(courtesy IMDb (c) Stan) One of the great constants of many a Christmas celebration is spending time with family. Many are joyful, quite a few not so much and a fair few others are fraught in one way or another with everyone forced together in a hothouse celebratory fashion that Continue Reading
Christmas 2023
On 9th day of Christmas … I watched A Storm for Christmas
(courtesy IMDb (c) Netflix) Finding the perfect anything in a very imperfect world is a challenge at the best of times, but even more so at Christmas, ironically because it’s at this time of year, when people yearn the most for this flawlessly elusive state, that they seem to miss Continue Reading
Festive book review: The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews
(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) Is it possible to successfully manage a new start in life when the halls aren’t decked, the world is not being joy-ed and a man in a red suit isn’t acting all merry and bright? Likely, yes, but honestly why would you want to when Christmas Continue Reading
On 8th day of Christmas … I watched DC’s Merry Little Batman
(courtesy IMDb (c) Prime Video) You have to hand it to anyone who looks at a venerable piece of pop culture property, in this Batman who is 84 years young, and thinks there must a way to bring some new life to it. It’s a brave thing to do because Continue Reading
Hello tinsel-tinged nostalgia: The lost 1980s Christmas specials
(courtesy Laughing Squid) Christmas used to be defined by the specials that aired on Network TV. While videos were a thing, it wasn’t yet common in the Eighties for people to routinely have the movies and TV shows they loved on the shelf to watch whenever they wanted, and so Continue Reading
On 7th day of Christmas … I read Along Came Holly (Mistletoe Romance #3) by Codi Hall
(courtesy Sourcebooks Casablanca) Writing about people falling love, especially at Christmas, purported to be the most romantic time of the year (and honestly it sure feels like that, even in an Australian summer), is quite possibly one of the easiest things to do in the world. Throw in some cute Continue Reading
On 6th day of Christmas … I put 15 more pop culture ornaments on my tree incl. ABBA, Parks and Recreation, Ziggy and Goofy
(via Shutterstock) What, what, you say, you have yet more ornaments to place upon the tree? Why yes, yes I do; every year I tell myself I’ll stick to 9 or 10 new ones, just the best of the best and yet every year, 50 to 60, sometimes more make Continue Reading
Book review: The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
(courtesy Allen & Unwin) Christmas is supposed to be all merry and bright and wondrously lovely, escapistly free from the nastiness and brutishness of the rest of the year. Well, that’s the general, tinsel on the tree and deck the hall view of the season anyway. But in Janice Hallett’s Continue Reading
On 5th day of Christmas … I listened to A Christmas Album by Matthew Ifield
(courtesy EMI Australia) Hailing from Sydney, Australia, Matthew Ifield is an up-and-coming 18-year-old singer who has the gloriously lovely voice of an old soul. He brings his nuanced and warmly emotive vocals to full winning effect on A Christmas Album which comes the singer fervent love of the season. I Continue Reading
Festive movie review: Christmas as Usual (Så Var Det Jul Igjen)
(courtesy IMDb (c) Netflix)) Love conquers everything, right? Throw a difficulty at it, an obstacle, a threat or a challenge and it simply laughs in dismissive regard and plows on its merry rose-covered, starry-eyed, warm and fuzzy way. That’s what we’re sold, anyway and it’s what initially seems to be Continue Reading