Sunday, December 22, 2019

Christmas wishes

What is your wish for Christmas?

On a humanitarian level, I wish the world were a better place, and that people would behave decently towards each other. At the same time, I recognize that there is precious little I can do about it other than be kind to the people around me.

On a practical level, my wish right now is for nothing major to go wrong. Our Christmas these days is low-key. There’s only the four of us and the kids are now young adults, so we all pitch in preparing a turkey dinner in a relaxed and stress-free manner. We don’t ask much, other than to enjoy a day together without worries or upsets.

So it was an emotional day yesterday when our oven packed up. I’d put it on to self-clean - something I’ve now learned is not a good idea - and half-way through the cycle it simply died. Why do these things always happen on a weekend? None of the service agents are open, and no hope (if it turns out to not be repairable) of getting a new oven before Christmas. Thankfully, a neighbor down the road repairs appliances and popped around to have a look. It turned out to be nothing more than the thermal fuse blown by the heat of the cleaning, and we are back in action. But it was a fraught few hours.

So, however you choose to mark Christmas, I hope you have a safe, peaceful and joyful time.

In other news, this week saw a milestone for The Long Dark. The final chapter went through the critique queue, and I have a heap of feedback to process. My next task is to work out an approach to tackle the handful of major themes plus a host of minor details, and then launch into revisions.

Reminder: For the month of December, you can download a free copy of Breaking the Block in any format from the Smashwords site, using coupon code JF47K

3 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Glad your oven was so easily fixed! That would be a bummer.
We always hope for a relaxing Christmas as well with just the two of us.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Ian - thank goodness that's all it was and the oven is now working. Have a peaceful day en famille - the weather looks reasonable.

Congratulations on finishing the Long Dark, which leaves you with the feedback and probably just as much work by the sound of it. Good luck!

I'm going to download Breaking the Block now ... then I'll read it anon.

Lots of floods here ... but 'warm' ... take care and cheers to you and Ali - Happy Christmas - Hilary

Botanist said...

Alex, it was a huge relief. Hope you enjoy your Christmas.

Hilary, hope you are staying safe and dry in the tail end of the storms hitting Britain and mainland Europe recently.

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