Today I take down Christmas, in the form of the humongous tree that we have in the livng room, pack it up and ship it up to the attic. While I procrastinate doing this, I shall reflect on what an AWESOME festive season I’ve had. This was due to the fact I’ve focused on my family, which is something I’ve got increasingly into over the last six months.
Center Parcs
Was the start of my christmas. We went to Whinfell Forest in the Lake District, and the drive was much easier on Rach that the one to Sherwood. I also got to see the mountains covered by snow (we went just after the snowy spell in the second week of Dec) which was the win. We had a nice relaxing time, despite all coming down with a vomiting stomach bug for a couple of days at the start of the holiday. The session at the Aqua Sana with Rach takign in every type of steam bath/sauna known to man was a highlight of the week,as it was at Sherwood back in Jan but also letting Eve lose in big badminiton court that had been given over to the tots to play in with various soft toys and wheeled contraptions was way cool. The whole Santa’s Grotto thing they had going struck me as a bit naff, but it wasn’t aimed at me. Although saying this Eve cried when she met Santa! Apparently all the under 3s do this. We had such a good time that we are booked in again same time next year.
Works do
After CP had a week at work, and since it was the last week before the University closed it was very slow and laid back. On the Wednesday we took the afternoon off and went to Shimla Pinks for a great curry. I got stuck at the end of the table with the Team Leaders and our Uber Boss which was actually quite groovy. Quick pint at a city centre pub and then to home.
Xmas day
Our Christmas was delayed since Rach was working a late (1-9pm) the big day itself, so we had it on Boxing Day. Much more laid back than last year, which was the first time we did the big family Xmas, since everyone, both kitchen and front of house, knew what they were doing. Still monsterous amounts of presents, which is what you get when you have six adults and one very small child 
My favourite present was the Monkey cup my brother bought me
New years
Another quiet one and I must admit my wild rock and roll antics are now behind me. I’ve not bothered to make any resolutions, since i’ve got an ongoing set of goals I made back in November some of which have already been achived, but I took time out to reflect on how much I enjoy my family life these days, and don’t need other distractions to feel fullfiled. A clean house and gardening is the new going out 
TV
Not been much on TV this Chrimbo that’s rocked me (although Tikiabilla and In the Night Garden remain complusive viewing for Evie). Enjoyed catching bis of World’s Strongest Man and seeing Mariusz Pudzianowski win his fifth title in a row by a stone in the last event.
Also the Jonathan Creek one off special was a spendid return to form (I found the last series a bit ropey). A geniunely creepy tale, with some appropraite comedy moments to break up the tension. I also realised in this time of people going on about the new Dr Who is that Jonathan Creek fills that niche for me (obviously without Cybermen/Darleks) and throws a bit of Miss Marple/Tales of the Unexpected into the mix.
PC games
Fallout 3 has been the win this Christmas, especially when Rach was on nights. Somebody hit the nail on the head when they said that a game like this only comes around once in a while and you’ld be a fool not to grab a copy. Best computer rpg since Deus Ex, with an enormous sandbox of a game world. I’m usually a FPS twitch gamer, but this game catters to me as well as bringing out my fiddly RPG tendencies. I blasted my way through the main story line in about 14 hours, with four of those hours being spent on one of the sidequests. Initially a bit let down by the ending, which on reflection makes narrative sense but I like to Win when I complete a game. Sidequests are were the game really shines, so I’ve reverted to a much earlier save to play the game again taking in the various sidequests, which are quite meaty in themselves. Without doing these interspersed with progressed on the main quest , you miss out so much of the game environment. Karma system is cool too. If you act good , good npcs will react positively while evil characters either blank you (I had one NPC mercenary refuse to be my follower since I was too much of a goody two shoes) or try to kill you (damn those sexless Talon Mercs!). Act bad and you lose Karma and the balance swings the other way. Again this ramps up the replay value. Overall an ace game well worth getting and losing many hours of your life.
RPG
Took a break from doing pretty much all RPG stuff. Spending time with the family and chilling out was more important. HiG is done however and I’ve started putting the final draft of SimpleQuest together. More action on this front when my ‘work head’ is back on. In the future I’ll never say that I’ll complete anything over Xmas.
Jane Williams
Wow! That certainly looks like it'll be worth
