Cyber-Christmas

So, that was Christmas Day. Another blur of presents, chocolate, turkey ( well, chicken ) and TV. The kids were up at about 7:30 but we didn't struggle our way downstairs till about 9:00, after being up until 2:00 in the a.m. Much unwrapping of goodies and scoffing of chocs ( I like that word "scoffing", sounds positively boarding-school darling ). Hero, the Main Mog, had his first taste of Christmas and had a great time scooting about through all the discarded wrapping-paper etc. Sarah gave me, amongst other presents, The DC Vault, the "Museum In A Box" follow-up to The Marvel Vault: a history of the comics company with accompanying facsimilies of old promo material, fan-club items etc. Loads of great reading there. As well as other stuff, I gave her The Mighty Boosh series 1-3 on DVD and Daphne DuMaurier's Enchanted Cornwall, a coffee-table book featuring the writer's autobiography along with tons of great photos of Cornwall. Mum came over for lunch and we all pigged out, as is customary.



And, of course, it was finally time for the Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Next Doctor. It's funny how this has become a virtual Christmas institution in the space of only 4 years. Smaller in scale than last year's Titanic In Space blow-out, this was a fun and occasionally moving adventure, showcasing the chemistry between Davids Tennant and Morrissey. It gave us a full-on Dickensian backdrop, a Cyberslaughter in a snowy churchyard, Dervla Kirwan as a femme fatale, the "Next" Doctor's tragic secret and the rise of the Cyberking, which definitely made James's Christmas: Cyber-Transformers? And we learned the next special's title: Planet Of The Dead. Sounds good, although...um, The Dead Planet anyone? Oh, yeah - in a flashback-of-sorts we saw glimpses of all of the Doctor's previous incarnations, going right back to Hartnell and including Paul McGann - yay! Merry bloody Christmas!



Soundtrack: Theologians, Wilco.
Lost On Yer Merry Way, Grandaddy.
And loads of Christmas songs throughout the day from The Pogues, Bruce Springsteen, Slade, Wizzard, Elton John, Jonah Lewie, Bing Crosby (!), The Wombles (!!) - you know the titles.