Ding dong merrily on high!

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Festive Solstice and Happy Hanukah!

I haven't been here to blog as I've been planning world peace, building an ark, fighting crime, learning all about my new job as a Housing Support Worker to women with mental health issues...

I've been a bit busy to be honest.   I'm not sure where the time has gone, but I am cream crackered.   My husband has been practically house-bound for three weeks with a gammy leg and foot; I've had my birthday and celebrated with dinner with some lovely ladies what I know; I've been last-minute Christmas pressie sorting (I got most of my bits and pieces earlier this year for folk, but always save my husband and son to last to buy for, so I can still feel some of the rush and magic of Christmas shopping) - This year I just wanted to cry, though!   And I didn't have dashing Earl Grey (this is his monument in the centre of Newcastle) to wipe my tears...

I felt a bit weepy owing to the fact that it wasn't very pleasant, traipsing through the shops that evening, barging my way away from rude folk who ought to know better and that made me sad, and I was due to go to college for counselling supervision at 8 p.m. and I was dog-tired, and I was also panicking about what I needed to do for my final assessment for my Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling, and fast running out of time...

I've subsequently sort of decided to postpone my last piece of work, which would have been due to be handed in on 7 January, as it'd only be likely to turn me into an English female version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas!   What with the new job starting and everything, I need to be a bit kinder to me, I think.

Said new job is going fine - The service users I'm working with are lovely and interesting women and I feel comfortable working with them, although it's obviously not counselling I'll be doing in this job - That will be my next job, hopefully - Or maybe I'll somehow manage to combine the two - Who knows?!   I don't, for sure.

And so.   Last week at work I decorated a Christmas tree, bundled a wheel-chair user into my car, sniffed a damp hall carpet, patted a dog, chuckled with some grand-babies, and got lost in a massive housing estate - This photo shows just a smidgen of it.   I also found time to get my hair cut as I was starting to look as if I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards.   Voila!

Oops, I forgot you can't see me!

So, my son is home from Uni, I've got a tree to find and decorate, some pressies to sort and wrap, some course-work to complete, some films to watch and the house to clean.   And I'm working Christmas and New Year's eves - Yikes!

Meanwhile in two days off I've done a wash-load for my son, and found that I'd only gone and washed some clean clothes he'd brought home - D'oh!    There are days like these.   And others live in worse states.   As I now know.

Anyhoo, fond blessings to you all.   I'm bound to blog over the Chrimbo, with the onset of rapid cabin fever and so on!

Thank you for entering my giveaway - The two winners are number 1 - The fabulous Mac n' Janet, and number 19 - gorgeous Scriptor Senex , randomly selected by Mr Peg-Leg from the comfort of his sick-bed.

Let me have your postal addresses, peeps, and I'll be sending your sweet little parcels of tat out once the Christmas post starts to behave itself again, I pwomise.

Big hugs to you.   Thanks for visiting and making me love you.

Don't dodge that mistletoe - "It's behind you" - Come 'ere!  

Mwah!

Love and Lights, Camera, Action!

I've come down with a bug, which may (or may not) have been very responsible for my 'stuckness' the other day here in Blogworld.

It's a right royal 'mare, as I was starting to feel very Christmassy.   For the first time in years, really.   And I do confess to loving Christmas for its hope, its magic and its sparkle

The deaths of my Mutti and Dad.   The loss of my Uncle.   All the shit stuff that had happened to me and my colleagues in the workplace.   The endless shift and shuffle to try to find work.   Being in therapy and over-thinking everything!

So today, when I have half risen from my fetid pit, I feel up to exploring my 10 favourite seasonal films, designed to fill us all with magic at this (or any) time of year...

Come on in, put your feet up!   I know you've been very busy lately...    There'll be time to drag the Yule Log in later, I pwomise.

Number 1:   Practical Magic - A favourite pick-me-up at any time of year - Not especially Christmassy, but it does contain many doses of magic - Not for the faint hearted or tiny children, contains some witchery and scary scenes/references to murder and death.   But the house is soooo beautiful!

Number 2:   While You Were Sleeping - Again, one of my favourite actresses, Sandra Bullock, plays the lead in this lovely little romantic comedy, with Bill Pullman (grrrooowwwwlllll) as the 'hero'.   Sad and lonely train ticket-seller, Lucy, saves the life of the glamorous man she's been obsessing about, but doesn't know...   She is taken to be his fiancee and warmly accepted into the bosom of his large and loving family while he lies in a coma.   (It's really not as dark as it sounds!)      As she falls into love with his family, she runs the risk of losing them if she is forced to tell the truth.   But his brother is on her trail...

Number 3:   Mousehunt - What's not to tell?!   These are just about my favourite films, right, so I'm bound to say that this features more of my favourite comedians and actors - This time, Brit Lee Evans, fabulous Nathan Lane and mad as a box of frogs, Christopher Walken.   This is a family movie about brothers who inherit a beautiful but decrepit old house that has a previous tenant - A tenacious mouse.   The story unfolds as they try to rid the house of the mouse...   Mr Walken is the scary rodent exterminator - If you've not seen their comic turns before, this is a real Christmas treat.   Favourite line, when they go to Rescue to try to get hold of a vicious cat as mouser, the attendant says about this CGI cat in a box:

"Funny you should ask. I had all but given up on anyone wanting him.   We were about 

to gas him again"

Nathan says, "Again?"

Number 4:   Millions - My earlier review of this wonderful sentimental, crazy-beautiful film by Danny Boyle is here CLICKIE   Danny is going to be involved with the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony from Great Britain - Can't wait!

Number 5:   National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - Christmas wouldn't be Christmas in the Fhina household without the Family Griswold.   Griswold is what we seasonally call Grizz!   This film may be bad but it is good for a laugh - Say no more!

Number 6:    Scrooged - Mad, bad and dangerous to know, Bill Murray is in full flow in this cracker of a bitter-sweet/light/dark movie.   Following the original story of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Murray is taken through the car-crash of his life to discover the true meaning of Christmas.   There's a wonderfully mad cameo by Carol Kane, and sometimes I feel a little 'stabby' myself:



Stay for the credits, and this sweetie:



Number 7:   About A Boy - Based on a best-selling book by Nick Hornby, while perhaps not a typically touching Christmas epic, you can't fail to be moved by this movie and its glittering soundtrack - Hugh Grant 'phones in an archetypal performance as a lazy and cynical trustafarian, earning an easy living from his grandfather's holiday jingle and passing himself off as a single parent, so as to more easily trap single Mums - He is thrown together with the brilliant Nicholas Hoult, a twelve year old boy with a chronically depressed and suicidal mother, who is struggling to cope and trying to work out what it means to fit in...   Or not.   Together, they learn some valuable life lessons and find themselves.

Number 8:   Comfort and Joy - Director, Bill Forsyth, is one of my home-spun favourites and here he manages an intimate and amusing portrayal of familial ties and rivalries:   I love Scottish actor, Bill Paterson, playing radio host, Alan 'Dickie' Bird, who finds himself embroiled in Italian ice-cream van wars in Glasgow.  

Number 9:   The Holiday - I only discovered this little gem last year and I didn't want to enjoy it, but I got sucked right in!   I also don't usually like Jude Law, but he is bearable in this film, featuring one of my favourite actresses, Kate Winslet.   An English girl and an American media mogul swap houses for the holidays to get away from their tangled love lives, and instead get embroiled in each other's lives, and find new love...  
 
I want to live in the English cottage that Cameron Diaz comes to live in - Don't you?

Number 10:   Your Choice?    Please let me know in the comments...   Yes, I know I've not included some real stars, such as It's A Wonderful Life - Confession Time, again - I've never seen it!   But I'm interested in your favourites, I am!

Have a Wonderful Yule Celebration, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukkah and have fabulous holidays, everyone - May I wish for you this season, all that you could possibly wish for yourself, and most of all - Joy and peace - Mwah! - Gotcha!      xxx