It's become a kind of informal tradition with me and my friends, over the past couple of years, to have our own little Christmas together before going home. Since we're all at university, the likeliness is we won't see each other until the New Year, so we like to have a good old knees up!
Last year, we all huddled into our little Student Halls kitchen, trying not to bash each other's knees too much as we had at the turkey and the presents...
But this year, we're almost-but-not-really grown ups, and we all gathered in my flat for the feast. My boyfriend and I had planned it for weeks, bought in the food and wrapped the presents. This was the first time that I had ever even attempted cooking a Christmas dinner, so I wouldn't be surprised if everyone was a little nervous.
Everything was from frozen, most of it was cooked at the wrong temperature, and you know what? It tasted great. We all sat with food in our laps, and while I cooled off from the heat of the kitchen, we all had a great laugh.
So I'm going to take a minute to say thank you to everyone who came and made it such a great night. Thank you for all the lovely presents, and your company was a treat.
Merry Christmas (round one)!
Today, like many people across the UK, I'd imagine, I went to go see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". And like many people, I'd imagine, I was quite nervous about entering the theatre.
Have a look at the trailer here!
The book is definitely one of my favourites, and with how many films turn out to be shoddy imitations, I knew that I didn't want my beloved Bilbo to fall into the ranks of Edward Cullen or Eragon...
I had my Monster Munch crisps. I had Galaxy chocolate. I had Cherry Tango. But even they couldn't ease the tension that built when the lights went down.
But I needn't have worried. From the very beginning, The Hobbit blew me away.
Acting? Brilliant.
Soundtrack? Superb.
Special effects? Amazing.
It scores ten out of ten on every level.
To be honest, I came out of the cinema and a part of me really wanted to go back in and watch the whole thing all over again.
And I probably would have, if not for the crazy queue waiting for the next screening. I'm all for fan-girling over a movie, but dwarf beards, wizard hats, elf ears and hobbit feet are a bit far...
So tonight I can curl up with the last of the Christmas presents I need to wrap, maybe a small tipple, and relive what I'd be tempted to call the best film of the year, followed closely by Skyfall.
Have you seen The Hobbit yet? Was it your 2012 film highlight?
With two weeks until Christmas, I think I could be forgiven for getting all excited about getting the family together for a good old knees up. Hopefully the past few weeks of stressing, spending and stressing some more will be worth it.
But while I was on the magical internet, I found a story that made me grin a little. Normally seeing outrageous amounts of Christmas lights makes me shudder - just think about the wasted money and noxious gases filling the atmosphere... And when I say outrageous, I don't mean people who put up the occasional decoration, I'm talking about houses like this...
It's just not something I've ever understood. I didn't understand the appeal of smothering your house in what should be on your tree. But then I heard about the Richards Family all the way over in Canberra, Australia. Have a look at the story below:
The Richards Family
They set the World Record for the most Christmas lights on their house. I got halfway through this article and started sighing to myself "WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING?".
Here's the numbers: 331,038 lights; 97,211 feet of LED strings; 15,000 cable ties; and a 59-foot tree.
But I'm incredibly glad that I read on. It turns out that the aim of this family is not only to put "a smile on people's faces", but to raise money for a charity that's goal is to save the lives of babies by eliminating complications in birth and help families through the loss of losing a baby.
Needless to say that when I think about what I thought when I read about the Richards' at first, I feel like a noob.
I reckon there are still probably a great deal of people who believe fairy lights across their roof will somehow make them better than their neighbours (there's always one). But maybe there are genuinely people out there who put up their lights to make other people happy?
Maybe I'll even put up a token string of lights this year?
Leave a comment. Are you a Christmas light enthusiast?
Whilst trawling Youtube today, instead of doing the millions of other things I should probably do, I came across a video that made me so mad that I finally got around to making a blog. Here's the link, so maybe you can get an idea of why it got to me so much.
Westboro Baptist Church on The Tyra Banks Show
In short, Shirley Phelps, a member of Westboro Baptist Church, Kansas, Texas, believes that all people who are gay, or support the rights of gay people are sinners and will burn in Hell. She goes further, saying that 9/11 was an act of God, punishing America for their 'gay ways'.
Now, I could go on to say really horrible things about this woman (stuck in the past, bigot, etc.) but I think my time would be better spent on other things - like saying that there is nothing wrong with being gay. Nothing at all. Sometimes the Bible's messages are used to justify hatred like this and while I'm not a Christian myself, I know that one of the central messages of it all is love. Love your neighbour, love the people that wrong you, forgive, and don't judge others - let God do the judging.
Which part of all of those messages says that it's alright to judge gay people who obviously love each other enough to stand up against so much controversy to be together?
It's my opinion that love as vast and as strong as that should only be admired.
Jeremy Kyle concurs:
Westboro Baptist Church on The Jeremy Kyle Show
Leave a comment below letting me know what your thoughts are? Do you believe that being gay is wrong?
