Hello everybody and Merry Christmas! I hope you're all great and had a wonderful Christmas time. Unfortunately nice things end really quickly and so did Christmas time, but they leave us with a sweet taste and a warm heart to continue our lives in the middle of the very cold winter, giving us hope and strength for better things to come. 

Christmas week was a busy week with all that cooking and cleaning and shopping and wrapping and I couldn't find the time to post you some photos of what was going on at my office during that festive period. Still, it's never too late for a colorful post and the festive period is not officially over yet…. New Year is coming and New Year's Eve celebrations demand some more presents and cheer and joy! 

So, last week, I turned my little office to a Santa's wonderland wrapping and writing and decorating the gifts for my loved ones. This year I was more organized than ever! I ordered my Christmas wrapping supplies a long time ago after doing a little research as always in internet land. That way I found exactly what I wanted at reasonable prices. I also bought some wrapping supplies from IKEA. They have the most wonderful Christmas shop for a low budget, really beautiful festive things. 

My spirit of organization, however, was not restricted at the the wrapping stuff only. I also ordered many of my presents soon enough to avoid the last minute panic usually followed by desperate purchases of useless things. So proud of myself! I didn't buy many presents though, just small, for everyday use things that'll make the life of the recipient a little more beautiful and happy. After all, thought is what counts and most important, love that surrounds the gift given.   

With Christmas music on my laptop, coffee in my mug and my "red apple wreath" candle lit and diffusing its wonderful Christmas smell all over the place, I had the perfect atmosphere to get into the Christmas spirit! I really enjoyed my afternoons last week...

….wrapping and writing so many different Christmas and New Year's wishes at the back side of  little tiny Christmas labels….

Something I really enjoyed seeing at Christmas shops and absolutely wanted was a Santa's sack. Such a clever idea! I believe it's a Christmas must especially for kids. Brings back memories to the eldest and gives something to wait for to the youngest. "To be delivered: 25th December" straight from Mr Santa Claus, North Pole! Because it's good to believe...

A few goodies into the sack… and under the tree it goes!

How cute are these baby reindeers on the sack! And my presents look so pretty under the tree...

Green, red and white are the absolute Christmas colors for me! Classic, traditional, simply beautiful.

And this is my (late decorated, just a few days before Christmas…) tree for this year standing beside the sofa, in the living room in front of the window. I love having my coffee by the tree, reading a book, dreaming for the coming year… or just taking a nap letting the twinkling lights to calm me... 

I hope the Christmas spirit has warm up your hearts and soften your worries, I hope you have all lived your Christmas miracle and felt like kids for a while dreaming of Santa Claus and believing in the enormous power love conceals...

I wish you all many, many Merry Christmases and a Happy, Hopeful, Healthy New Year!
Love you all,
xoxo, Elena

Hello dear friends! I hope you're all real fine and hanging on with the "Christmasy" madness that's all around us these days.
I haven't trimmed the tree, yet (!!!…..), hopefully I'll give it a try tonight…, but I managed to make a Christmas cake! Yeeaaaah!!!
I've seen this impressive cake at "Nigella's Christmas Kitchen" and desperately wanted to make it this Christmas! That of course meant, that I had to order for the cake tin first… which I did some time ago. You can't find this amazingly beautiful cake tin in any store at Greece, that's why I had to order it online. I purchased mine, after a small research, from Jane Asher and I am very satisfied with my choice! It may be a little pricey, but it is an excellent piece that will beautify your Christmases for a lifetime... 

Last night, occupied by the spirit of Christmas, I decided to use my cake tin for the very first time. Actually this cake is all about the cake tin! That's what makes the whole difference and transforms the simplest cake recipe to a Christmas masterpiece!
You can make any recipe you like, but for my first experiment I wanted to try the Nigella's original one using cinnamon and ginger as well instead of vanilla flavor only…. and guess what…. The whole house smelled like Christmas! Such an irresistible kind of smell! I baked my cake late at night, but the baking flavor rewarded me and relaxed me as well…
After almost 50 minutes I decided it was well baked and took it out of the oven patiently waiting for it to cool so that I can turn it out…. That was a bit stressful! What if the cake was stuck in the tin and didn't want to come out….???
Thank God everything went just fine and eight little tiny Christmas trees were proudly standing in front of me on their cake stand!
Happy as a child!  

I haven't tasted my Christmas cake yet, but I'm quiet sure it's going to be delicious! As a matter of fact I'm waiting for my mister to  come back from work, so that we can enjoy it together with our afternoon coffee. After all, he was my helping hand last night doing all the messy sink washing himself! Love him!

As for me, I'm just having my late morning cup of coffee, photo shooting (…and admiring!) my "Christmas trees cake" in front of my advent calendar… 19th of December already! I'd better hurry and trim that poor tree waiting for me at my living room with only the lights on it!
Bye, bye!
Love you all, 
xoxo, Elena

It's that time again! Yes, Christmas is coming, no matter how negative we may be about this whole excessive burst of sparkling red, green and white holiday festivities, no matter who Scrooge is struggling to survive inside anyone's mind… Yes, it's coming against all hurdles, against any resistance, because that's the exact meaning of Christmas: to warm up even the coldest hearts on the planet. 
I haven't decorate the house yet, because I was sick with a bad cold for almost two weeks, so I couldn't clean the house first and then decorate it, but it's not too late. After all, we used to trim the tree just a few days before Christmas when I was a kid, even on Christmas eve, so it's definitely not late at all actually! Last Sunday was the first day I started to feel healthy and strong again and I didn't lose the chance to ask from my dear man to bring down the tree from the loft. 
I made the most wonderful thick hot chocolates for us served with frothed milk and mini marshmallows to inaugurate our new shiny red Christmas mugs I bought from Starbucks a few time ago. I loved these mugs at first sight!! They look like huge shiny red  balls for the Christmas tree… Classy and fabulous!!!...

I lit our advent candle as well as all the lights in the living room… to celebrate the coming of Christmas and let joy come in our home. How much we really need it! The candle is melting nice and slowly bringing us one more day closer to the 25th of December… and reminding us to rejoice a little bit every single day until the Big Day, because pleasure hides in the path we follow to reach our destination and not the destination itself.
With our hearts warmed and sweetened (and our mouths as well….), we uncovered our tree from his paper box and let it breathe again! "The Muppets" movie was playing on tv, the perfect timing for a little extra cheer and festivity, and Thanasis, my man, patiently and carefully setup the tree in our living room.
Green and proud our tree is graciously siting beside the sofa now, in front of the window waiting for me to trim it….
Be patient tree, be patient…
I hope you are all starting to get into the Christmas mood, more or less, your way…
Love you all,
xoxo, Elena