It's been a while since my last post. The week has been relatively slow with the holidays here and I didn't want to write a post for the sake of writing one. In my last post, I mentioned that I was going to try my best to make kuswar this year. I did add on to the initial collection with marzipan (almond sweet - I think its originally German), milk toffee (cashew and milk molded sweet), and chakli (a savory snack supposed to be shaped into spirals - mine weren't 😁). Here is a picture of the final collection. The rum cake was rummified on a daily basis so just a little bit of it gives you a buzz!

What else did I do this last week? I sorted through and organized photos from all our recent trips. It took a long long time but I got it done. I cut out a bunch of snowflakes to decorate our window - each one unique of course.

I cooked for the first time since I got back. It felt pretty good. Saag paneer and roti's. Turns out Phoenix is a big roti fan and Harneet justifiably fed into Phoenix's roti addiction relapse.

And the best part, I had some friends over for a Christmas potluck - so much good food. Goat biryani, veg biryani, dal makhani, shrimp masala, paneer tikka curry, cucumber raita, cosmos, and apple pie. I was so stuffed at the end of it, I couldn't sleep for hours at night. 

To feed into my hobbies, a friend gifted me a Star wars origami kit. Anyone wanna guess what I'm doing this afternoon 😉? Harneet got me an Apple watch for Christmas to try out and see if I like it (he got himself one too) - more of an experiment to see if we think its worth it. I got him a rug from Marrakech made of cactus silk. Don't tell Phoenix but he gets a gigantic cookie, coz Christmas DUH!

We are trying to figure out what we do this week. I'll keep you posted if there's anything fun. And now, time for an admission: taking time off is fun and the traveling was great. The excitement before travel was fun too. I'm going to continue working on some promising ideas and look for volunteer opportunities in January but I'm soon beginning to realize that I still have time on my hands. So, I may actually start seriously finding my next great adventure/job starting January since I hate being bored. I feel I'll go crazy if I have to do this longer term - I'm really glad I put a time limit on myself. And don't take me wrong, I still think I made the right decision. I feel so refreshed and energized right now. I don't think I would have gotten there without a clear head, a break without anything to worry or stress about or even look forward to - just spending time with myself to reconnect with just me. I feel ready to put in a 100% into whatever comes next. But that's January. For now, Christmas is tomorrow and a brand new year will greet us right after. I'm going to enjoy both to the fullest. Hope you will too!