The best gift of Christmas

Christmas is special for a family and for me too.

When I was younger I was not enjoying that much the winter seasons and Christmas was not one of my favorite celebrations. Yet, with passing years, I have changed my feelings about it and now I can say I really enjoy it a lot.

Why would not I? There are always good food, gifts, family and Christmas spirit. This year was no exceptions. And … J … it seems I have been very good the passing year.

It is true that it is not the first year I am aware of the fact that gifts are not the presents offered but the very simple presence of the dearest ones in our lives.

This, I think, is the best gift of all.

Pika meets Maria

One day, not long ago, a little girl, Maria, visited us.

Who are we? We are a feline family – sister and brother, Pufa and Pika.

Who is she? Maria is our younger cousin.

Lucky me, she met Pika first.

Why?

Well, my brother is always a happy cat but this time, as I was looking at him, he seemed not to be pleased. He, actually, was deforming his left part of his face and I thought, he will become not welcoming to little Maria. You know, cats make their mood well known: content, annoyance, still-hunting tension and so on.

Suddenly, I laughed as he was in big trouble: Maria had caught his whiskers and he was trying to escape. What an image!

The good thing is that they succeeded on making acquaintance properly and no hard feeling were there anymore.

Here, in the photo below, Maria was looking at me, while Pika was approaching carefully. J

Chrisman Party

I am happy to be a new member of my working team. Maybe I am not the newest in the company, but, as many, I guess, I have searched interesting activities and to fit better to work and enjoy every single thing I do there.

In my opinion, one should do what enjoys as work. By this, I do not mean to be restrictive because I genuinely believe one can activate in more than two professions and still be happy with what he/she is doing.

But this is not what I really wanted to say here.

As many traditions, at work, we celebrate Christmas or other events, with coworkers and so we did this Christmas.

At the beginning I did not intended to attend the party for a few personal reasons, some more or less objective.

Still, my colleagues succeeded in changing my mind and I was pleased. They made me feel part of the team from the first day there and, with every passing week or month, and so did on that day, when we went to the Christmas party.

I can only say I am glad I have made this change in my life.

Life as a snap shot

I have the feeling time will never end, as well as for my relatives or friends. Unfortunately, I am not right in this respect: last week, my grandmother has passed away.

Have you had the feeling events just happen without you being able to react or to be aware of what is going on? Or have you ever had the impression that some moments of life are shifting with high speed, they seemed unreal, yet they happened and you become conscious of everything around you only after a few days, weeks or months?

Some would say in such moments time passes harder and even if you are focused on the event, you feel detached. This is because too many emotions lived and perceived at that moment.

Maybe so, yet, I think one is trying to avoid thinking too much of what future will bring for his / her family and oneself – the inevitable end.

The hope for everlasting lives in mind along with other thoughts related.

Jazz

I do not particularly like cold weather, as it is during winter, here, in Romania.

I know in Bucharest is not as cold as in other parts of the world or the country, but I still do not enjoy the cold rain, the wind or the snow.

In order the time to pass faster and more pleasantly, this time of the year, I prefer going to the theatre, going to concerts or do other social activities.

One of my favorite activities is listening to music, but not any kind of music. So, recently, I went to a jazz event at “ACT” theatre where very talented musician performed: Lucian Ban (pianist), Eric McPherson (drummer), John Hebert (bassist) and Cristian Soleanu (saxophonist).

I was impressed to find out that they are not only great musicians but also communicative and modest persons.

Here it is a not so good photo of John Hebert and Eric McPherson, taken on December 6^th, 2008. (One should always have a camera with or a better incorporated camera on his/her phone!)

My niece, Maria

My niece, Maria, is about 9 months old. She is a happy child most of the time. I guess this happens because she feels the care and love of her parents and also of people around her.

All the times I see her, she is very found of her parents and my mother (her grandmother) and she reacts accordingly:  she laughs a lot, "speaks" and dance.

Here she is, as I see her most of the times: