It's coming on Christmas / They're cutting down trees / They're putting up reindeer / And singing songs of joy and peace / Oh, I wish I had a river / I could skate away on

• Listening to self-help/psychotherapy podcasts on my daily walks. Quite woo-woo but it feels so beneficial for me. My favourites so far are
  • The Terri Cole Show
  • Feel Better, Live More (Dr Rangan Chatterjee)
  • Matcha Mornings (Christina Danetzky)
  • Unlocking Us (Brené Brown)
  • Da ist Gold drin (Dana Schwandt)
  • Soul to Go (Andrea Morgenstern)
• But I also listened to a super interesting episode about why Goodnight Moon had such a rocky start in the American public library catalogue.
• Coming home from a walk to the neighbourhood smelling like freshly baked cookies! Apparently people are busy with Christmas preparations these days.
• My blackroll/yoga/stretching sessions after a walk. Sitar music.
• Seeing a man taking a picture of a heart someone had drawn in the freshly fallen snow. He kept walking, smiling into his phone. I like coming home from my walks in the dark, especially with all the (tacky) lights and illuminated windows at the moment.
• How much our houseplants move in a day.
• We had our first online conference. Which isn't a good thing per se BUT I can just mute my audio and video transmission and simply fold laundry or clean or do whatever the fuck I want. And I'm still listening! Perfect. I hope they'll consider this more often from now on. So much less annoying.
• Manifesting doesn't just work sometimes. Thoughts become things. (Notes from the Universe)
• I finally got a new dishwasher and a new mattress.
• The mechanic who was at my place for the third time complimented me on my new bookshelves (thanks, I love them too).
• Jupiter the Bringer of Jollity.
• The squirrel on my balcony who was startled when it tried to jump onto my hanging planter which started swinging back and forth.
• Frosted thistles, giant hogweed and other plants. Winter walks are so atmospheric.
• Sneakily finding out about Frank's birth time when I asked him about the newspaper article which was written about him when he was born (he was the first baby of the new year in 1985).
• Frank making an effort to be nice. He even uses all the emojis now when he's trying to tell me that he doesn't want to do something I'm suggesting. Cuddling. He actually petted me a little I think. Successful whole-grain pizza making.
• Referring to the Spathiphyllum Sensation as Christmas tree.
• Watching all the Christmas movies with Tim Allen. And Hem til jul released a second season! I watched it in Norwegian with English subtitles. Such a nice and cosy Christmas programme.
• Some Vinted treasures: a super luxurious ASOS camel coat and Minnetonka leather booties with fur and beaded embroidery.
• Pleasantly laid-back/uneventful - but still very good - sex. And a kind person to spend a few cold winter nights with.
• An ice-cold shower. Painful but so invigorating. actually start smiling sometimes but maybe it's just the cold forcing my face muscles to contract.
• Greetings from Matthias. The charming, charismatic dreamboat. I love the fact that he's thinking about me.
• Wearing (atomic pink) lipstick for like the first time this year? I miss this. Also: painting little black dots on my nude-coloured nails.
• Meeting Moni for the first time in years. It's astonishing how we often just seem to pick up our conversation where we ended it as if nothing had changed.
• A little trip to the graveyard with my mum, lighting a candle. Walking along the river.
• Receiving ALL the items from my Christmas wishlist. My mum was super generous this year. A book about Leonora Carrington, a Kaweco fountain pen, earrings, a Paula's Choice product and a chess set. In the end I exchanged the chess set for an old one we had at home though. I liked its simplicity.
• Giving my mum a back massage.
• Feeling pretty. Wearing my hot girl shit uniform consisting of a heavy camel coat, white sneakers and cool beanies.
• Drawing a double portrait of a seahorse skeleton my mum had lying around in the living room.
• Coming home after the turbulent holidays (I'm such a hermit, I really crave solitude).
• Seeing a little red robin from my kitchen window.
• A very cold night with a very clear sky and a very bright almost-full moon. Twinkling stars and Orion's belt.
• Remembering a classic lunch dish my mum used to make (and I used to hate): fried curry rice with bananas and pickled bell peppers. Today, 20 years later, I think it's delicious.
• The Public Domain Review.
• A video of a home-made machine blowing air through streamers on New Year's Eve.
• Lena Reinhard's annual review.
• Bats at twilight. A stunning moonrise. It was the last full moon of 2020.
• A bright star attached to a crane in the neighbourhood. All the dogs running towards me and saying hello on my daily walks.
• Haribo Starmix and carbonated water reminding me of my hostel bed in Kathmandu.
• "Frank Peters ist ein Hausboot."
• A calm moment. Soaking up the warmth in bed. Nesting. Sleeping on my new mattress. A sudden urge to meditate and switch off the lights.
• Spending time with Frank one day before New Year's Eve. Afghan food. A game of chess (I lost). Ice-cream. Dad jokes galore. Listening to jazz covers of Lorde and Britney songs. Going all cray-cray and bitey on him. Having a hilarious time. Waking him up in the morning by climbing into his bed, offering the book I'd just finished, demanding coffee.
• Speaking of my last (50th) book of 2020: David Eagleman's Sum. I loved some of his ideas about the afterlife. Especially the story about reliving everything in clusters. 7 months searching for lost things. Kissing for half a year. 30 years of sleep. What a thought.