My favorite season - the festive season.

My name is Ciska and I am addicted to x-mas decorations.

I live if South Africa, and our Christmas time, is summer break, long hot summer days, swimming, watermelons and cold meat and salads.

This does not stop us from enjoying the festive season, we are just as excited as everybody else in the world.

The magic of Christmas time creeps up on us around the end of October. First you don't notice the decorations in the shops, but on one of our hot summer days it hits you over the head. It's the end of the year.

Boney-M is playing over the sound systems in all the malls and you relies you will have to start thinking about the gifts, menus and holiday plans.

Every year when I open the first box of ornaments I get the same feeling that I had as a kid, this excitement and the promise of a magical time.
I am a mom so I need to share the tree with the boys, I want them to feel the same way about this holiday as I do, but it is so hard not to go and move some of the ornaments around to where I would have liked to place them, later when they are asleep.
But I am also a softy and all the handmade x-mas decorations the boys ever made are still part of my collection, and I will always keep them. My family knows about my love for these decorations, so I also have a nice collection from all over the world. Remembering the people that gave them to me when I am putting them on my tree makes the tradition even more precious. Then we decorate the rest of the house, inside and out.

I have to confess I have a plastic tree, not a real one, living in a city makes it a bit difficult to find real tree, and in our country pine trees are an invading species. We don't have a lot of water in South Africa so a plastic tree makes more sense.

My tree will probably fall over one of these days, I don't have any space left on the branches, and I have already hid a few new decorations around the house this year and I can't wait to add them to my tree.

I think it is one of those times that I can throw myself into the magic for a few weeks and over indulge my addiction, enjoy the high this brings. I can then survive for the next 11 months until I can start all over again.

The tree is only allowed to go up on the 1st of December each year and it have to go down on the 1st of January. I do this to keep the holiday and this festive season special. I don't want the boys or me to lose this magical feeling. I hope that they will start a similar tradition in their own homes one day.

I start my yearly Christmas Pinterest board in January. I just can't help myself. And I buy a lot of decorations on sale after Christmas. I can't walk past any decorations without stopping and having a look to see if there is something new that I don't have yet.

I do dream of waking up to a white Christmas morning one day, somewhere in Europe maybe.

But a hot summer's day for Christmas, at the beach or on a farm with family is the South African way.

Hope you all of you feel the same about my favorite season.

Never appologise

Never apologise!

I have a tattoo, I like tequila.
I read fantasy novels, and listen to rock music.
I don't listen to Afrikaans music.
I drive to fast, and like to 4x4.
I love vampires and werewolf's.
I still get my left and right wrong.
I am a chocoholic and hate the winter.
I cry about animals more than people.
When I am close to an ocean, I have to walk in the water.
I am crazy about travel.
I hate pranks.
I love to dance and I am a cat person.
Coffee is my drug.
I believe in old souls and that we can have more than one soulmate.
I over analyse.
I still wear a bikini even if I have lots of scars.
I get very impatient and can't take it if somebody don't see logic.
I believe in parallel universes.
I am not a hypocrite and I don't judge.
I read people in seconds.
I am an insomniac and use pills to sleep.
I love antiques and already have to many pieces in my house.
If I could shape shift it would be into a dragon.
Steampunk is cool.
I will never have enough shoes.
I want a 1933 Ford coupe.
I use swear words and I talk to myself.



And I will never again apologize for the Ciska I have become!

Lets teach our boys the following:

I have two boys age 14 and 12. So both teens but still boys, growing into men.

I am teaching my boys some of the following things, and the rest are things that I still need to teach them before they grow up to become the adults that I would like them to be.

I want kind, considerate and caring men.

1. I am always on your side.
2. Respect everybody. And I mean everybody.
3. Be kind to animals.
4. Look the person you shake hands with in the eyes.
5. You are what you do, not what you say.
6. Girls like clean boys, so take a bath often.
7. If you don't have another choice but to use force, then hit first and hit hard.
8. Give a street performer a coin if they made you stop and look.
9. Learn to listen what people are saying.
10. Don't forget to thank those who help you.
11. Never, under any circumstances, argue with a girl with PMS or a pregnant women.
12. Always offer to carry stuff for girls, your mom and female members of your family.
13. If someone gave you their car for a ride, return it with a full gas tank.
14. Always pic the window seat and enjoy the ride, even if you are afraid of heights.
15. Never put a photo on the internet you don't want your parents or superiors to see.
16. Don't spoil family pictures. Always smile.
17. Tell me if you are bullied at school, I will kill them.
18. Never be a bully! I will kill you!
19. Always sing in the car if your favorite song is on, even or especially if you can't sing.
20. If your teacher forgot to check the homework, don't remind them.
21. Don't fart in front of girls, and always say sorry.
22. Never waist food, there are to many starving people on earth.
23. Google is your friend, Read!
24. Keep your promises, always!
25. Safe your money, as much as you can.
26. Before you do something, remember that you will have to live with the consequences of your actions.
27. Learn from your mistakes, and if you don't you can't blame somebody else. 
28. Boys and girls are equal, you are not better because you are a boy.
29. You are allowed to cry.
30. If you ever become a parent you are just as responsible for your kids as their mother.
31. No is No!
32. Always tell the truth.
33. Learn to read a recipe and then bake a cake.
34. You have to brush your teeth twice a day!
35. Life is not fare!
36. Never ever say "you are crazy" to a girl, then she will go crazy on you.
37. Go easy on the cologne.
38. Always were clean underwear
39. If I found out that you smoke or used chemical drugs I will smack you
40. Don't spit it is disgusting. 
41. Never raise a hand to a women.
42. Tell people that you love them.
43. Never kiss and tell.
44. Don't be late.
45. Open the door for other people, not just girls.
46. Always flush the toilet.

I might have missed some, but as I remember I will teach the boys.