So that was Christmas . . .

We do love getting Christmas cards, even if it is a bit old hat. Oh deary me, Alice just checked up on that common phrase, and it turns out it used to be rather rude in the 18th century, as described in Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. In fact Blogger had a bit of trouble loading it to be checked. You can see it here, however.

Anyway, this was our favourite card, from a very dear friend we've known for simply ages. It arrived among the last batch the postie delivered. Don't they work hard at this time of year!

We liked it so much Alice put it in pride of place on her mantlepiece. Do click to see it in its full glory - and us too. This is slightly a bigger image than we sometimes include, so make the most of it.

On Christmas Eve we had our "lunch" rather late (around 4:00 pm) and watched Scrooge: a 1951 version of Charles Dickens' story, A Christmas Carol. There have been many film versions. The old "Bah! Humbug!" miser, Ebeneezer, is visited by the three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, who show him the error of his ways. Some of it is pretty silly, but some is actually rather scarey!

This image is really a cheat, since the TV screen doesn't photograph well, and we kept getting the flash reflection in it. So Alice found an online still from the film, and made it the right size to fit over the original. These are the sort of tasks she just loves doing!!

The second picture is an illustration depicting Marley's ghost appearing to Scrooge, from the original publication of Dickens' A Christmas Carol  in 1843.

A whole chicken is too much (and too much fuss) for just ourselves, but the breasts stuffed with orange and onion are Alice's own tasty invention.

The stuffing rolls wrapped in bacon are a real treat as well. Alice's father used to make them when she was a little girl, and they do taste most yummy indeed.

And most of it got eaten (very late) on Christmas Eve too!

So Xmas Day itself was given over to relaxing, watching TV or good old Game of Thrones box sets, while nibbling the leftovers, enjoying a tipple and a selection of delicious chocolates.

Here's hoping you enjoyed the holiday in your own way, too.

Christmas is coming (soon)

This version of Christmas is Coming (which Alice tidied up a bit from the original) is based on the same Stark sigil from good old HBO's magnificent Game of Thrones. See that one below.

We're quite sad that Season VII is now finished.

[Warning: there are rather a lot of references to Game of Thrones in this pre-Christmas post. If it's not your sort of thing, you can always skip the links.]


It will take ages before Season VIII appears, as they've had to do the filming later than usual, so it doesn't look like summer, when another Long Winter has just started.

Meanwhile we've been watching the whole thing all over again from the very beginning. So far we've just finished Season Two. Well, that's me and Alice: Ba finds the fights upsetting and the White Walkers far too scarey, so she has a snooze instead.

We've already had our first Xmas pressies.

No, we didn't cheat and open them early! They weren't wrappped up, just innocently lying in the jolly red bag.

Our good friend down the road - who's very into the Game of Thrones dragons - coloured this picture for us. She loves colouring, and finds it a most soothing occupation.

The pen (if you click to look at the full size image) says "Winter is Coming" together with the Stark house direwolf sigil. Aren't they magnificent beasts? In G-o-T they are real Northern Inuits breed.

Yes, it's now officially Christmas Tree time! We went babysitting (child-sitting really) to the grandchildren's and admired their huge tree and vast collection of presents. Ba! look up!

They had lots and lots of presents - some to give to friends and relatives, and some waiting to be opened by themselves on Christmas Day. Maybe there were some for us, too - but we didn't cheat and hunt for them.

I coudn't resist joining in with the decorations. Ba just thought it looked a rather long way down. You can see my super Xmas jumper properly too - it was a present last year from our Game of Thrones fan friend down the road. This year Alice gave her three different dragon bookmarks she made herself, and a surprise book. Not this one: she's ordered it for herself!

Here's our trees (plural) at home.

Please note the careful colour design of the decorations. The bigger one is Alice's, and the small one is the responsibility of Ba and myself.

If you click (oh, go on) to see properly, you can admire our outfits and the little manger scene, which is Ba's favourite decoration.

We like to have the day itself with just the three of us, so we can laze about and eat whenever we like.

The presents are all to take to Glasgow after Christmas proper - but it will still be the Festive Season, when we'll get ours from them, too.

Plus there's a special card from a friend. There's a much better view of the fold-out card and the manger scene in this carefully posed version.

Hoping you all enjoy the lead up to the Festivities in your own way, whatever that is.

Getting into the Festive spirit . . . 

We're already feeling Festive, what with decorations in the streets, advertisements on TV, and glittering gifts in the shops. So we persuaded Alice to have a mini photo-shoot, and create a pre-Christmas card for you all to enjoy.

Even if you mutter Bah! Humbug! and how it's all much too early, we hope it takes your mind off some of the more depressing stuff in The News nowadays.

This is a good time of year for the cinema too.

I'm looking forward to seeing The Last Jedi with Alice, who is certainly keen enough. She enjoys well made SciFi movies, as well as the artsy makes-you-think ones (such as Wind River.) And anything Andy Serkis does is usually worth a watch. He's to play the villainous-looking Snoke. 

[Click on these to see them larger.]

Ba wants to see Paddington 2, as it won't be so scarey. Alice is sorry to disappoint, but she'll have to wait for it to come on TV, as it's not really her cup of tea (or mine) and we won't be paying to see it this side of New Year.