degrees .

Let it cool and spread the glaze over it . Cut it in small squares ! Enjoyyyy

It is really easy and I am sure that everyone will love it !
I baked also some Christmas cookies and ok , that's it for this year . I am sure that my Mom has baked big amounts of greek Christmas sweets (melomakarona and kourambiedes) back at home and that should be enough ...!?

 I think that the most important thing on Xmas is the preparation !!! when the house smells of cinnamon , the bakery , the sparkling lights , the christmas tree and the thoughts we give to our loved ones .
I took some pictures from walks and I hope that they give you all this nice warm feelings they gave me .

Have a nice Day  Hugs - Love  & XXX

....into the christmas mood

Happy December everyone <3 It's this time of the year where the days are getting short , the weather cold and we all want to spend more time inside ... or maybe it is just me . I like to see the first Christmas decorations , to taste the first Christmas sweets ( it would be much better not to ) and all this is reminding me that my favorite time of the year just arrived . The time before Christmas . First thing I do is searching for my Top Christmas movies . Spending time on my sofa , with my cosy blanket and a nice hot cup of cocoa , tea or coffee . Sometimes I wish I could creep in and be part of the story . I laugh , I cry , I am beeing sentimental or happy , just as the people inside . Watching old movies makes me wondering if it would be better to live at that time . Do you ask yourself sometimes the same ? Don't you feel like turning time back or to be living in another decade ?  Anyways , here are some of my favorite Christmas movies 

What are your favorites ?  Have a nice day  Love , Hugs  & XXX