Christmas Roundup

• Having not been violently sick for fifteen years, twice in six months seems a little harsh. I don’t really remember much of the Thursday before Christmas except sitting on a couch with a baby in my arms for most of it…
• I’m never going to consider myself a proper pastry person, but I did manage to come up with and execute a completely different dessert (gingerbread namelaka trees!) in under a day and using only the current content of the pantry. Which wasn’t bad.
• Maeryn needs to calm down and enjoy being able to crawl before trying to walk. Just give us a few weeks, girl!!
• (also, a baby grabbing hold of a walker for the first time is terrifying)
• This may be the first Christmas where I did not watch any TV. Not even The Snowman.
• Was not expecting the remake of the Relax video in Body Double.
• Ricky Gervais getting a kicking for his latest tired scribbles is a long-overdue reckoning. Insert obligatory James Acaster link
• We did not get to see the lights before Cincinnati’s Coney Island closes tonight, so that’s one local attraction (the largest recirculating pool in the world!) that we’ll never see.
• Buying a load of hardback books makes you less popular when other people have to bring them across the Atlantic.
• But there’s always more room in the suitcases!

It’s been a very different year. New job, new life. A lot has changed, and will continue to do so as the years roll on. I’m looking forward to it, even as I wince every time Maeryn slips over. I won’t always be there to catch her, but I’ll do my best to make sure she’s got all the tools for getting herself back up.

Happy New Year, everybody…