– the end of the year is always filled chaos and anxiety, and a million tasks and errands to run. as i grow older, it feels harder to just relax and enjoy the holidays and the warmth of the season, which is a little sad. this year, the boy tried to push for us to do a lot of things earlier on though, which helped — i should remember this lesson.

– a highlight of christmas for me is just to spend a lot of time in a bookshop, looking for nice books to give to all the kids in our lives. “the wall” was a neat discovery this year. i helped my 7-year old cousin read through it before i wrapped it (it was not her gift), and by the end of it, she was hilariously indignant at how a king could be so clueless. 😂

– in some bad news, it looks like our water infiltration is back, which is infuriating because we’ve spent thousands of euros renovating the terraces in order to fix it, and we seem to be back to step one. :( it really rained a lot though, so it might have been an exceptional thing… but it’s hard to know with water stuff. sigh.

– the end of the year brought lots of acute back pain for me, and random chest pains for the boy (with a trip to the emergency room)… it’s been an eventful couple of weeks, health-wise. luckily, we’re both doing better now.

– i got lots of nice gifts for christmas this year, including a tiny light to read at night, a francesinha-themed t-shirt, a cooking class, a handmade key hanger with a map of our town, deliciously scented bodyshop products… and panties! underwear is my mom’s traditional gift to the boy, my brother and me, and she gives really good quality ones, so everyone is grateful for the yearly stock up. :)

– our christmas cards were really cute this year, and we seem to have sent them at just the right time. pffeew!

– how lovely are the mail-themed socks that my czech secret santa sent me?

– and speaking of socks, i signed up for the awesome socks club this year, since they now ship from europe. it’s a monthly sock subscription that sends all profits to charity. i’m looking forward to my first pair next month.

– our yearly visit to the dentist revealed zero cavities. hurray!

– so grateful that all my family was on board with getting tested for covid prior to christmas dinner (even if some probably thought i was overreacting)! it was a weight off my shoulders to know everyone was healthy, and it helped me enjoy our time together. plus, i’m kind of a pro at swabbing noses now.

and i guess that concludes 2022’s weeknotes! i’m still glad i’ve started doing these weekly recaps, and quite a few friends have told me throughout the year that they enjoy reading them — thank you for coming around!