The Day Before Christmas Eve

We're all hanging in limbo. My birthday is done for another year. Christmas is just days away. The shops of Oudewater are busier than normal as people are doing last minute Christmas buying. I've seen people bike past our home with large presents on their bikes. The Dutch will transport almost anything by bike (I've legitimacy seen someone with a Christmas tree on theirs). I'm making all my Christmas presents this year. My mum's birthday present is the only thing I didn't make, but picked it up in our local secondhand shop.

It's still pretty windy but not too cold, in my opinion. My mum thinks otherwise. She often finds European winters far too cold. We have a fireplace in our little home and it's on most days. My dad was given a huge amount of wood (for free) by a friend of his, so that cut the heating costs down tremendously. As many of you know, the price of everything is rising and so we're all doing our bit to ensure we don't pay too much.