The Day After

So. Christmas Day. Last night was quite a subdued affair as after many years of celebrating in a larger group, it was just the 3 of us. It felt strange not to have Granny sit next to the tree, reminisce in Christmases past and volunteer to roll up all the ribbons while Mum sorts out torn wrapping paper from intact one.

Yesterday morning, I stopped by the Pampered Princess in her KLU residence. They had a stunning Christmas tree of almost White-House-proportions, with really pretty baubles:

It was heartwarming to see her eldest so excited about Christmas, listening at the door to the living room (where the decorated tree and all the presents where waiting) with his aunt to find out if he could hear Christkind rustling in there.

Christmas is all about traditions and so we had our usual fondue, a Christmas Eve staple in our household: 

The weather obliged by being traditionally miserably with half of the snow having thawed away and so Mum and I tried to avoid puddles on the way to Midnight Mass. 

I got lots of nice presents from friends and my cousins which I unwrapped and left in Vienna. Thus, there weren't that many presents, nor surprises, left, but I definitely can't complain. Months ago, I had chosen a drawing by an artist whose pseudonym is NN. My Mum had bought another of his works at a gallery in Salzburg and I picked another one from their website. Here is a detail:

I also got several pieces of jewellery of different materials (e.g. made by my Dad, picked when Mum and I were in MUC)  and other lovely things.  

I hope your Christkind/Santa was good to you, too!