Merry Christmas!

What I love about my country is the amount of public holidays we have. And the ‘heaviest’ season in terms of festive days is December-January. Officially we have days off from 1 to 8 January but you need to be Russian to know that when it comes to have fun there are no frames. We start to celebrate as from the 25th of December when we join the rest of the world, then comes New Year, on the 7th of January is our Orthodox Christmas and we finally end up with the … Old New Year on the 14th of January (this corresponds to the new year date according to the Julian calendar which we had until 1918  but we still can’t forget it).  Yesterday I was watching weekly news and the anchorman with a very serious face told that  the next issue of the program will be on the… 29th of January. Of course, what news can possibly happen if the whole country is on vacation! At the end of the day, I think everyone is happy about it and I haven’t met any person yet who ever complained.

I also love it and for me this is the time when I can peacefully reflect the past year, set the goals for the next and do all backlog which I never had time to complete. And of course, to have rest and lots of fun! Already today I am in a very festive mood and giving my home the last decorative touches. One thing you can add at the last minute but which will create a huge impact is the festive aroma. For me since my childhood this was the smell of fir-needles and tangerines. It is very easy to make a homemade fragrance from the last ones. Just carefully remove the skins, cut them in sticks or spirals and put in the bowl of water. When you place it next to heater or even on the fire it will start to exude a wonderful flavour. You can also make aromatic candles: from half of skin make a little bowl, where you pour olive or any vegetable oil. The pith of the fruit will serve as a wick of the candle (just submerge it in the oil for a couple of seconds before lighting it):

Now when all the last preparations are done, I want to wish Merry Christmas to all those who will celebrate it the day after tomorrow and as shows statistics of my blog this is majority of my readers. I want to thank everyone who reads my posts, leaves likes and comments, spreads the word about it. It makes me so much motivated and inspired. My blog gave me opportunity to connect with so many fantastic people all over the world, become richer in my outlook and knowledge. Many people I met via blogosphere I can call friends now and I am really grateful for this.

Happy holidays, dear friends! Wishing you to have lots of fun and happy moments and that all your dreams come true in 2014! See you next year!