Merry Christmas 2017!

Merry Christmas everyone! I usually wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning, but I actually had a bit of a lie-in this morning, waking up at a more respectable hour. After a lovely gammon breakfast I even went to church for a morning Christmas mass with my Grandparents for the first time, that was certainly a bit different for me. Glad I did it, but I'm not sure I'd go again in future years, I was just eager to get home and spend the morning with Louis and my parents.

Once we returned though we hit up the classic Christmas turkey dinner (first turkey dinner of the season) and then moved onto the presents. I mostly got graphic novels and cash this year, both were very welcome, I also got a new jumper which I'm sure I'll be sporting in 2018. After all the traditions and food, the family were content to warm themselves by the fire and just chill out. Here's my favourite shot of the day, don't be surprised if it looked anything like your Christmas Day.

This also marks the end for my 'Quest for Christmas.' I consider the experience to be a relative success. I felt a bit more Christmassy in the overall run-up to the big day moreso than other years

That said though, I have two real take-aways from the quest:


1. A Christmas Carol actually turned out to be a lot more important to my own personal build up to Christmas than  had originally expected. In recent years though, I thought I knew the story well enough to sack it off for a bit, I watch The Muppets version so many times growing up I thought I had outgrown it a bit, but it's message resonated with me greatly upon actually reading it.

I ended up reading the book, watching the Mickey Mouse AND the Muppet rendition of the story. I should be Dickens'ed out, but everytime I engaged with it I ended up enjoying it more. It helped me tap into my youthful Christmas nostalgia and melt away the cold shoulder I have metaphorically been giving Christmas in past years.

2. Family is king. I know that is totally obvious and a bit cheesy sounding, but anytime I was visiting home, or was amoung family during December I felt much most festive. Being with Mum, Dad, Louis and my Grandparents is what Christmas is all about. They are the people I wake up for on Christmas morning and the people that make Christmas Christmas.

With both those things in mind, I'd like to close Christmas by quoting Tiny Tim alongside a photo of my favourite rendition of him:

'May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!'