Merry Christmas, dear cyberfriends!

[wiseheart]

I decided to share this year, so lookie, lookie:

My Christmas tree, decorated a couple of hours ago:



My prezzies, in the foreground a plate of honey cake figures made by yours truly:



And finally all the cookies you've heard so much lately, piled up to your virtual pleasure:



BTW, I've received a virtual gift from a generous benefactor, according to this message:

LiveJournal gift certificate code:

(I snipped the code)

You can redeem it for $5.00 USD in LiveJournal services:
http://www.livejournal.com/shop/

NOTE: Your gift certificate is only valid for one use, so be sure that your order's value is greater than or equal to $5.00 USD.

Anyone had experiences with the thing already?

Comments

[lethe-lloyd.livejournal.com]

Lovely tree! And lovely cookies, as I thought :D

Anyone had experiences with the thing already?

Not personally, but I think they ar usually used to buy more paid time etc.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yep, we were lucky to have found this particular tree on Monday. It's so shapely, I was done decorating within an hour.

[lethe-lloyd.livejournal.com]

And they smell so gorgeous, too!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I could never have a plastic one. We have ours on the closed yet unheated balcony, so it keeps a long time. Usually it's mid-February when we take it down, to make room for the Easter Bunny. *g*

[lethe-lloyd.livejournal.com]

Really? Ours always shed so fast! I know you can get them with roots now. There's not the room for a real one here, but I always adored the smell. There was a pine wood across the fields where I lived when I was young and I used to pierce those little sap bubbles in the bark and just breathe it in.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

You can get as small ones as a potted plant nowadays, you know. Once I had one that wasn't bigger than thirty centimetres or so. Alas, it didn't live long after Christmas, even with roots. I guess the air in my room was too dry for the poor little tree.

[lethe-lloyd.livejournal.com]

I think that is the trouble with central heating. :(

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

True. On the other hand, having the same temprature throughout the entire flat is nice. And not having to bother with the heating ourselves. We used to have wood- and coal-heated ovens in my youth... it was a messy business, let me tell you.

[lethe-lloyd.livejournal.com]

We had a real fire in the sitting room when I was young and one of those electric fires which are supposed to look like real fires in the other room, but it wasn't until later that the real fire was changed and radiators put in which were warmed by it. Before that we used to have paraffin heaters in the bedrooms, and my word, it's a wonder I was not in a coma. Just one whiff of that now takes me back!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I never heard about paraffin heaters. They couldn't be very healthy...

[lethe-lloyd.livejournal.com]

It probably explains a lot about me, I think the fumes sort of dissolved my brain, lol. They never left them in the bedrooms, but would warm them up if it was bitter.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

A very happy Christmas to you! Those cookies look amazing :-)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Don't you wish you could reach through the screen? *g*

Happy Christmas to you, too!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

We could have a proper Christmas hug then! *hugs*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

That would be nice indeed. *hugs back*
I miss having my friends around me in the flesh. You guys are lucky, there are quite a few of you in C.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Fabulous cookies! A very Happy Christmas to you and your family!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)
I wish I could have you over here, to try the cookies, drink some tea or coffee, listen to some Christmas music... it would be nice.

[archet.livejournal.com]

Pretty tree! Even prettier cookies, yum! I hope you and your Mom have a lovely and peaceful Christmas. *hugs* I hope you can find a use for the gift certificate. I've never received one, only send them out, so I'm afraid I've no clue how they work on the receiving end! I guess you can use it for whatever you wish.

I was wondering, did you get my card? I sent it weeks ago. I hope so, anyway Merry Christmas! ;)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, it was from you? Thanks, I'll try to find out what I could get for it. Will tell you when it's done.

Yep, your card arrived yesterday - just in time. Fabulous timing.

[mistry89.livejournal.com]

A very Merry Christmas to you, too!

The biccies look wonderful (am v impressed!).

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I wish I could mail some of them to you, but that's hardly possible. Have a blessed Christmas!

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

Merry Christmas! Hope you have a fun and peaceful holiday.

(I've posted a parcel for you, but I'm afraid it will be late. I'm sorry about that! It should be with you next week.)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yes, they were peaceful and lovely. Just Mum and me and some music and good food and stuff like that.

Thanks for the parcel. You and Jenn are really spoiling me rotten between the two of you. :)

[lissas-elves.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a well-shaped little tree! The decorations look lovely, too. :-)

And the cookies look absolutely yummy! *drools*

Just noticed you did the fanfic meme, too. I'll pop over tomorrow to read (rather tired after Christmas Eve with all the good food and candy and cookies and ... well, you know what it's like), so I'm off to bed in a few minutes.

*takes another look at the cookies and drools some more*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

And a great deal of the decorations are home-made, too. All the chains, for example.

And yeah, I do know about the food issue. Made a magnificent chicken, stuffed with dried plums, apples, raisins and almonds, and potato rolls to it, or whatever Kartoffelklösse are called in English. It was well after 8 p.m. when we started dinner, so we're almost as stuffed now as the chicken was. *g*

Got the sweetest teddy bear from Mum for Xmas. I might even sleep with it like a baby...

[artemis10002000]

Oh, virtual cookies! *takes some cookies and munches happily on them*

Your tree is very pretty, by the way!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Hey, you're online? Great to meet you. ;)

Yep, the tree is very pretty. We got it on Monday; to tell the truth, I was a bit worried that the leftovers wouldn't be that spectacular, but we just couldn't manage any earlier, time-wise. The "pearl strings" are all home-made, by the way. We collected those thin foils from sweets and formed them to cherry-sized balls, with soft tissue paper in the inside. They look great and are very light, so the tree isn't overly burdened.

So, how did you Christmas Eve go?

[artemis10002000]

Wow, I hadn't thought they might have been home-made. That's a great idea, making them from candy wrappers.

Our Christmas Eve was very calm and relaxing. Just Mom and me. In the morning, we did some last-minute shopping (well, Mom did, I only went to the market with her because of my twisted ankle), then we read a bit in the afternoon, put the poultry into the oven, watched some House M.D. (we're doing a House season 1 marathon over the holidays), ate and just had fun. It's nice.

What was your day like?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Very much like yours: just Mum and me. In the morning, I decorated the Christmas tree. In the afternoon, we listened to some nice music, then we had the "Bescherung" (and have I mentioned the ultra-cute teddy bear I got?), and afterwards, I made dinner, which we ate around 8 p.m. Mum watched the Midnight Mass on TV - it was a live feed - and I read a little online. It was very peaceful.

Oh, and we got lots of phone calls to wish us - well, Mum, as I'm not the person who really attracts friends - happy holidays.

[artemis10002000]

That sounds really nice! I like quiet holidays, not the big ruckus that most people seem to prefer *smiles*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me, too.

Especially Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace and reflection - I do so hate the cooking and shopping frenzy that goes with it. That's why I made my cookies well in advance, so that we'd have our peace on Christmas Eve.

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

A merry and happy Christmas to you and your mother. Those cookies look delicious!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) I hope you and the girls are well.

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you, we're fine (Larissa found herself a boyfriend and Valerie is doing very well at university.)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Boyfriend? University? My but we're getting old, aren't we? What does Valerie study?

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

She started out studying social geography last September, but changed her mind after a couple of months. In January, she'll switch to Liberal Arts and Sciences, a broad study with all kinds of subjects modeled more or less on the Anglo-saxon model. The nice thing is that one of the possible subjects is social geography, so the exams she has done so far count for the new study as well.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

That's good. There are few things more annoying than having done any exams that you can't use anymore.

[disthrainsdotte.livejournal.com]

I think the christmas tree looks lovely, sometimes christmas trees has so much decorations it is hard to see the tree.

The cookies look lovely, I wonder how they are made?

The christmas presents look nice as well.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yep, we were lucky to find such a shapely tree. I'm not a friend of overdone decoration, and prefer home-made strings like these. Although next year we might try to decorate a nostalgy tree, with the glass bubbles from Mum's childhood, for a change.

If you want it, I can photocopy a few of the recipes for you. They're mostly in German, so you would understand. Or I could try to scan them in and send you as an e-mail attachment, that might work even better.

[disthrainsdotte.livejournal.com]

Sometimes home made things feel better than things that are made by other because they have been made with the heart. Though things that have memories attached to them are also lovely.

I would be grateful if you could send the recipes to me. *hugs*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'll see where I can find a working scanner. ;)

[disthrainsdotte.livejournal.com]

I am most grateful. :)

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Looks good enough to eat off the screen! Mmmmm...

'Twas not I sent the gift certificate, so I can't help you there. However, a heavy box covering three of your "universes" will be making its slowish way to you next week. (Yes, I am enjoying tormenting you. However, if you are planning to purchase books off that list, do check with me first, at least until The Package arrives.) [reaches for a cookie or six]

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It would be neat if we could just reach through the screen, eh? I so wish I could have sent some to you, but I know they won't let any foreign food into the States for some weird reason (apparently, we're all trying to poinson you, folks, or intend to infect you with horrible germs from our miserable, backwater countries or whatnot), so the picture must do.

Thanks for The Package. As I already said the_wild_iris, the two of you are spoiling me rotten. Not that I'd object to being spoiled, mind you, I'm just a bit embarrassed by your generosity sometimes.

Enjoy the cookies!