I’ve got two Christmas lists this year – one for presents, one for food. While the presents have almost all been bought, wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree, I haven’t even started my food list because I’ve been putting it off. I decided today, before heading into work, was the best time to finally knuckle down and figure out what I’m cooking this year because, before you know it, it’s the final weekend before Christmas and I’d rather chew off my own arm than battle the crowds at the supermarket.

This year, Christmas day will be different. Normally we host Christmas day at our house, but this year, Phill and I are juggling three families on the day – mine, his and my sister’s new husband’s. We’ve been double-booked for Christmas lunch, so we’re going to start out at one for a couple hours, then head to the other. It’s rather exciting actually because we’ve never had Christmas with more than one family, so it’s going to be a very Christmassy day! Plus, I won’t have to cook!

So, here’s the cooking plan. I figure I’m off the hook for Christmas day, so my main cooking days will be Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. Christmas Eve I’m going to have lasagna because, well it’s delicious and there will be left overs for Christmas day in case anyone is still hungry after lunch (I doubt it). For Boxing Day … I think it’s going to be turducken. Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? This year I left the “meat” decision up to Phill, and of course he wants something stuffed inside something else stuffed inside something else. Apparently he knows where to find one, so we’re having turducken on Boxing Day, with mashed potato and the usual green vegetables.

Now I’ve got to write a shopping list to buy all non-perishable food before the weekend (I’m thinking of heading to the shops on Friday – my day off). No matter how well you plan, you always seem to end up at the shops a couple days before Christmas, to buy the food that goes off if you buy it too early (dammit) and to get the stuff you’ve forgotten (of course!).

Mum and Dad are planning to get here on Monday. Mum had an eye operation last week and is going to be fragile over Christmas, so I’m planning carefully to ensure the house is clean and comfortable and pleasant, and the food and drink is plentiful and delicious, since there’s a good chance we’ll be spending most of our time at home (thank goodness we have air conditioning!)

Okay, enough yapping! I’m going to start writing this list.

What are you having for Christmas dinner?

Our Christmas tree usually goes up on December 1st, but this year it went up on the 3rd. The December 1st thing sticks in my mind as a childhood memory because, since my birthday is December 17th, my family used to always ask me permission to put the tree up on the 1st, so it wasn’t like they were forgetting that my birthday was before Christmas. Of course, I would always say yes! I love having the Christmas tree up – it’s just so festive and bright. I turn the lights on when I am at home during the day and love looking at it, thinking about Christmas and family and turkey. It brightens up my day – especially when I’m at home, sick, like today.

Isn’t it pretty? There’s presents under it already! That’s the icing on the cake – there’s got to be a few presents under there for people to prod and shake and hold up to their ear. There’s some crackers on the tree from a couple years ago and normally we hang candy canes too, but this year we’re trying to be healthier and, since we always end up eating them all, we decided against it. Phill’s Homer Simpson stocking is hanging on the wall (the front has fallen forward so you can’t see Homer’s head) and mine (not Simpsons-related) is on the other side, behind the tree. Yes, Santa still visits us!

The star is a little wonky – I didn’t notice that until this photo.

To make room for the tree, Puddy’s scratching post and bit of carpet had to be moved to one side. Puddy didn’t seem to mind; in fact, she’s loving being able to wiggle-wiggle behind the tree then dart under it (over the presents!) to pounce on her carpet. Every time she does it, Phill and I think she’s going to knock all the presents around, but she never touches them. That’s skill.

She spends a lot of her time sitting on the carpet patch, I guess because it’s close to the door, so there’s a nice breeze and it’s within reaching distance of the scratching post. My cat is so lazy she doesn’t want to get up to use it!

Evidence:

She is rather amusing to watch in between coughing fits and blowing my nose. It’s a hot day today so I’m keeping her inside, since a black cat being outside in the blaring sun isn’t a good idea. The air conditioning isn’t on yet … but it’s a possibility if it gets any hotter. I try not to turn it on to conserve electricity, but it gets to a point where you are sweating on the couch and it seems ridiculous to have air con and not use it, don’t you agree?

Anyway, is your Christmas tree up yet? I’ve seen some blog posts with photos of Christmas trees and it’s so interesting to see how everyone decorates theirs differently and whether or not it’s real or fake. Mine is fake, as is the norm in Australia, but I would love to experience the smell of a fresh Christmas tree one year. I’ve heard it’s quite pretty.

What’s yours like?

[May be some mild spoilers]

On Monday I finally went with a friend to see New Moon. I wanted to go after the screaming hordes of teenage girls had been, so we waited a couple weeks after it was released. By the time we went, the cinema was mostly empty and, apart from some giggling and whispering during the previews, we were able to watch in peace.

I’ve heard mixed reviews of New Moon. It seems that some people love it, some people hate it and, after watching it myself, I can see both sides. The movie was good in that, for the most part, it followed the book closely, which made Twihards happy. However, that was also what made the critics disappointed – the book is moody and emotional and depressing with not a lot of action. So the movie followed the book, which meant the movie was moody and emotional and depressing with not a lot of action. I found myself watching the few action sequences hoping for more and actually felt disappointed when it was over. I wasn’t surprised that the directer went all out in the small action sequences, trying to make the most of the opportunity.

The book very much sets up for the next book and this movie seems to do this too. I feel like I didn’t have to see this movie at all, that it’s not really a movie on it’s own, it’s a movie you watch before watching the next one straight afterwards. Having said that, there were some pretty cool moments, such as Jacob morphing into a wolf as he jumped over Bella (as seen in the previews) and we were given a sneak peek at Bella as a vampire.

Acting-wise, I found the main characters, particularly Bella and Edward, mostly monotone and boring. Kristen Stewart was less annoying this time round – only occassionaly she’d do her squinty-eye-thing or head twitch that I hated so much in the first movie. She was more confident and seemed to be more comfortable in the role this time around. Edward was sooo disappointing – his makeup made him look absolutely ridiculous and he looked like he was either constipated or about to cry the whole time. Whenever he was in a scene, I basically viewed him as the creepy cousin everyone ignores at the Christmas party, while Jacob was the one everyone wanted to end up under the mistletoe with.

I was skeptical about Jane (I pictured Jane with a less severe hair-do) but Dakota Fanning was really good, especially while she was using her powers – very calm and evil. I thought they could have made a little more out of Bella not being affected, since it’s sort of a big thing in the final book. The Volturi were really good and creepy at the same time. I think Michael Sheen as Aro really captured the character perfectly – seemingly polite and calm, yet thirsting for power on the inside. His disappointment in having to kill Bella was really well done – you could see it pained him to have to consider it, because he was so intrigued by her apparent “power” to shield.

The special effects were pretty fake, especially the cliff-jumping scenes. I can’t believe it wasn’t possible to film someone actually hitting the water and use special effects for the falling bit? Really disappointing. The wolves were okay I guess, but I think I was just expecting something… more. The dark wolf shape sitting in the forest was soooo bad I actually laughed out loud. It just looked so ridiculous, not scary or menacing at all. Speaking of wolves, I was a little disappointed in Emily Young’s face. I always pictured it as really savaged, but that might just be my over-active imagination.

All in all, the movie itself was okay – it was pretty much the book on screen, and the book isn’t exactly action-packed. I’m looking forward to the next one and seeing more of the Cullen family.

Have you seen the movie? What did you think?

I was experimenting with my camera’s quick-succession photo setting and caught Puddy mid-dash at one of her mice. While I was going through the photos, I saw these next to each other in the view and thought they looked funny together. She was definitely moving fast!