The happy holidays continue

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

The photo above is of the marzipan creation I made for the top of the Yule cake I made for my parents. Actually, I made two—one for them, one for us. Both were loaded with fruit—sultanas and the like, and lemon and orange zest—and an extraordinary amount of honey mead, brandy and even a nip of Jack Daniels. I call this wee old lady, who I made for my parents’ cake only, Granny Frost: note the lovely pillbox hat, and the snazzy handbag!

Did you have a good holiday? I had a really bad cold that hit me Christmas Eve and is still with me today, just a little, although Christmas Day passed in a woozy whirl of medication, food and present-opening. I was so out of it, and not by non-virtue of merriment through booze, that on Boxing Day my beloved had to run through my presents with me again as I’d forgotten a great number of them. I was, after all, dipping in and out of Lemsip Land on the big day itself, with all the little lemons walking around and singing carols… Or maybe I drank one too many Lemsips? You get the picture. There was, I will admit, a hot toddy imbibed at one point during the day. Who’d have thought Jack Daniels could be so legitimised as a cold remedy?

Thankfully I was much more ‘with it’ on Boxing Day.

I love everything I received this year, and love the reactions of others to their gifts even more, which is always the case. My beloved bought me, among many other things, The Matrix trilogy on Blu-Ray, the second X Files movie on Blu-Ray, theatre tickets for the two of us to go see (in an afternoon and evening, about five hours in total) both parts of His Dark Materials, a beautiful new watch, and a little dancing Wall-E that is incredibly cute and can be attached to an iPod or iPhone, allowing him to dance to your favourite tunes. He also responds to your voice, and has a bunch of built-in phrases and musical dance numbers.

I bought for my beloved two prints by the artist Banksy, one of kids raising the flag of Tesco and the other of two coppers locked in an embrace and kiss. I also bought him Kung Fu Panda on Blu-Ray, a bunch of autobiographies (Dawn French, Paul O’Grady, Julie Walters), the Watchmen graphic novel, and Breathe–a signed and numbered hardback novella by his favourite author Christopher Fowler (number 61 of a limited-run of 200). The list ain’t exhaustive but serves to say, hey, yes, we did well. We were very blessed, and reminded of the love in and around us both.

So what did Santa bring you this year?