The morning of the big day has come. Tonight, the festivities will happen here in Guylty Towers. After a gift-wrapping marathon, all presents are displayed and ready under the tree.
I have a little bit of work to do for my job this morning, but otherwise it will be a relaxed day with nothing much to prepare. Maybe a little Christmas cleaning and tidying up the kitchen for our dinner this evening. As is tradition in our house, we will have the most iconic German meal for dinner – fried sausages with sauerkraut and potatoes. A meal that needs little to no prep. 👍🏻 And afterwards we will move into the sitting room, light the candles on the tree note to self: place water bucket in sitting room and unwrap the Christmas gifts. We’ll miss my mum. And fingers crossed that my son will be with us, too, because much to my chagrin, he informed us last night that he was identified as a close contact of someone who has come down with Covid. He’s taking several anti-gen tests yesterday and today, to find out if he has caught anything. I am trying *very* hard not to be angry, on this day of all days. I had asked my son to be considerate and tone down his social life in the run-up to Christmas Eve, in order to avoid any such eventualities, and of course he was too tempted into continuing his modus operandi as if times were normal… I would be very disappointed if he can’t be with us this evening. But well, I don’t want to let that dampen the mood.
2021 has been challenging for all of us. Loved ones lost or ill, work heavily impacted, and travel and socialising constricted. But there are many things to be grateful for, and Christmas Eve the day to remember it. Despite many challenges, we have stayed healthy this year and avoided the plague. Mr Guylty and I have had our booster shots, and both kids have not had Covid. I am also thankful for the fun and support this fandom has provided this year. People sneer about internet-based “relationships”, but hey, in these times, our online-based circle of friends has proved to be the safest kind of fun there is! Social distancing? Not necessary with my fandom friends 😉. We may be far apart in terms of geography, but we have come together and created distraction and entertainment for ourselves. And we have done some good with not one but *two* massively successful fundraisers. A huge big thank you to Mr. A at this point, for joining in and providing the top-selling item for our big birthday bash fundraiser. And an equally big thank you to all of you for being part of the fundraisers. They have been the highlights of my year, and I am grateful beyond words. And as bad as 2021 may have been, at least in our fandom circle we can look back on it as a *positively* special year, with the wonderful memory of having achieved two amazing donations for a great cause. That is a gift that will stay with us – and with those we have benefitted – forever. Thank you and…
❤️ MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL ❤️
Finally, have you opened the last window in this year’s RAdvent CalendRA? As a little entertainment to while away the time until the “big gift event”, I bring you the whole lot, from 1 to 24, for a little laugh and distraction. I hope you enjoyed the little bits of daily silliness. I had so much fun designing the “vintage ads” and coming up with silly little ideas that might represent the various chaRActers. And it was all inspired by an idea I had had for the fundraiser sale. I wanted to print those cotton bags with a vintage ad design, and Thornton’s Marlborough Mills were the result (Day 1). And then it snow-balled from there ☃… Now I have 24 designs I could print on cotton bags 😂… Anyway, I posted the first 10 ads in an earlier post so there are 14 missing. I have put all 24 ads into a gallery for you. (You can click on the images to enlarge.)
Finally, if you have scrolled all the way down here, maybe you can answer the poll below (and just say “polled” in the comments below, just in case)… (NOTE: The day/number of the ads is visible if you hover your mouse over the image.) Once the results come in, I might upload the winning design into Redbubble or Society6, have something fun made, and pick a winner or two from the poll entries… Or if you have an idea on what kind of item the individual ads might look good on, let me know in the comments, too.
Guylty Pleasure 
Happy Christmas to you, too. And thank you for all the fun and entertainment you have provided throughout 2021!
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It’s been my pleasure! Thank you for reading here, Hobbit :-).
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Happy Christmas! For us this will be a sort of a lonely Christmas because my parents won’t come until they get their booster shot in January and our niece tested positive a couple of days ago. She is well, but of course she won’t be able to come. Well, the minis will have to act as extra guests tomorrow.
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I’m so sorry to hear that, Ilaria. Another year of unusual festivities. I miss my mum, too, but I put my hopes on spring 2022, hoping that the latest virus mutation will have run its course by then. Buon natale to you and lots of love!!
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No, I can’t choose right now. Too much pressure. Your CalendRA was wonderful. There’s a number of them that would look good on merch. Maybe a postcard set with 10 or so different motives? Then I might have an easier time choosing.
I hope you will have a stress free time with *all* the Guylties under your tree. Thank you for sharing your creativity and endless enthusiasm with us this year. And hopefully we’ll be able to fangirl in person next year in some capacity. xx
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I’ve been thinking about postcards, too. Ha, good plan – that doesn’t even require Redbubble.
And many thanks back to you – your creativity equally enhanced mine 🙂
Looking forward to 2022, a proper meet-up is definitely something that is already cheering me up. Fingers crossed it will happen.
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Merry Christmas, G and family. And a better New Year for us all.
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Many thanks – and yes, that’s the biggest wish of them all. Happy Xmas!
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Happy Christmas Eve, Sonja!
I love your Advent calendar! I wonder what Mr. Armitage would say about the Legs of Steel ad! It’s hilarious! And Gizzy’s gloves.. I LOVE and covet them!
Enjoy the holidays and fingers crossed your son makes it home!
Cheers! Liz
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Thank you, Liz… hehe, yes, I wonder what Mr A would say… Luckily none of these ads are about him, they are all about his chaRActers *yeah, right, deluding myself here* 😂
Happy holidays to you, too! 😘
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Well, since he’s made it clear he wants the public to focus on his chaRActers and not him personally, I see no reason for him to take offense.
Your tree and all the trimmings look so festive. Have a wonderful, peaceful and restful holiday.
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Merry Christmas Guylty to you and your family in Guylty Towers (hope you son is OK …. mine is already in the doghouse for steaming into the Christmas drink this morning, hurrumph.) Your message was so cheering and heart-warming. I value our online community and all the fun we have, it bolsters me throughout the year. Thank you for playing such a large part in that. And your calendar is fab and I agree, postcards is a great idea.
Merry Christmas all!
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23 or 24, it’s a tie! I’m torn, actually, as they are all great!
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And it’s not even Saturday, but what a great post to wake up to!
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Merry Christmas dear! And thank you again for all the hassle with the fundraiser, and also for that wonderful and very different advent calendar! All those ads are so well thought-out. Voted in the poll, too, for 23 (couldn’t resist the “offer”), although 22 would have been the obvious choice 😀
I’d support the postcard idea, too, btw.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed your son will be able to join your for the festivities, and that all of you will stay healthy in future as well.
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The North Pole. The double entendres alone are worthy of a vote.
On a related note, I received an early Christmas present today — the 50th birthday refrigerator magnets I purchased during the HoHoHoliday CelebRAtion arrived and they are even more adorable than I remember. I just moved into a new house and these beautiful images will be with me for a lifetime. Thanks again, Guylty, for making them available and getting them posted so quickly. Cheers!
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Happy holidays to you and your family, as well to all Armitage fans.
❤
Thank you again for hosting those incredible auctions. 🙂
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Happy Christmas!!! Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday.
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Merry Christmas, Guylty! And thank you for all you have done this year!
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Happy Christmas! I hope your celebration is wonderful, even if you can’t all be together. Last year, we were unable to have my older son over, which was tough, but we exchanged gifts later.
I had to choose, although it was tough. I answered the poll with 23… very clever. I would like to see one of these on a cushion.
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Your Advent CalendRA is brilliant! I couldn’t choose, although I’m partial to #24 – Lucas will always be synonymous with Belstaff 💕
It is now Christmas morning here. We had hubby’s brother and his family here last night for Christmas Eve, just our family of four and my mum for lunch today, then all my family tomorrow.
Merry Christmas and alll the best for the festive season to you Sonja and everyone here in this lovely corner of the RA community. It’s been a ray of sunshine especially over the past couple of years. I totally agree with your comment about our online friendships and I would’ve been one of those cynical ones years ago! Looking forward to more fun here in 2022 xx
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Happy Christmas to you all! Hope you did manage to be together for Heiligabend I’m the end. Love the tree! It’s been a tough year but grateful for the auctions, lovely all around and helped a great cause. Enjoy the family time and thank you for everything! Xx
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Oh and I love all designs!! Nice to see them all and I can’t choose they each make me smile 😊
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Hope he tested negative!
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My first time at this unique team. I had a great time and it was my honor to be accepted as a member. Looking forward to celebrating his 51st birthday (nine days after my 47th in August 13th). Have fun with your family.
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Merry Christmas x
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Merry Christmas
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I will remember the year 2021 as the year I met my fandom friends. For that I am very grateful.
The idea with postcards is cool. I voted for #21. It’s my favorite, it has a very funny content with all this *long exposures, shooting, blowing up, getting ready to hang* (and the first sentence is also funny and lovely, and you mentioned postcard 😉) and a nice picture. I like very much also #20, 24, 23, 1.
PS. I know it’s not funny at all but your choice of vocabulary with *modus operandi* made me smile.
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Happy Holidays a bit late. I hope your son tested negative and you could spend Christmas all together.
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Happy Christmas Eve !
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