Monday 30 December 2013

Christmas 2013

   Christmas this year was lovely. For once I didn't start to stress about things (at least, not as much as I used to), and I was able to enjoy it. My gifts were dominated by Chocolate, as they always are, because no one really knows what to get me, but what I did get was pretty amazing.


   From Seeg, I got a copy of BBC's Africa which I've wanted for a long time. I only managed to catch 2 episodes when it was on the TV, so it's nice to have the whole lot now. He also got me Pokemon X - I had bought him Pokemon Y for Christmas myself, but he had grown very, very bored because no new games had been out for months and he spent a lot of his time sitting and staring into space, and I could see how bored he was. I ended up giving it to him early, and that eventually led to me finally buying a 3DS of my own, and him buying me the alternative copy of Pokemon so we can play together ^^ I had my 3DS around the beginning of December I think, late November maybe, and since then we've been playing Pokemon Pearl and Diamond together and it's been real fun.
   He also gave me another World of Warcraft book - honestly, these days, I find them more exciting than the game, but it's at that point in the expansion now where there's no new content for a while and we're all really just waiting for the next expansion to come along. This book is interesting because it's about the very, very, very beginning of the Dragon Aspects, who were granted powers and responsibilities by the Titans who were responsible for most of the life on the planet. I'm quite excited to read it!
   My dad got me the entire boxset of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I used to watch it when I was little with my dad, and I enjoyed it, but I honestly barely remember it. This is my favourite series out of the three. I absolutely hate Shatner, at least in Star Trek, and while Trekkies will tell you you can't be a fan if you hate the original (in fact a lot of people say that about a lot of things), I call bullshit. I'm sorry, I can't be a fan of something because one of the actors gets on my nerves? If anything, it makes me a better fan because I'm not blindly following suit and 'liking' something I don't truly enjoy. I started watching it a few days ago and I've plowed through season 1 so far. I absolutely love it.
   He also got me a dragon statue. He got me one last year too, the same size, but it wasn't the one he had originally wanted to get me, this one was. I quite like it, but I do prefer the first one he got me, this one is perhaps a little too human in its pose, while the other, not shown, is more beastial. It all depends, really, on what you want from dragons.
   He also got me the Dinosaur Hunters book, about the original discovery of Dinosaurs and so on and so forth. It's quite interesting ^^
   My sister got Seeg and I a joint gift of the Legend of Korra, the second series of Avatar. First there was the Legend of Aang, the Last Air Bender, and there were 3 'books' or seasons. This is the second series, set about...well, a lifetime later after Aang has died, and I believe there are going to be 4 'books' but so far only the first book is available on DVD, and I think the second season is either under construction or being aired currently. I don't know, I don't have Nickelodeon. I'll be honest, too, three episodes in and I'm not fond of it. The simplicity of life that was in The Last Airbender just isn't present here, everyone's united which has done away with culture and traditions, and instead everyone's living, at least in Republic City, in a sort of 1950's American gangster kind of place, and it doesn't fit bending at all. But, it is still good. Just not what I had hoped or expected.
   Seeg's parents blew me away with a WETA replica of Radagast's staff - the staff is made from the same mould that the original staff used in the movie was. It's the same size, same weight, everything about it is the same. WETA are responsible for props and such in the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Halo and other things (though I'm only really interested in Middle Earth). You may recognise it from my unrealistic wishlist. It's also taller than it appears in the image, I had to lean it at a considerable angle to keep it in the picture.

   The gifts I gave this year were pretty poor really. I had no idea what to buy people. Dad ended up with a couple of books, mum with a cardigan, my sister with a jumper she asked for, Seeg's parents with a book and shawl, and Seeg himself ended up with a mouse mat from The Arty Gamer on Etsy, a copy of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds because I had to replace Pokemon with something, and a copy of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug; Chronicles, Art and Design, which would have been a great gift if we had seen the film yet, but instead it's just full of spoilers! It's been signed by 4 people who worked on the film, though, so that's quite cool.
   Fortunately, despite how bad his Christmas presents were, his birthday gifts were better. I got him a PS4, which he loved, he's the first of his friends to get a next-gen console (though that also means he has no friends to play with yet), a copy of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, which you saw in this post here: Box of Bloodied Water; an Assassin's Creed t-shirt featuring Edward Kenway, and a copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey; Chronicles, Art and Design, which is the same as the one he had for Christmas, but instead it's based on the first film, and so contains no spoilers at all, and we both really enjoyed looking through it. When we see the second Hobbit film this weekend (hopefully), we can finally look through the second book.

   It was a lovely, fat Christmas - just the kind I love - with few but awesome presents, and tolerable visits from family. It could have been worse. Of course, then on Boxing Day my dad managed to injure his back, so we've been helping look after mum much more than usual to keep him from making it worse. He won't ask for help, though, so we have to impose it. There's a point where pride becomes idiocy.

   How were your Christmasses? What was your best give and your best get? ♥



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