The Warmth of December: Japanese lunch, candles with flowers and wine

Ahhhh. December.

I was diligently clocking in my hours while the rest of Singapore goes travelling, Netflix show-hunting or partying with friends as seen on Instagram. And my laptop pulls a stunt to subtly (or not) warn me that I should start to slow down - if not, it will, on my behalf.

The only month you can tell your colleagues who requested things from you that you'll give them what they need by EOD - literally by "end of December", I guess. Just another one of my laptop's antic to get me to stop working it into overdrive, I guess.

Working from home has been both great and, well, exhausting. I have a love-hate relationship with it, purely for the fact that I don't feel I get social enough with others when I work from home.

Today, had some respite as I head out to meet a lovely friend for lunch.

Yes, I have replaced her real face with a kissy emoji one instead.

A simple lunch at Ichiban Boshi was made even more delightful with her company, as we chow down on food and catch up about our days at work and what went on for us just over the past whirlwind last couple of months in year 2022. But we both agree we have been very blessed, and are both thankful for whatever happened in our own lives.

This month was such a hectic month for me, I hadn't had the chance to properly think about Christmas gifts yet, and this lovely friend actually prepared 2 gifts (actually one's a birthday present and the other's for Christmas) for me!

As I tore open the wrapper, it made me so touched one was a Pompompurin (ポムポムプリン) item set that she put together, remembering that this yellow pudding golden retriever dog from Sanrio was one of my favored characters!

What a blessing in life to have someone actually remember this, possibly unimportant fact and even went out of her way to put together a themed gift set! I was very touched by this, to be honest. I immediately went and used the items so I just snapped the one photo you are seeing here.

The best gifts, to me, don't always have to be fancy, but should warm the core of your heart, reminding you how precious these little moments in life are. I guess that, in fact, is the very essence of giving means.

For her Christmas gift to me, I got a lovely candle vase DIY pack. What a nice and thoughtful gift, again! Purely unplanned, I'm sure, because it's a secret that I like scented candles - well, until now, since I'm pretty much publicizing this on the blog.

But yet another gentle tug at the heartstrings, as she once again gave a gift which I very much appreciate.

Firstly, scented candle. Secondly, dried flowers. Marry them and you'll have magic in a glass!

(No, I'm not always this dramatic. But yes, this day is a tad special.)

Anyway, I put it together almost immediately after receiving it, and I'll probably post a short IG story on it soon.

Well, ain't it lovely.

Ingredients for the DIY flower candle display

And today, I managed to also finish up what I needed to do at work, get off early to enjoy a Netflix flick with my parents over a comforting dinner meal.

I also managed to polish off a glass, actually two, of Domaines Barons De Rothschild Lafite Les Legende R Bordeaux Rouge 2017. Boosts a beautiful, clear ruby colour, a quality red that's easy to drink, to end the Friday night.

And as Dwight Schrute would most possibly say of this day, "It's perfectenschlag."

xoxo,
Janel

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