Christmas and My Thoughts On Joy To The World
Christmas was yesterday and I spent most of it feeling tired and unenthusiastic. We didn't do much during the day during Christmas Eve except my mom and I built a couple Christmas legos. Actually, we had gotten this knock-off not-lego set last year of a Christmas house, and we had started working on it, but we spent two hours and didn't even get past the first set of bags. It would have taken weeks to complete, so there was no way we'd be able to finish in time for Christmas. But my mom had also gotten these smaller individual bags of legos we could work on. One was of a train and the other a snowman. I worked on the snowman and my mom did the train. I finished before her. It still took about an hour to do, but I got it done. I felt kind of proud of myself because legos can be complicated and sometimes frustrating to build lol. So, we got to display those at least.
Christmas Eve dinner was a little bit of a disaster. It was my idea for us to have pot roast for dinner. My mom wound up getting both a beef roast and a pork roast, however neither were very good. The beef was cooked in our crock pot, but my dad didn't want to pull out the other crock pot, so they put the pork in our roaster. Neither of the meats actually tasted like pot roast. I was so disappointed. They were not good. Basically for this meal, I only liked the sides, but not the meat. My brother's girlfriend wasn't going to bring over the creamed corn this time, so my mom wound up making some from a recipe and that was good. We also got that baked macaroni and cheese we enjoyed from Wild Fork. Other than that, there was just the potatoes, carrots and onions cooked with the meat, which were also not cooked enough. For dessert my mom decided to make a pumpkin dump cake. That was good at least. We just chatted after dinner and then my brother and his girlfriend went home and we watched an episode of Skeleton Crew (best Star Wars show in a while).
Christmas Eve was not great for me because I was hurting most of the time, so I decided to take a Tylenol PM before bed, so I would be good for Christmas Day. I hate having to rely on pain relievers, but it seems to be the only thing that works. Anyway, as for Christmas (and Christmas Eve), I was just tired because my sleep hasn't been great and my overall mood is down. We did have our usual french toast and bacon for breakfast, which is always good. Before breakfast though of course I checked out my stocking. I got a couple magazines, which didn't fit in the stocking. One is about haunted places and the other is how to do everything and anything. Interesting. Actually inside the stocking I got a highlights hidden pictures puzzle book, some cheese balls, m&m minis, and two steam gift cards that were on my list. When my brother and his girlfriend came over they gave me Bluey sticker puzzles, which is kind of like a stocking stuffer.
The other gifts I got were from my list except for one thing that didn't come in time for Christmas, which is that Horrible Therapist card game, and a new computer chair of course. I still need that, badly. I don't know what I need more, the old desk back or a new chair, but my desk setup is very likely the reason I've been dealing with so much pain for years. I need to rag on my mom about it for the umpteenth time. Not on my list, I got a Bluey blanket from my brother and his girlfriend, and some nice soft new slippers from my mom. I didn't get a whole lot this year probably compared to previous years, but I didn't ask for a lot. I probably like my stocking stuffer gifts the most lol. I'll dive into the puzzles and magazines in the near future.
After opening gifts, my brother and his girlfriend left, but came back later to play games. We played a round of Picwits and Catch Phrase. Catch Phrase was stressful lol. After they went home, we watched an episode of Star Trek: Prodigy. Yeah, I'll have to get more into that show later. Whether it will be for my “Year in Review” or not, I'm not sure. And Grammy's been staying with us for the past two weeks, but she's finally going home today. It was rough at first adjusting to her being here, but I did get used to it.
Finally, I want to talk about the Doctor Who Christmas special, which I did also get around to watching after lunch yesterday. This one was called, “Joy to the World,” and it's about the Doctor finding this hotel called The Time Hotel, which features doors to different periods in time. Then there is a mystery man with a mysterious brief case, so the Doctor goes undercover to try to figure out what's going on. It's funny because he goes room to room with a pumpkin spice latte and a “ham and cheese toastie.” It's funny because I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich myself before watching the episode. Anyway, when the man with the brief case hands it over to different people, they become possessed and the previous handler of the case dies. Why? I don't know. The doctor runs into a woman with emotional baggage named Joy, and she becomes the latest victim, so the Doctor has to figure out a way to save her and just what exactly is in the case.
But before that happens, The Doctor gets trapped in the hotel room that Joy was in back in 2024 by himself. It's another one of those paradox things and now the Doctor has to wait a year before he can get back to the Time Hotel when it opens. The next part is my favorite part of the episode where he becomes close to the hotel manager over a year. Her name is Anita and their time together was really sweet. I wish she could have been the new companion, but alas, she's not. Eventually the Doctor gets back to the Time Hotel, and tells himself the code of the suitcase and traps his past self once more. Paradoxes are better when you don't think too hard about them.
Anyway, the Doctor saves Joy by making her angry, which causes the brief case to release her. I liked this moment because it felt like an old school Doctor thing to do. Speeding up ahead, the brief case gets swallowed by a T-Rex, gets trapped behind a wall, only to end up in Joy's hands again. I guess it was destiny. What's in the the case is a star seed. A baby star basically, and apparently there's a reference to the episode, “Boom” and wanting to use the star for energy? I don't know, it's confusing. But of course letting the star grow would endanger earth. Joy absorbs the star and sacrifices herself in space, and people across time witness the star in the sky, including of course Bethlehem where Jesus was born. So, it all kind of ties into that.
So, what did I think of this episode? It's certainly a Christmas story done in a Doctor Who way. I thought it was fine. It's not my favorite Christmas special by any means. I don't know what it is about it. It felt like it was lacking something to me, and the ties into religion just feels out of place for a science fiction show. I get that that's what Christmas is about for those who believe, but I guess it's a little too sappy for me, for lack of a better word to describe my feelings towards this episode. Again, I liked the moments with Anita, the Doctor saving Joy, and the different doorways to different time periods. There were quite a few funny lines in the episode too, but I don't know. I guess the story was just OK for me and maybe I'll read some more comments about it to figure out why this episode didn't quite connect with me. In the meantime, here's a screenshot from the episode. The Doctor arrives with the pumpkin spice latte and ham and cheese toastie. I'd be happy if he showed up at my house like that.
Christmas Eve dinner was a little bit of a disaster. It was my idea for us to have pot roast for dinner. My mom wound up getting both a beef roast and a pork roast, however neither were very good. The beef was cooked in our crock pot, but my dad didn't want to pull out the other crock pot, so they put the pork in our roaster. Neither of the meats actually tasted like pot roast. I was so disappointed. They were not good. Basically for this meal, I only liked the sides, but not the meat. My brother's girlfriend wasn't going to bring over the creamed corn this time, so my mom wound up making some from a recipe and that was good. We also got that baked macaroni and cheese we enjoyed from Wild Fork. Other than that, there was just the potatoes, carrots and onions cooked with the meat, which were also not cooked enough. For dessert my mom decided to make a pumpkin dump cake. That was good at least. We just chatted after dinner and then my brother and his girlfriend went home and we watched an episode of Skeleton Crew (best Star Wars show in a while).
Christmas Eve was not great for me because I was hurting most of the time, so I decided to take a Tylenol PM before bed, so I would be good for Christmas Day. I hate having to rely on pain relievers, but it seems to be the only thing that works. Anyway, as for Christmas (and Christmas Eve), I was just tired because my sleep hasn't been great and my overall mood is down. We did have our usual french toast and bacon for breakfast, which is always good. Before breakfast though of course I checked out my stocking. I got a couple magazines, which didn't fit in the stocking. One is about haunted places and the other is how to do everything and anything. Interesting. Actually inside the stocking I got a highlights hidden pictures puzzle book, some cheese balls, m&m minis, and two steam gift cards that were on my list. When my brother and his girlfriend came over they gave me Bluey sticker puzzles, which is kind of like a stocking stuffer.
The other gifts I got were from my list except for one thing that didn't come in time for Christmas, which is that Horrible Therapist card game, and a new computer chair of course. I still need that, badly. I don't know what I need more, the old desk back or a new chair, but my desk setup is very likely the reason I've been dealing with so much pain for years. I need to rag on my mom about it for the umpteenth time. Not on my list, I got a Bluey blanket from my brother and his girlfriend, and some nice soft new slippers from my mom. I didn't get a whole lot this year probably compared to previous years, but I didn't ask for a lot. I probably like my stocking stuffer gifts the most lol. I'll dive into the puzzles and magazines in the near future.
After opening gifts, my brother and his girlfriend left, but came back later to play games. We played a round of Picwits and Catch Phrase. Catch Phrase was stressful lol. After they went home, we watched an episode of Star Trek: Prodigy. Yeah, I'll have to get more into that show later. Whether it will be for my “Year in Review” or not, I'm not sure. And Grammy's been staying with us for the past two weeks, but she's finally going home today. It was rough at first adjusting to her being here, but I did get used to it.
Finally, I want to talk about the Doctor Who Christmas special, which I did also get around to watching after lunch yesterday. This one was called, “Joy to the World,” and it's about the Doctor finding this hotel called The Time Hotel, which features doors to different periods in time. Then there is a mystery man with a mysterious brief case, so the Doctor goes undercover to try to figure out what's going on. It's funny because he goes room to room with a pumpkin spice latte and a “ham and cheese toastie.” It's funny because I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich myself before watching the episode. Anyway, when the man with the brief case hands it over to different people, they become possessed and the previous handler of the case dies. Why? I don't know. The doctor runs into a woman with emotional baggage named Joy, and she becomes the latest victim, so the Doctor has to figure out a way to save her and just what exactly is in the case.
But before that happens, The Doctor gets trapped in the hotel room that Joy was in back in 2024 by himself. It's another one of those paradox things and now the Doctor has to wait a year before he can get back to the Time Hotel when it opens. The next part is my favorite part of the episode where he becomes close to the hotel manager over a year. Her name is Anita and their time together was really sweet. I wish she could have been the new companion, but alas, she's not. Eventually the Doctor gets back to the Time Hotel, and tells himself the code of the suitcase and traps his past self once more. Paradoxes are better when you don't think too hard about them.
Anyway, the Doctor saves Joy by making her angry, which causes the brief case to release her. I liked this moment because it felt like an old school Doctor thing to do. Speeding up ahead, the brief case gets swallowed by a T-Rex, gets trapped behind a wall, only to end up in Joy's hands again. I guess it was destiny. What's in the the case is a star seed. A baby star basically, and apparently there's a reference to the episode, “Boom” and wanting to use the star for energy? I don't know, it's confusing. But of course letting the star grow would endanger earth. Joy absorbs the star and sacrifices herself in space, and people across time witness the star in the sky, including of course Bethlehem where Jesus was born. So, it all kind of ties into that.
So, what did I think of this episode? It's certainly a Christmas story done in a Doctor Who way. I thought it was fine. It's not my favorite Christmas special by any means. I don't know what it is about it. It felt like it was lacking something to me, and the ties into religion just feels out of place for a science fiction show. I get that that's what Christmas is about for those who believe, but I guess it's a little too sappy for me, for lack of a better word to describe my feelings towards this episode. Again, I liked the moments with Anita, the Doctor saving Joy, and the different doorways to different time periods. There were quite a few funny lines in the episode too, but I don't know. I guess the story was just OK for me and maybe I'll read some more comments about it to figure out why this episode didn't quite connect with me. In the meantime, here's a screenshot from the episode. The Doctor arrives with the pumpkin spice latte and ham and cheese toastie. I'd be happy if he showed up at my house like that.