Ornament Blogging: Sparkling Starflake

Well here we are, at year's end once again ... the hectic pre-Christmas frenzy has given way to the exhausted, quiet times before New Year's, when we start it all over again. It was a peaceful holiday for us mostly, after the trauma of the furnace failure, it was downright joyous to actually have reliable heat ... so all in all, I guess we did pretty well!

This ornament, my most recently received, was a gift from Fernymoss' great aunt, who always finds us unique little treasures each year, and this year was no exception! I love how this one catches the light (unfortunately we had to do these with flash to get the focus) and positively sparkles among the other ornaments we have on this pine garland swag we have in the dining room ... it's a very welcome addition to our ever growing collection of heirloom ornaments.

We both got each other a variety of fun and practical gifts that will keep us both warm and well entertained for the early part of the New Year. I'm now the proud owner of an eight disc boxed set of The Woody Allen Collection, as well as John Waters' one man show This Filthy World, both of which are sheer delights for afficionados of two of my favourite cinematic heroes. Fernymoss also raked in the DVDs as well, including Day Watch, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and This Is Spinal Tap. As you can see, we have plenty of prime viewing ahead for the post-caucus cold season ... and we won't have to leave the house! (Though we've already sampled several ... Harry Potter was quite entertaining, This Filthy World was hilarious, as was our old favourite This Is Spinal Tap). Oh yeah, we also got the usual underwear, socks and sweaters, much needed items I never sneeze at!

But, a really big standout for me came a couple of days later ... my hero of the airwaves Keith Olbermann's newest book, Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administration's War on American Values. For those of you who may still be unacquainted with this plain spoken MSNBC newsman (in the best, most classic sense of the term ... think Murrow!), this looks to be an excellent introduction to his wildly popular (well, except among certain circles, hehe) series of "Special Comments" he broadcasts periodically as circumstances demand. I've just read a little so far (and I've heard them all before) but I'm so looking forward to having them all down in print, for this man not only knows how to rant eloquently, but he does so with a prose so incisive and well researched that he leaves the viewer/reader breathless. I can give this one a big thumbs up without having read more than the introduction. If you've already seen any of his Special Comments, you'll know just how Special they really are! I'm really thrilled to add this important book to my collection ... now, more than ever.

We have a very low key (as usual) New Year's Eve planned for Casa IVG ... some good food to eat (meatballs, shrimp, fine cheeses, etc.) to eat, a couple of bottles of champagne (yummy Spanish stuff, no French this year, alas ... ) and a couple of favourite movies on tap: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Stardust Memories. That's the way we like to celebrate the Eve ... some relaxing food and cinematic fare, with a pause at midnight for champagne toasts and some noise makers ... maybe even some fireworks in the snow! (There's plenty of that to be had around here and more on the way, supposedly!)

More later ... even my musings on the imminent Iowa Caucuses you may have heard about in the news lately ....