… or at least, to playing it against the computer. I’ve only ever played the board game version a few times (the Star Wars version at that) and it definitely goes a lot more quickly on the computer, plus the game options make it easier to see what’s going on.

I’ve won a fair few times, but the beauty is that I can just keep upping the difficulty for myself.

I’m sure I’ll get bored in a few days though. Hopefully.

Also today, I am mostly … enjoying the Amazon-bought bounty

… that was delivered today. We received a box of belated Christmas presents - to ourselves, and paid for by a voucher from my family - so I have a whole stack of books to work my way through in the next few days. Bliss!

And I’ll be reviewing at least one over on Sharp Words - Ken Armstrong and I are going to tackle another collaborative review like the one we did for The Book Thief. This time, it will be Neil Gaiman’s latest, The Graveyard Book, which we both had for Christmas.

… after my five-day Christmas break. It’s pretty quiet in the office today (well, it’s always fairly quiet) since a fair number of people are off for the whole Christmas & New Year period. I can’t complain too much - I had to work today and then for a half-day tomorrow, and then I’m off again till next Monday (so another five-day break).

After being pretty busy in the run-up to Christmas, it ended up as a quiet one. We don’t have that many Christmas rituals, really - my own ones include getting up hours before Colin does and staring at the presents, plus phoning my Gran and parents - but the ones we do have, such as opening one present each just after midnight on Christmas Eve, happened as normal. And there was the usual eating and drinking, of course. We had Christmas dinner itself at Colin’s mum’s - just the three of us - with lamb, not turkey. I have to curry up the last of it tonight.

We did give the lamb leg bone to the dog we’re looking after for a month, but he got mugged by one of the neighbourhood dogs about an hour later, and was left with just a few bits. Poor pooch. He’s settled in alright to our household in the 10 days we’ve had him, anyway. He doesn’t much like being tied outside, even with a nice kennel to sleep in, but since our garden isn’t fully fenced and we don’t have a run for him, there’s not much alternative. He gets to spend plenty of time sleeping in the house and gets at least one walk every day. And he’s very good with cats, which means that three-quarters of ours have relaxed around him (the other one’s still pretty skittish).

All in all, it’s been a lazy few days since I finished up work last Tuesday. I’ve eaten too many sweets, drunk too much wine, watched a lot of films (including, finally, Casino Royale, Wall-E and Howl’s Moving Castle), had some long relaxing baths, and slept late every day… I’ve also been for a walk pretty much every day, tidied the house, and cooked some good meals. And Colin took me out for dinner last night, just up to the Fir Trees, which was enjoyable and much appreciated.

I have no significant plans though either for New Year’s Eve or for next year. I’m sure I’ll end up making a handful of resolutions by Thursday morning, but who knows how many I’ll keep? (On usual form, the answer is none.) I’m just happy to keep muddling through for now while watching my finances and my weight/health - which really are the important things at the moment.

… except I don’t have any holly, so it’s just with tinsel and lights and random ornaments and hanging things. And I put up the tree (a 6 foot artificial one) and decorated that, which took me a lot less time than usual - or so it seemed. Perhaps it was because I’d organised my decorations into different boxes depending on size when I put them away last year.

I have my little rituals for putting up the Christmas decorations though. I like to do it after dark (which at this time of year realistically means any time after about 3:30pm); I always put on a CD of carols or Christmas songs while I do it; and Colin isn’t allowed to give me any help except in putting the lights up - and I didn’t even need that much this year (and he was out anyway).

And I usually put the decorations up around about two weekends before Christmas, never before that, unlike my neighbours - some of whom had giant plastic snowmen outside their house before it was even December. ARGH!

I’m excited about Christmas this year, though I’m not sure why - I don’t have that much time off, and I don’t have anything in particular planned. I think it’s just because I’ve already got all my shopping done and presents wrapped, and most of my cards written and sent as well. And there have been various Christmassy things on TV as well, such as the X Factor final. Although I am getting fed up of the various Christmas adverts… oh well, I can’t have everything.

… and most of that, online. I <3 Amazon and other such delightful places to buy gifts.

It hasn’t helped that I haven’t really had much of a list in mind this year. Browsing is a lot easier in real shops than online, that’s for sure. But apart from a few wee things for a few odd people, I seem to have got everything I wanted (or have it on order or planned). And there’s still another two weeks to go. Yay me?

Of course, I need to spend the rest of this evening hurriedly writing Christmas cards for foreign climes, because the last posting date for the US is this Wednesday (I already missed Australia, but I don’t think I had any planned for there this year). I also need to hunt down my address book - I’m fairly sure where it is - and make sure that I have correct addresses in it - I’m fairly sure that some aren’t, in which case those people won’t be getting cards. :(

I won’t be having as much time off at Christmas and New Year as I generally like, alas - partly because of the holiday allowance where I work and partly because I used up a large lump of my allowance back in September. I can’t manage my usual pre-Christmas trip home to Wales this year either, which is a big big shame - my oldest friend had a baby a couple of weeks ago and I would have been able to meet up with her and see her new daughter. I’ll have to wait though.

Also today, I am mostly … wondering where the year went

… in a manner that gives me a serious case of déja vu. I seem to always wonder that about this time of year. There has been a lot going on this year, of course, especially in the last six weeks or so - November flew, as it always does with NaNoWriMo. And although I’m very proud of myself for writing not just 50,000, but over 70,000 words this year, I’m always worried about what I might have missed.

Not a lot, probably. I hope. I really do need to post more often though, for my own personal reasons.

… by reaching my 50,000 words eight whole days early. This is earlier than I have ever managed before (I’m usually desperately writing away at 10pm on Nov 30th). I’m feeling smugly pleased, and also wondering what the hell I’ve been doing right and can I duplicate it with other bits of writing which will probably be more worthwhile (i.e. publishable)?

Sadly, Wales lost to New Zealand at rugby though, so my day wasn’t a total success. Not that I had anything to do with that outcome.

Where the hell has November gone though?! One moment I was gearing up for NaNoWriMo; the next, it’s nearly over. And there are only five weeks or so till Christmas and I am not in the least bit organised. Argh.

… and more specifically, if I could have been any meaner to my cats last Saturday night?

No animals were harmed in the making of these photos. (It’s amazing what a good sleep and some catnip will let me get away with.)