The Christmas/Xmas/Hannukah/Saturnalia/BUY OUR STUFF Season

My family are going skiing for a week, getting back Christmas Eve, which is going to be glorious! A week to myself to hang out with the cats.

Aww! Not much of a fan of the fam, Drunka?

Snowballadeer wrote:

Aww!  Not much of a fan of the fam, Drunka?

I left home when I was 19 for a reason, and moving back to save money has been a challenge.
Don't get me wrong, I do love my family but I've always felt a little like the outsider, the bastard. I was the accident when mum was at uni, I was raised more by my grandparents when I was very young and I'm as different a person from my dad as you can get. I got on really well with them when I didn't live with them, and I'm sure we'll have a fantastic relationship when I'm on the other side of the planet. At the moment, though, I never really feel comfortable living in their house and a little time alone will be grand.
I also have a 13 year old sister who is SO LOUD and NEVER STOPS.

I've got my parents coming to visit next weekend, and going away with my wife's side of the family to Devon for 4 nights (23rd-27th). Not been away for Christmas before so it will be interesting - we have all chipped in for some big country house that has a games room Debating whether to bring the PS4 but it might be nice to have a break from gaming for a few days.

Wife might get me a game but I've not asked for anything - getting my eldest Animal Crossing New Leaf as she loves the Wii version and has been addicted to the Pocket Camp one on iPad. Was looking at whether she would be interested in Pokemon yet but I think it's a bit complex - maybe when she's 8 or so.

That is the (dis?)advantage of the Switch: unless there's no power supply, you can bring gaming with you everywhere. I'd definitely bring a machine, extended family (even my own) for four nights sounds tough! But that's just me, and I'm a real introvert.

Drunka: fair enough, obviously it means more to come back to the family than it does to spend time with people you live with. As for your sis, she might grow out of it. Might...

I do appreciate how lucky I am at times like this. Xmas: Mum / Dad / Grandfather / Sister / Brother-in-Law. Only the grandfather has not finished a Zelda game (although my Dad was guided through OoT very slowly by my sister many years ago). I've been trying to load up on multiplayer games recently...

I don't think I'll get any Christmas gaming done, except for the obligatory bash on Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams on the Saturn on Christmas Eve, which takes me two hours to set up and five minutes to complete.

Today we had Christmas Jumper Day at work. It seems to be a nationwide thing, so did anyone else wear a pile of wool over their shivering bodies?

My jumper:

Been wearing mine since November but has to be a George one really.

Nope. I only got told about it yesterday and didn't have a suitable jumper in a wearable condition.

Nah, gutted to say that my office didn't do Christmas Jumper Day. That's a bit mince, as the rest of the organisation seemed to do it - word just didn't get round our way.

I also just found out that I'm back to work on Wednesday 3rd January. That's bent.

Me too, Cappa! The best thing is our last day is the Wednesday, so if we connect everything together, that makes a six-day week!

Got my wife's last few Christmas presents today! I've gone over our agreed budget, but I'm totally sure that she has too.

Oh, and, it seems to have been a national Christmas jumper day yesterday to raise money for Save The Children.

We're wearing Christmas Jumpers every Saturday this month at work, I've worn two, got today off and gonna go out with a bang wearing my Zelda one next week.

In other Christmassy news, I've just attempted to dye my beard white. I'm currently sat on my bed letting it dry in, hoping it'll stay when I wash my face.

EDIT: It did not. When they said temporary hair dye, they meant temporary! My beard was white until I washed my face, but when I did the dye came right off i with it. I guess it makes sense for hair because you can just spray it on without getting it on your skin but its hard to do that with a face.

Drunkalilly wrote:

We're wearing Christmas Jumpers every Saturday this month at work, I've worn two, got today off and gonna go out with a bang wearing my Zelda one next week.

In other Christmassy news, I've just attempted to dye my beard white. I'm currently sat on my bed letting it dry in, hoping it'll stay when I wash my face.

EDIT: It did not. When they said temporary hair dye, they meant temporary! My beard was white until I washed my face, but when I did the dye came right off i with it. I guess it makes sense for hair because you can just spray it on without getting it on your skin but its hard to do that with a face.

People suggest this to me all the time at this time of Year & I usually just laugh it off but if I was tempted I'd want a temp dye too as I couldn't handle a permanent dye even though you can just remove it by shaving.  (being beardless for a month is not fun for me but I could hide from folk I know....Hmmm......     )

Shame that didn't work for you.

Your beard is a little thicker than mine, you might be able to do it without getting it all really obviously all over your skin. That was my problem; I couldn't wash it off my face without washing it off my beard.

If you go permanent, you can just stick with it until an under layer grows out, then trim.

I really should invest in a Nintendo themed Christmas Jumper but I'm too fond of my light up one. Maybe next year, they had some pretty neat ones on the Nintendo Store this year.

If you've got a great Christmas jumper, stick with it! Somebody had a 'Christmas Tree Rex' jumper recently, featuring a confused tyrannosaur in light-up baubles. Have to admit, it put my jumper to shame.

It's just a shame it's considered a bit weird to wear Christmas stuff outside of Christmas time otherwise I'd have a huge collection, T-Rex one included.

TWO DAYS TO GO

Am hyped. Put my presents under the tree, including the GNSS one (which doesn't look like it contains phallic sweeties this year). Am now with the family, in front of a fire, having had a cup of mince pie tea.

Christmas is great isn't it gents?

I concur. Think I've got all the presents now...

I'm just about to wrap up my family's presents now. I searched all over town this afternoon to find a porg to put in my mum's stocking.

On another note: this is my first Christmas in 10 years which I haven't spent working in retail. Its been amazing! Admittedly, I'm now in hospitality and if anything working worse hours, but its so much less miserable and depressing.

I'm delighted for you, Mr. Drunka. I have a feeling next year is going to be a good one, too.

Do they do a lot for Christmas in Japan? Different base religion, but I imagine they're equally enthused by the commercial and family aspects?

There's this, which mentions that the Japanese have KFC at Christmas.

I wanted to post this yesterday