Merry Christmas!

It's the 25th of December, the day when many of us is celebrating the first day of Christmas. It's the most beautiful holiday of the year in my opinion that is celebrated worldwide, but in different ways.

Ever since we were kids, we started celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve. I remember we opened out presents in the evening and played with the toys we got till late. Over the years things have changed a little as the family got bigger and visits and celebrations had to be scheduled.

Yesterday we had a late family lunch, because a part of the family still had to drive to another city. We exchanged presents, shared stories and had a good time.

My mum was religious, I was baptized as a reformed christian and although I'm not very religious, Christmas means a lot to me. For me it means family and also time to appreciate what I got. I'm not referring to presents, wealth or to what others have given me, but to what life has given me.

Life has a lot of challenges and some things are out of our control but other things are under our control. Unfortunately we tend to take things for granted and we only realize what we have, when it's too late. Life has thought me to act when it's time to do so and do everything I can as regrets take you nowhere.

My mum was always baking for Christmas as that's how she was brought up. Her grand kids grew up with those Christmas goodies as for them there's no Christmas without those cakes and cookies. My mum is not with us anymore, but I'm keeping the tradition alive. It's tiring to bake so many goodies and I'm usually spending the days before Christmas baking, but not complaining as seeing my family enjoying the old taste of Christmas means everything. I'm always asking them about what they would like and usually I get the same, expected reply.

I've been posting the recipes of those dishes, sweets I've been cooking, baking as this is not only my digital diary, but my recipe book as well. So you could see what was on the menu. However, this year there was a new entry as well. My nice asked for bejgli, which is another traditional sweet fr most of the major occasions in my country and Hungary as well. Recipe is coming these days, no worries.

It's always a pressure to get everything right and ready in time. There's no room for error as redoing anything takes time ans time is scarce this period of the year. I like to experiment with baking, to make things better, but there's always the risk that I get the exact opposite of what I expect and instead of making something better, I make it worse.

This year however I was thinking of those less fortunate, displaced all over the world and of those that are enduring cold and hardships caused by the war. I was hoping this madness will stop till Christmas but it didn't, so all I can do is hope for a better year next year.

So I'm wishing you Merry Christmas, enjoy the holidays with your loved ones.

If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:

• Communities Explained - Newbie Guide
• Cross Posting And Reposting Explained, Using PeakD
• Hive Is Not For Me
• How To Pump Your Reputation Fast - Newbie Guide
• Tips And Tricks & Useful Hive Tools For Newbies
• Community List And Why It Is Important To Post In The Right Community