Novel Preview part 2

I already shared the first two chapters (which you can read here if you haven't) and here are the next two:

Story after the jump

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the Night Before Christmas - Introverted Style

Twas the night before Christmas, fire on the yule log
Not a creature was stirring, except for the dog.
The stockings were left by the chimney alone,
In hopes that a mouse would not call them home.

The tv was cooling its power just undone,

From visions of alien ufo's and other reruns.
And me in my toe socks, covered in little sheep,
Gave up and decided to head to sleep

When out on the road there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tripped over the dog and gave my leg a gash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.

I limped to the window and what did I see,

A strange old man with a sack full of trees.

He looked out of his mind and covered in puke
I knew in a moment it must be some kook

Out of his mind his belches rattled his frame,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called out by name!

"Now Thrasher! now, Lancer! now, Rankor and Licksen!
On, Vomit! On, Stupid! on, on Dumbass and Nixon!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As drunks who have focus a ladder he raised, 
His hair was matted and his eyes were crazed.
So up to the house-top the coursers they climbed,
I'd say something here but nothing rhymed.

And then, in a thud, I heard on the roof

At the man tripping, my dog gave a woof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney the transient came with a bound.

He was dressed all in spandex, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of cans he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his breath like a brewery!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard full of food was best to forgo.

The stump of a bottle he held tight in his teeth,
As most of the booze dribbled out beneath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he stumbled, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right frightening old elf,
And I screamed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had everything to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And swiped all the liquor, what a big jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He slipped off the roof, to his friends gave a whistle,
And away he flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, we're gettin' hammered tonight!"

Cooking Show - Cranberries

When the mood strikes I'll pull out my whisk, a few bowls, my laptop and live tweet a recipe or two. This was provided a bit of entertainment for those online as I never have anything work out right and tend to set things on fire.

As my husband and I have decided to plan and create both Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner on our own I thought I'd try kicking it up a notch and film scenes of me creating all the holiday bits.

Here is the first dedicated to that necessary and far easiest side dish - the cranberry (with a special guest star Essie):

Santa Paws

In an attempt to outsmart fate who has decided to ruin every single holiday since last christmas when we were stranded for 5 days with two feet of snow on baby Jesus birthday-eve this year my husband and I decided to head to my parents a week early and get it all done and over with.

Because of that it feels to us as though Christmas is done and over with and all ready to be packed away for the next year (it certainly didn't help that when we were out shopping last night we honest to god saw Valentine's Day candy out!). I think I forgot to reset my time traveling calendar and it jumped a week ahead again.

This year for some reason my parents got/had to play as Santa and Mrs Claus (who we really should come up with a first name for, hell all the damn reindeer get a name but not his wife?) for Sears. Which meant we had an in for Essie to pose with Santa.

At first she wasn't so sure of that idea:

Then she got on Santa's lap and told him all the things she wanted for Christmas:

And gave him a kiss before leaving:

Oh and she got to play really hard with her brothers for a few days:

And once we got her back home she got to play with her new toy, the potato (which lasted all of 5 minutes)

 

Merry Christmas, or belated Merry Christmas or early Merry Christmas, eh screw this.

Seasons Greetings!

Canvas Gigantis v 2.0

It's done! (Clicking on it should show the larger image).

I also got my hands on some animation software. There's a bit of a learning curve so I haven't made anything too amazing but here are three fun videos:







Hopefully, in a years time, I'll have something really great to project out of our window for Christmas.