Merry Christmas, Flist!
So, I've had a really good Christmas. I've eaten a ridiculous amount of food (it feels like the only time today I wasn't eating was for that brief hour when I fell asleep) and mostly kept up with the social commitments and got very good presents.
The boyfriend and my parents went to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland on Thursday, where The Boyfriend won me another bear from the shooting game. It was very impressive, since he won me the medium sized bear, which involved him shooting into the middle of two out of three stars that were barely bigger than the actual pellets. I've named him Tarquin, and he now lives on my bookshelf with last year's bear, Cyril. Then we wandered over to the South Bank to mosey around the market near Waterloo station, since they always have really good food stalls which will give you free samples, and if you're cheap like us, you can just fill up on all this fantastic food for free.
Winter Baking Bonanza this year comprised of chocolate brownies (which are my staple), triple chocolate cookies (which were delicious) and ginger biscuits (which I was a bit worried about right up until they cooled down and I tried one and then everything was fine, because they tasted just like gingerbread and are in fact gorgeous). I also make duck a l'orange for Christmas Eve dinner, because The Boyfriend was over and duck is his favourite thing after gammon, and I've made him gammon loads. It was really tasty, and I was surprised how much I liked the orange sauce, because I didn't expect to at all; I only chose that particular recipe because duck in orange sauce is what he always has when we have Chinese, and I thought "I bet the French do that!"
We had my sister and brother-in-law over for the weekend. They're lovely but she's a bit tiring because, unlike the rest of us, she cannot just sit still. She's very active and always has to be doing something. We traded them yesterday for Granddad, since they're doing Christmas with her mum, who lives really near our granddad. He's been here since, and is going on Thursday. We're having my dad's family over tomorrow who also are all lovely, but a bit hard work because my dad's siblings are very close and all get really excited to see each other and it all gets very loud because they're all talking over each other. But I can do what I did last year, which was spend pretty much the first half asleep in my room, and then emerge for pudding. I am anti-social, oh yes. Finally, on Sunday, we're going to see my mum's side of the family, who are in fact much louder and while nice enough, much more bearable in small doses.
So, presents! The boyfriend bought me a couple of DVDs, and the now traditional jokey kids' book (this year it was the "book of the film" of The Avengers, which turns out is less the "book of the film" and more the "very very very compressed telling of all six films in the Marvel Movie Verse"). From his parents, I got a fan which plugs into a USB port and then spells out "STAY COOL" in LEDs in eight different languages, and a very lovely black shawl, which is super warm and soft and pretty. My sister got me a book on geishas, a doll making kit (to make for Parizeh, with brown skin, because god knows that little girl is going to have enough trouble finding dolls with the same skin colour as hers, let's not let Aunty Lissy be part of the problem) and Everything Alice, which is a book filled with fifty crafts and recipes that are Alice In Wonderland themed. Yep, that's pretty much my year gone. ALICE IN WONDERLAND THEMED HAND-MADE PICNIC TEA PARTY, PEOPLE!
From my dad, I got everything on my list (Mum giving me money and sorting out my stocking), including a CD that is no longer in print (is that the term for CDs, or does that only apply to books? Anyway they don't make it anymore) and had to be ordered second-hand from California. Haven't played it yet because Granddad is here, and I try to avoid playing loud music when there are relatives who aren't my parents in the house, but it looks in good condition; there weren't any scratches or smears that I could see. I got a can of compressed air, so yay, I can clean out Sylvester more frequently. I got pretty much all of Kieron Gillen's run of Journey Into Mystery, except for the last two volumes because they've not been released in the UK yet. But Dad preordered them, so they should arrive at some point. I also got a few DVDs, CDs, books, and this tea set, which I've been eyeing for a good eight months, since he broke my last, less pretty, set, but never been able to justify buying due to the price. It was the only thing I didn't ask for, and it's pretty awesome. It matches my favourite mug! It's my favourite mug because it can carry a whole pint of tea. A whole pint. (Or coffee, if I feel that I need to spend the day really wired).
My mum, as always, came through fantastically with my stocking, filling it with nice smelling soaps and lip balms, plus a solid perfume, which looks like fun. There was also a tiny wooden logic puzzle, and something called China Balm, which apparently you rub on your forehead and in theory it cures headaches. I am all for this, because I get headaches at least three times a week, and I only let myself have painkillers twice a month, so anything non-pharmaceutical that will help is good in my book.
Most exciting of all (for you guys anyway, as it's the only one with any relevance to you), I got a microphone! Background noise cancelling microphone, so future podfic projects won't have that irritating whirring in the background from Sylvester! I still need to work on the optimal distance from my mouth, so we're not getting equally irritating distortion, but isn't that still exciting? Huh? Huh?
Oh be quiet, it's a little exciting.
(PS: I also have some exciting mystery present from The Boyfriend still to look forward to. He's taking me somewhere in June, I think - something's happening in June - but it's not arrived in the post yet, so I'm not allowed to know what it is. I suggested he just give it to my in February, since that's when my birthday is.)
The boyfriend and my parents went to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland on Thursday, where The Boyfriend won me another bear from the shooting game. It was very impressive, since he won me the medium sized bear, which involved him shooting into the middle of two out of three stars that were barely bigger than the actual pellets. I've named him Tarquin, and he now lives on my bookshelf with last year's bear, Cyril. Then we wandered over to the South Bank to mosey around the market near Waterloo station, since they always have really good food stalls which will give you free samples, and if you're cheap like us, you can just fill up on all this fantastic food for free.
Winter Baking Bonanza this year comprised of chocolate brownies (which are my staple), triple chocolate cookies (which were delicious) and ginger biscuits (which I was a bit worried about right up until they cooled down and I tried one and then everything was fine, because they tasted just like gingerbread and are in fact gorgeous). I also make duck a l'orange for Christmas Eve dinner, because The Boyfriend was over and duck is his favourite thing after gammon, and I've made him gammon loads. It was really tasty, and I was surprised how much I liked the orange sauce, because I didn't expect to at all; I only chose that particular recipe because duck in orange sauce is what he always has when we have Chinese, and I thought "I bet the French do that!"
We had my sister and brother-in-law over for the weekend. They're lovely but she's a bit tiring because, unlike the rest of us, she cannot just sit still. She's very active and always has to be doing something. We traded them yesterday for Granddad, since they're doing Christmas with her mum, who lives really near our granddad. He's been here since, and is going on Thursday. We're having my dad's family over tomorrow who also are all lovely, but a bit hard work because my dad's siblings are very close and all get really excited to see each other and it all gets very loud because they're all talking over each other. But I can do what I did last year, which was spend pretty much the first half asleep in my room, and then emerge for pudding. I am anti-social, oh yes. Finally, on Sunday, we're going to see my mum's side of the family, who are in fact much louder and while nice enough, much more bearable in small doses.
So, presents! The boyfriend bought me a couple of DVDs, and the now traditional jokey kids' book (this year it was the "book of the film" of The Avengers, which turns out is less the "book of the film" and more the "very very very compressed telling of all six films in the Marvel Movie Verse"). From his parents, I got a fan which plugs into a USB port and then spells out "STAY COOL" in LEDs in eight different languages, and a very lovely black shawl, which is super warm and soft and pretty. My sister got me a book on geishas, a doll making kit (to make for Parizeh, with brown skin, because god knows that little girl is going to have enough trouble finding dolls with the same skin colour as hers, let's not let Aunty Lissy be part of the problem) and Everything Alice, which is a book filled with fifty crafts and recipes that are Alice In Wonderland themed. Yep, that's pretty much my year gone. ALICE IN WONDERLAND THEMED HAND-MADE PICNIC TEA PARTY, PEOPLE!
From my dad, I got everything on my list (Mum giving me money and sorting out my stocking), including a CD that is no longer in print (is that the term for CDs, or does that only apply to books? Anyway they don't make it anymore) and had to be ordered second-hand from California. Haven't played it yet because Granddad is here, and I try to avoid playing loud music when there are relatives who aren't my parents in the house, but it looks in good condition; there weren't any scratches or smears that I could see. I got a can of compressed air, so yay, I can clean out Sylvester more frequently. I got pretty much all of Kieron Gillen's run of Journey Into Mystery, except for the last two volumes because they've not been released in the UK yet. But Dad preordered them, so they should arrive at some point. I also got a few DVDs, CDs, books, and this tea set, which I've been eyeing for a good eight months, since he broke my last, less pretty, set, but never been able to justify buying due to the price. It was the only thing I didn't ask for, and it's pretty awesome. It matches my favourite mug! It's my favourite mug because it can carry a whole pint of tea. A whole pint. (Or coffee, if I feel that I need to spend the day really wired).
My mum, as always, came through fantastically with my stocking, filling it with nice smelling soaps and lip balms, plus a solid perfume, which looks like fun. There was also a tiny wooden logic puzzle, and something called China Balm, which apparently you rub on your forehead and in theory it cures headaches. I am all for this, because I get headaches at least three times a week, and I only let myself have painkillers twice a month, so anything non-pharmaceutical that will help is good in my book.
Most exciting of all (for you guys anyway, as it's the only one with any relevance to you), I got a microphone! Background noise cancelling microphone, so future podfic projects won't have that irritating whirring in the background from Sylvester! I still need to work on the optimal distance from my mouth, so we're not getting equally irritating distortion, but isn't that still exciting? Huh? Huh?
Oh be quiet, it's a little exciting.
(PS: I also have some exciting mystery present from The Boyfriend still to look forward to. He's taking me somewhere in June, I think - something's happening in June - but it's not arrived in the post yet, so I'm not allowed to know what it is. I suggested he just give it to my in February, since that's when my birthday is.)