Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...
A far older tradition then christianity and one I approve of. I bought our (artificial) one ten years ago and with it a generic box of gold ornaments. As the years have gone on we have supplemented these, a few at a time, every year, with some some more unique and individual ones (including a bunch of 6 Studio Ghibli keyrings I won for a cosplay skit at Minamicon many years ago). Last few were from the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow which I would recommend as a nice place to visit. It's looking very fine now, we use all the unique baubles and then fill in with the generic gold ones, fewer every year.
So how was your Yule? We have just got back from Swansea, dreadful drive, the M4 was just hell, crawled around Newport, and up towards Bristol, and around Swindon and Reading. The M25 took pity on us and that was actually the quickest part of the journey, seven hours on the road as opposed to the usual 4 and a half. Oy. Still we're home now.
Did quite well, some lovely books, Ben Aaronovitch's latest Rivers of London novella "The Furthest Station", which I shall look forward to reading, "Strange Labyrinth" by Will Ashon, the folklore of Epping Forest (which I've already dipped into and is quite enthralling), the marvellous "Woodford- Then and Now" by Reginald Fowkes, a huge hardback photographic record compiled in the 80s (saw it in a second hand bookshop and couldn't quite justify the expense, but The Wife arranged it as a surprise Xmas pressie) and "Walking Inside Out- Contemporary British Psychogeography" edited by Tina Richardson, which I am very keen to get to grips with. The whole subject of psychogeography is one that has intrigued me ever since I came to London.
Quite a bit else but a huge (1.75l) bottle of Antiguan rum from my Father-in-Law stands out. Still waiting on the West End Games Star Wars RPG 30th Anniversary reprint from The Wife, should arrive towards the end of January now, and my present to myself, "The Loop" RPG, is in the post (I'll pick up the GM Screen and the dice from Orc's Nest next time I'm in London).
Got The Wife the Nintendo SNES Mini, the tiny version with 21 classic SNES games pre-loaded (including some that never made it to Western markets and one that was never released at all apparently). She likes. She got "Skyrim- Elder Scrolls V" for the Nintendo Switch as well, but she wasn't expecting this one and has been having a bit of a squee session over it, the original SNES being her first gaming console.
I've seen "The Last Jedi" by the way, no spoilers, but I enjoyed it immensely (a bit overlong and they had just a few too many battles), but Mark Hamill is brilliant. Alas for Carrie Fisher though. The Porgs are wonderful, they were added mainly to cover up the Puffins that live on the Scottish island standing in for Luke's refuge and insisted on wandering into most shots, they're protected so you can't interfere with them in any way, hence the Porgs. They are funny though. Will be interesting to see what happens next.
"Rogue One" is still the best film to date of the modern lot though IMHO.
Anyway I shall now unwind from the drive with a few bottles of cider and possibly a drop of Antiguan rum as well.
Felicitations of the season to you all, may you spend it to your best advantage and to your increased happiness.
Cheers.
So how was your Yule? We have just got back from Swansea, dreadful drive, the M4 was just hell, crawled around Newport, and up towards Bristol, and around Swindon and Reading. The M25 took pity on us and that was actually the quickest part of the journey, seven hours on the road as opposed to the usual 4 and a half. Oy. Still we're home now.
Did quite well, some lovely books, Ben Aaronovitch's latest Rivers of London novella "The Furthest Station", which I shall look forward to reading, "Strange Labyrinth" by Will Ashon, the folklore of Epping Forest (which I've already dipped into and is quite enthralling), the marvellous "Woodford- Then and Now" by Reginald Fowkes, a huge hardback photographic record compiled in the 80s (saw it in a second hand bookshop and couldn't quite justify the expense, but The Wife arranged it as a surprise Xmas pressie) and "Walking Inside Out- Contemporary British Psychogeography" edited by Tina Richardson, which I am very keen to get to grips with. The whole subject of psychogeography is one that has intrigued me ever since I came to London.
Quite a bit else but a huge (1.75l) bottle of Antiguan rum from my Father-in-Law stands out. Still waiting on the West End Games Star Wars RPG 30th Anniversary reprint from The Wife, should arrive towards the end of January now, and my present to myself, "The Loop" RPG, is in the post (I'll pick up the GM Screen and the dice from Orc's Nest next time I'm in London).
Got The Wife the Nintendo SNES Mini, the tiny version with 21 classic SNES games pre-loaded (including some that never made it to Western markets and one that was never released at all apparently). She likes. She got "Skyrim- Elder Scrolls V" for the Nintendo Switch as well, but she wasn't expecting this one and has been having a bit of a squee session over it, the original SNES being her first gaming console.
I've seen "The Last Jedi" by the way, no spoilers, but I enjoyed it immensely (a bit overlong and they had just a few too many battles), but Mark Hamill is brilliant. Alas for Carrie Fisher though. The Porgs are wonderful, they were added mainly to cover up the Puffins that live on the Scottish island standing in for Luke's refuge and insisted on wandering into most shots, they're protected so you can't interfere with them in any way, hence the Porgs. They are funny though. Will be interesting to see what happens next.
"Rogue One" is still the best film to date of the modern lot though IMHO.
Anyway I shall now unwind from the drive with a few bottles of cider and possibly a drop of Antiguan rum as well.
Felicitations of the season to you all, may you spend it to your best advantage and to your increased happiness.
Cheers.