Seize the days. Enjoy the view.

The past days, most of us went through a first wave of Christmas dinners, tasty brunches or extended celebrations. It was the occasion to spend some deserved time with family or friends, go through some fun filled recounts, serious debates or relaxed discussions; the highlight of the Present-Packing-Wrapping-Giving-Receiving Season, or simply the occasion to relax, surrounded by the warmth of the seasonal blanket. During the next days, working a bit is part of reality for some of us, extending the holidays the preferred scenario for many, thinking about the last details for the next celebrations on the menu of everyone. But before rushing to the next celebrations, the days are there to be seized. No sales shopping yet on my side, neither a fresh dive in chilly water. Instead, the Scandinavian cookies and artisanal specialties are on the kitchen table, next to the fruit and fresh drinks. Reading and relaxed writing will be alternated with meeting up, catching-up or some ice skating. And then the countdown Intuitively, most of us will focus on the 31st or the 1st . This said, it would be a pity if the excitement during the coming days would be followed only by a vacuum of a couple of weeks even if these very same weeks are a fertile ground for good resolutions or getting back into the normal rhythm. Somehow, organising this period is a bit like working on a poster or picture made of hundreds or even thousands of smaller images. When making these mosaics, you go through a first selection. Along the creation process, you adjust your choice a bit, be it based on the overall bigger picture, or driven by the role some of the smaller pictures play. And once done, it is possible to enjoy the micro level, appreciate from a distance or think how next ones would look like. To me, the end of year is quite similar. The agenda to come builds definitely up to the New Years climax. But including some smaller treats makes this bigger picture even more enjoyable. Up to everyone to see if these extras are birthdays, delayed celebrations or additional festivities; fresh touches, sexy smiles or private pleasures. With the end of year period being still in full motion, I wish you all to celebrate it the way you enjoy it most. Make it exciting, relaxing, international, homey, classy, relaxed, festive, eccentric, down to earth or special. But above all, may it not only be the final culmination before a long regenerating winter sleep, but an energizing series of days, before an even more exiting period to come.

Jrgen Janssens | 2013

janssensjurgen@gmail.com