The joys of Christmas holidays

Although much of these holidays were, and will continue to be, characterised by working on my dissertation and some studying, these two weeks give me the opportunity to have more enjoyable activities than usual on my agenda. I have a bit more time for simple pleasant things such as cooking. Two days ago I made hummus, which was more time consuming than I imagined, but at least the result was good. Next week I'm hoping to do some kind of sweet dish. I also had some time to watch a few movies on dvd over the Christmas weekend and till now I've seen Nanny McPhee (adorable, sweet and feel-good), Mrs Henderson Presents (quite pleasant, and as usual, Judi Dench shines) and Syriana (good, but rather complex; needs a second viewing). A couple of comedies will be watched this weekend.

As for other events, one annual highlight of my Christmas hols is watching the MADC panto at the Manoel Theatre. We went to watch this year's Hercules yesterday and as usual, the theatre was packed to the gills. Panto, which is always the longest running show in Malta, is probably the only theatre production which performs to a full house every night. Although there will be obvious similarities to previous productions, I always find it worth watching and is a good night out filled with laughter.

Then of course there are the parties, meals and celebratory drinks. Tomorrow, New Year's Eve, will be waved off with, hopefully, a good, rather big party in Birgu. By the way, the weather did comply on Christmas Eve night, so we did manage our traditional pub-crawl, although on a shorter route.

One of the things I enjoyed most during these holidays was catching up with old friends. Yesterday, Marion and I met up with two other school friends for lunch (and later, coffee). It was really great meeting them for more than just a quick chat on campus if we ever happened to bump into each other, and getting the low-down on each other's adventures such as backpacking across Europe, sleeping in the desert and antics during dentistry practice, as well as future plans. We promised to do this more often. We also discovered this delightful cafeteria in the south of Malta with pastries and confectioneries to die for, and one of the most delicious capuccinos I ever tasted, and so it will probably be the location of choice for our future meetings ;) I'm hoping to meet some other good friends of mine, whom I don't see enough, next week. Sometimes, there's nothing more pleasant than a reunion with friends.