Three more sleeps…. and the magic is at risk due to warm weather and constant rain – but do I let anything spoil our Christmas joy?!? No way – instead of ice skating with me, the kids go swimming with Markus, while I play Christmas elf and wrap all their presents and write some cards…. I love it!

My last lymphdrainage for this year is in the books! Sparkle, glitter and have drink….it does not always have to be mulled wine – in these warm temperatures, champagne will do just fine 😉 I raise a glass and toast to 2018… it was an important, dramatic, sad, funny, horrible, lovely and inspiring year – an emotional roller coaster ride, but despite the fact that I could easily have done without cancer and would love to have skipped that part – I am thankful for all that came along with cancer…. not literally all, but the positive side effects! And now, I enjoy my break!

Did I mention that I love this time of the year?!?! It is the time about feelings, love, coziness, friends…. tell a friend how important your friendship is! Online peeps, I am so glad that we connected – you are my support group, my motivation and it means the world to me ❤️ and some online friends are also part of my amazing offline friends now! I am grateful beyond belief and happy to be alive and kicking, glittering, sparkling and dancing around the tree!

Oh what a night with my cousin Sylvie…. an operetta – „Im weißen Rössl“ („the White Horse Inn“) by Ralph Benatzky – light entertainment one could say…. but what a blast! The costumes, the sceneries, the ideas… they really make the most out of the possibilities and sometimes just simple tricks would do the magic – I cannot stop laughing!

During the interval, we have some wine, don’t want it to end…. the magic in Staatenhaus is catching and you can see the fun the singers have…. it is bright, gay, colorful, funny, Austrian and wonderful – an alpine idyll with the mountain backdrop and a cable car and we are in the middle of it being in the second row. It is exaggerated and over the top in such a clever, bright and funny way with knitted beards, confetti, wigs, the funniest accessories, the male ballet, fog machines, the woman hunter with horns and a beard, coloured beards, cow costumes with three tits, plastic costumes, rollerblades, fury moonboots…. I could go on and on! If you have a chance – go and see it either in December or January…. What a blast! Our Austrian hearts jump with joy! Thank you, Oper Köln!

I feel alive – I am paying the price today, but we even have drinks after the show in the Alte Wartesaal and it feels so normal!!

Paperwork is piling up, my bank account is screaming, but I am living and I love life! Early night tonight and tomorrow, as it is Markus turn to go out for the next two nights – and I need it!

Coffee…. a lot of Coffee! Gosh, I need it…. I was out last night in Suderman’s Winterwonderland, in bed in the wee hours of the morning and I am a tired, but happy chappy girl today….

What do I do?!? Coffee dates with my LaufMamaLauf girls, with Maja and in between I even manage to write my first Christmas cards… yeah!

Leo has a friend over this afternoon, Mia has gymnastics and I am going to the opera tonight with my cousin Sylvie! Oh whatever….I will go iceskating with the kids tomorrow and I might pack, as kindergarten is closed on Friday…. somehow it always all falls into place…. sometimes 😉 so far, nothing can destroy my calm and the paperwork can wait! It is Christmas!

Thinking of my friend in Bremen ❤️

Thank you, Rui Camilo for the pictures – they remind of our inspiring #mutmacherin workshop in Cologne with DKMS LIFE ❤️❤️❤️

My alternative practitioner visit was refreshing…. apparently my ‚metal‘ is very ‚active‘ as I am letting a friend go…. hmmm…. or it might be a cold 🤔 Nevermind, I probably have paperwork I should do, and calls I should make, receipts I need to prove, forms I should fill…. but instead, I am off to lunch with my little English bunch and tonight – I will go out – yeah, baby!

#gibachtaufdich – #lookafteryourself…. that is my theme and my onchological psychologist reckons that I am doing not too bad.

It is the time of the year that a lot of people stress…. but why? Instead of enjoying quality time with family and friends, they rush around buying presents that probably everyone could easily live without… write cards to people they don’t care about, but feel obliged, go to events the feel they have to go!

Everyone can find their own way, but I don’t do presents (apart from the kids and we try to keep it to a minimum…. big fail this year 😉). I only started cards after I had kids and really only send them to people I want to send them to and if it is February that is fine with me…. I enjoy seeing friends and family at Christmas, slowing down and the magic! Give smiles & love instead of presents and enjoy this special time of the year ❤️

Jolly jolly times…. there it is – our first snow this year and the kids go crazy and build with next to nothing a snowman! Underneath the snow is a letter… a reply to the letter the kids wrote last night – thank goodness it was waterproof ink 😉

We actually went to a family service at Luther church with all our friends and their kids and it was wonderful! Church is not my cup of tea and that is why I am member of this church… they are open minded and different. Not only are regular concerts in this church with lights, sounds and a bar, lectures and events, they also marry gay couples, are open for anything and are very close to the community.

In other words, even if I have almost never been since the Christening of my kids, even if I am not a church fan, this church makes me feel homey and I actually love it! Thank you Kulturkirche – as we leave church, after singing and dancing with the kids, there is a little Christmas market outside and we have food, mulled wine and Santa strolls through the crowd…. we meet the friends and acquaintances, there is a wee bit of snow, but city kids consider this being enough for a snowball fight! My heart is filled with joy!

We spend the afternoon at our friend Simone’s, I actually brought some pencils to draw more window pictures for her and with her and I am happy! Oh jolly jolly Christmas time! At the end all four kids play happily together…. oh joy!

Oh and yes, we normally light our tree on the 24th, but I want to enjoy it as long as I can and therefore it is now fully lit 24/7 and our friend Michael will be the first to admire it with a little glass of wine tonight 😉

Enjoying the Christmas magic, cutting a tree (next year we will use one of the environmental friendly alternatives 😉), having mulled wine and spending quality time with my kids at Gut Clarenhof ❤️…. and this afternoon, we are decorating the tree, fill the room with Christmas tunes and eat tons of cookies 🤗

Please don’t spoil the magic….we walk through the night, we see angel hair and is that Santa’s sledge far far away or just a star…. the Christmas star or just any star?!? How many more sleeps?!?

What is my biggest wish?!? For me, I don’t have any apart from living a long life, as I have all I want, when I see the excited eyes of my children… best time of the year ❤️

And the cookie baking nightmare this morning is replaced by the joy that the last issue of our flooding damage from April 2017 was repaired today – horray – one chapter I can finally close! I turn off the oven, put the rest of the dough in the fridge and take a nap!

Photocredit: Recover your Smile

Paperwork, calls, you name it…. I do a tiny weeny bit, but spend this lovely day in Christmas spirit, colouring window paintings, making cookie dough and taking it easy! Paperwork, see you tomorrow, I needed chillaxing at home and me time 😉

What a day! Kindergarten talk, doctor, wedding of our household aid Jessica, Christmas presents done and dusted and I am on my way to pick up four kids…. with our other household aid! Pfeww….

Yesterday I received the film, which documented my stay in Avène and it brought back all the nice memories – it is not to be shared, but once there is something I can share, I certainly will!

My Cologne cancer bloggers Christmas gathering was lovely and Leo loves his little police bear, who „protects us from burglars now“! Whoohooo… thank you, Don!