as i sat in my office researching what precautions the gallery took during world war II to protect the building and collections for a new learning session next year, i'm struck by sadness. i listen to bbc radio 4 all day when i'm here on my own and today all the news is about continued air strikes in gaza.

at a time of year when peace is the message we constantly hear, why, only two days after christmas (and yes, i know that neither of the religions recognise jesus as christ the saviour), have there been more casualities the palestinian territories since israel's last occupation of the territory in 1967?

i know it's incredibly complex and i'm not pretending to know what the solution is or who is wholly right or wrong (i don't anyone is in this case), but it makes me sad that a message of peace and goodwill to all can so quickly be forgotten.

i'm in the wrong business

so, a few weeks ago they did this feature in one of the weekend magazines about the best cheeses to get for christmas. i was really, really excited when i saw that one of them was gould's farmhouse cheddar that i could buy at my local marks and spencer! now, i don't ever buy cheese any more, but it's christmas and i have to be connected with this chees *somehow.*

anyway, it was a whopping £6.49 for one block of cheese so i'm thinking of driving out to the farm in somerset and getting them to take me on as a farmhand.

all things christmas

this is our lovely christmas house. i spent hours cutting out paper snowflakes the day i was off sick from work with my still never-ending cold. the icicle lights were hung twice because davoud didn't listen to me. but if you ask both of us about that story you'll get two very different versions...

and of course, our wee christmas tree. it's decorated mostly with knitted ornaments my grandma goodwin made and gave to me a couple of years ago. but there are a few other special ones too. the 'canadian, eh?' moose i think my mum and ron sent over the first christmas i was here, and the moose and penguin at the top of the tree commemorating last christmas when we were home in canada. i also made our little angel at the top last year out of a piece of cream coloured card and a gold pen. pretty talented, eh?

next year i envision a tree that hits the ceiling.

val, paul and rich were over for 'christmas' dinner last night. i made a traditional quebec christmas eve dish, reveillion tortiere, which is probably davoud's favourite meal ever. it only gets made at christmas and for his birthday because it involves pastry so therefore isn't very healthy! anyway, that's what christmas is all about: food, family and drink.

i'm off work tomorrow until saturday, so let the food and drink part of the festive season commence!

seamus christopher cranie

poppa pete and baby seamus (pronounced 'shamus'...and spelled that way too according to pete's niece)

i was lucky enough to be able to visit seamus christopher cranie, the newest addition to the circle of friends in liverpool, on friday afternoon. val picked me up early from work and we went to see the proud parents harriet and pete. they looked suprisingly rested and well adjusted...i'd be freaking if i had to look after something that small...like...forever.

momma harriet and well fed seamus

auntie val screaming louder than seamus. don't drop 'em!

nostalgia two - last christmas

it was a year ago today that davoud and i went home to canada for christmas. we were somewhere over the atlantic by this point i'm sure! i remember the night before we left i slept for about two hours and got up at 6 am because i was so excited. we flew home with val too, which was good fun.

anyway, i was just thinking about that as i read the cbc news story about the massive snowfall taking place in southern ontario and thinking 'man, i'm glad that didn't happen last year.' as much as i love the snow, it does create travel chaos.

nostalgia

last night i was thinking back to christmases past.

i was trying to remember the last 'kids' christmas i had. the christmases before my brother went to university when we would all stumble downstairs in the morning for breakfast - cinnamon buns and mandarins of course - and then go into the family room where a roaring fire and a tree load of presents would be waiting for us. stockings were always, always first. we even had stockings that i had made for the dog and cat. there would always be one final present that was extra special and i'll forever remember the year it was a computer. back when old desktops were cool and frogger was in vogue. grandma and grandad would be there for christmas dinner, inevitably arriving an hour later than we expected them.

and that was just the start.

there would be at least two days of christmases to follow where we would go stay with my dad and stepmum, see karen and wendy (and whoever they were dating at the time ;), grandma and grandpa, and any other relatives that happened to be around.

i guess i started thinking about all this because i was trying to feel festive. it just hasn't happened yet this year even though i've watched a couple films, made loads of crafts, starting the baking, put up the tree, and made paper snowflakes for the windows.

so today when i got home from work i put on the christmas carols whilst doing the baking and that seems to have done the trick. this year will be so very different from last when davoud and i were in canada with loads of snow and all the family. there will be no bbqs blowing over in the wind, no tobogganing or mad unwrapping of presents by nieces and nephews, but i suppose it's time to start with new traditions too. i just have to come up with a couple.