Hello – have you made it safely through Christmas? I hope you all had a lovely time with your families and loved ones, celebrating the season, whichever faith you are (or are not). This morning I got up at 2.45am to take my mother to the airport for a proper red-eye flight back home. In the spirit of the season, we had a nice week (and held it) together *coughs* with lots of hot Port, walks and shopping excursions and card tournaments every night. It was nice – but it is also nice to go back to my usual routine, which involves blogging and down-time on the internet.
Before I shutter 2016 with the customary “annual review”, I thought we should take Christmas to bed with a little look back at the “loot”. I was very lucky this year, receiving presents with a lot of love love love, which I thought I’d show you here.
Nellindreams started me off with a gorgeous RA Christmas card. Next I received a whole parcel full of handmade RA goodies from Andrea – she made a naughty fabulous Guy card, as well as a Daniel Miller snow ball. And she made that beautiful frame with a really beautiful picture of RA in it which is now sitting on the shelf above my desk. Hariclea surprised me with a souvenir from New York, displayed on my fridge. Glady also got her crafty hat on and made that LLL ornament (with the little Guy clip at the top of it). Her coaster is in use beside my laptop, as is that highly distRActing mouse-mat. Suzy surprised me with a custom-made Daniel Miller puzzle. And my daughter, having recently become addicted to Photoshop, created a fabulous manip from a photo of moi. Thank you to all of you – I love these special presents, from fangirl to fangirl. I get smiles and belly-flutters from them.
The older I get, the less important any monetary value of the presents becomes for me. My stand-out presents were things like a CD with songs of bands I saw live at our summer festival with my son over the years, which he burnt on CD for me; or a book with classic short stories by Damon Runyon set on Broadway, given by my father-in-law; or the amazing box of tea bags gifted to me by my sister-in-law (apparently an American company, called Celestial Seasonings – and heavenly it is! Nutcracker Sweet. Try it if you can find it anywhere – with a dash of full-fat milk, it tastes like egg nog, absolutely delicious. I am devastated that they don’t sell in Ireland, though… ) No diamonds and jewels, but having some time together under the Christmas tree, candles lit, singing Christmas songs, was the best thing I could get…
How was your Christmas? Any RA-themed goodies under your tree? Did you have to hide them from prying eyes 😉 ? Hope you got everything you wished for!
Guylty Pleasure 
Absolutely beautiful!!! And lucky you!
My tree – as you know – was stock full of old memories. Beloved memories and things I’ve cherished and missed over the years. I have never taken as much joy in a tree as I have in the tree I had this year. Feels wrong that it has to come down on Sunday. Or is it tomorrow? Sunday. I’ll wait until Sunday! Maybe Monday. Depends.
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Lemon Zinger!
Happy holidays!
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So very, very lovely. Very thoughtful; I simply love it.
In my family our tree stays until the last day of Christmas (Helligtrekongersdag) – the day of the three kings – it’s a tradition I picked up from when I lived in Spain.
Happy Holidays and New Year.
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Great fandom gifts and I especially love the photo manip your daughter did… gosh that would increase the smoking tenfold if that face appeared in the smoke more often. =)
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I’m telling you…
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Lovely Christmas feelings time from the look of it. Beautiful thoughts and handmade gifts 😚love them all but particularly the magic smoke one 😊 wishing you a Guten Rutsch!
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One if best Christmas ever. Had all local family for dinner. Best part was giving everyone ” presents” that my mother had years ago. We laughed so hard unearhing treasures from the past. Best gift- Sony portable tv over 40 years old with original dust. Glad your holiday was good. Loved your gifts.
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Many years ago,you blogged German traditions.I made a copy and try to follow it every year.To which I am thankful..Christmas ahhhs.Peregina baci,Baileys Irish cream and my home made Swartzswalder kirsch torte.Probably speltled wrong!!! Merry Christmas Guylty and have a Happy New Year.
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I love your daughter’s manip! And that card with Guy is awesome. I always ger socks from my mother and they remind me of a certain guy saying that socks are a great Christmas gift! A fabulous New Year to you and to your family!
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I totally loved my daughter’s manip, too – apart from its contents, it is just extra-special when you receive custom-made, unique gifts. That’s not to say that socks are bad – especially when they come attached with nice associations 😉
Thank you for reading, showering me in gifts and simply being lovely! Happy new year to you, too xx
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RA appearing from the smoke…I don’t like smoke/ing, but in this case.. 😀 I love all of the presents (mine not included 😛 ) you got, but puzzle (I am puzzle freak/geek) is the one I love the most; that stare ❤
Since I do not celebrate Christmas, I am an atheist (and everyone in my family is – except Mum), I don't get (many) presents. I got 2 from my sister and one from a neighbour (box full of Dior/Givenchy make up). We do have a tree, but mainly it serves as a decoration – i just love lights on it. Oh, and yes, a friend from Germany send me a holiday greeting card containing pictures of Thorin and Aragorn. So, in a way RA has come to me. 😀
I wish everyone happy, healthy and prosperous New 2017!
p.s. I will be spending my NYE watching The Two Towers and wait for the new day to come and go to bed! And then, traditionally, listen to New Year concert from Vienna and watch 4 schanzen turnee from Garmisch- Partenkirchen!.
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Oh Andrea – that sounds totally like a German New Year – Neujahrskonzert ☑️, Vierschanzentournee ☑️. I will probably have to put some work in tomorrow morning (because I have wasted too much time today with shopping – Christmas sales are on – and blogging), but I will tune into the concert while I translate…
BTW, I admire your stance re. atheism and Christmas. The season is so much part of the culture that surrounds us in the Western world, that it is hard to escape it… Doing without the presents has become easier as the years advance, but I admit I am a total sucker for all the customs that come with Christmas.
Happy new year to you! xx
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Since I was a child, these two became tradition. I think I only had missed them maybe 4-5 times in my life. And to sound even more german/austrian 😛 , I am thinking of learning german language. I always said there was no way to learn it, it’s difficult and rough, not anything like english or spanish – but maybe I will take lessons. Who knows what 2017 brings?
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Grah – I was so disappointed this morning. I was right on time to tune into the Neujahrskonzert, except ORF kept informing me that legal reasons prevented them from letting me listen. Damn.
And hey, let me tell you – they are lying to you when they are saying that German is hard to learn. It’s nowhere near as difficult as your Slavic mother tongue!!! And since you already know English, you will find some similarities that will make it easier to learn. Forget about stupid stuff like “three grammatical genders” and the different inflections for the grammatical cases – even spoken with grammar mistakes, a language is still understandable. It’s certainly a worth-while thing to attempt to do in 2017!
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Oh, lovely, all of it! And I love that photo manip your daughter did!
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She did really well, I have to say…
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