magid

Unexpected bonus Christmas extract from Son who doesn't really do fiction.

After an hour's rest, they struggled on until noon. The tents were pitched and supper was issued: cold seal steak and tea - nothing more.

On the same night exactly one year before, after a festive dinner on board the Endurance, Greenstreet had written in his diary: 'Here endeth another Christmas Day. I wonder how and under what circumstances our next one will be spent.' That night he failed to even mention what day it was. And Shackleton recorded briefly all that really needed to be said: 'Curions Christmas. Thoughts of home.'

Wishing you all a happier time than being stuck in Antarctica, whether or not you celebrate Christmas.

curiosity posting in

holiday_wishes

Y'all, it has been a year.

I'm Cat. Mid-40's AuDHD/C-PTSD who keeps on truckin'. Keeping it short and sweet because my spoons are in the negative.

1.) My bestie

lilliane posted her list earlier this month. Check it out. Her brain surgery is on the 29th so if you have good wishes or prayers, she's taking those too.

2.) I don't have any lists or fancy wishes. I'm in need of Amazon or Kroger gift cards. That's it. I'm looking at a new year with no way to afford health insurance so whatever I can put in to getting basics is more cash I can put towards my medication.

3.) Be excellent to each other. Do your daily clicks.

That's it. Be safe, be merry, don't let the world grind you down.

Peace.

Current Mood: depressed
Current Location: downward spiral
Current Music: Hozier - Eat Your Young

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251224.html

What are these little red dots (LRDs)?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251224.html

merriamwebster_feed

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/noel-2025-12-25

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 25, 2025 is:

noel • \noh-EL\ • noun

When capitalized, Noel refers to Christmas or the Christmas season. Uncapitalized, noel refers to a Christmas carol.

// We were greeted at the door by a group of carolers singing noels.

// Every year we send our family Christmas cards with our photo enclosed wishing everyone a joyous Noel.

See the entry >

Examples:

“The meeting began with a touch of holiday spirit as members of the Woodland Park High School Madrigals sang three selections. The first was a Noel song with a medieval/renaissance feel that was well matched to their festive costumes. They followed with the popular ‘Carol of the Bells’ and ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas.’” — Doug Fitzgerald, The Pikes Peak (Colorado) Courier, 9 Dec. 2024

Did you know?

English speakers borrowed noel from the French word noël, which is also used for both the Christmas holiday and a Christmas carol. It can be traced further back to the Latin word natalis, which can mean “birthday” as a noun or “of or relating to birth” as an adjective. (The English adjective natal has the same meaning and is also an offspring of natalis.) Noels were being sung in Latin and French for centuries before English-speakers started using the word to refer to Christmas carols in the 18th century. An early use of noel (spelled Nowel) to mean “Christmas” can be found in the text of the late 14th-century Arthurian legend Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/noel-2025-12-25

landofnowhere

Pride and Prejudice, play adaptation by Sherwood Smith (

sartorias) of the Jane Austen novel. Thank you

sartorias for letting us read your adaptation of P&P originally performed by high school students! It did a really good job of condensing the plot while leaving in some dialogue that adaptations often leave out, and it was funny!

Much Ado About Numbers, Rob Eastaway. I picked this up again and finished it, but found that the bits that I'd already read were the most interesting to me. I found this book to be strongest when it was explaining the technology level of Shakespeare's time, and weakest when it was going into speculative interpretations of Shakespeare. (Though some of the theories it admitted were too far out there, like the joking theory that Cassio the "great arithmetician" might have inspired the naming of the Casio calculator.)

Alice James: Her brothers, her journal, edited by Alice Robeson Burr. I recently learned about Alice James, sister of the better known late 19th century American intellectuals Willam and Henry James, and was interested enough to pick up her diary. This book also contains Alice Robeson Burr's essay on the James family, which had some interesting tidbits that led to my learning more about forgotten 19th century American women intelectuals, like Mary Moody Emerson, aunt of and inspiration to the better-known Ralph Waldo, and Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley, of which Burr writes "In those days and communities, there was always a woman who read Greek, and in Concord it was Mrs. Ripley who had this distinction."

I'm about halfway through Alice James's diary ; being a diary (and without contextual footnotes) it is slow going although it does have some good passages writing about her chronic illness and other things.

St. Helios, Alice Robeson Burr. The diary being slow going, I decided to look into what else Anna Robeson Burr had published -- she was a prolific popular novelist, and encountered this entertainingly snarky review of her novel St. Helios, which was enough to get me to pick it up. I found it to be very readable but ultimately disappointing novel. It is set in 1920 and centers on the triangle between an aristocratic British poet who is both a relic of the Victorian era and a Byronic figure, his illegimate daughter, and the American lawyer who falls in love with both (though the book is not that slashy). The daughter starts out as the most interesting of the three main characters, but halfway through she gets a change of heart and moves from manipulative schemer to damsel in distress. After reading, I found two more contemporary reviews of this book, which are just as entertaining as the NYT review.

sovay

How did it get to be Christmas Eve? Are we sure? This year has been hard to believe in. I fell asleep in front of the decorated tree. Merry Erev Christmas.

Current Music: The Mountain Goats, "Dawn of Revelation"

amado1

Plus, before I get into this, I wanted to say that A. David stopped by the house yesterday with a wrapped gift for me and Rich, which turned out to be his Christmas mixtape! It's a DVD full of pirated Christmas terror (terrifyingly bad Christmas specials and Christmas-iana, I mean) with a hand-illustrated cover and a cheeky warning on the back.

He also brought in some unexpected packages from the front porch. And then he had to zip off to work, so we didn't chat at all XD But the packages were a fun surprise. One was a Gargoyles trade paperback that I didn't order, don't know why it was sent to me -- I assume something went wrong at the Gargoyles comics Kickstarter and I got sent a free extra as a mistake. The other was a huge box from Madelgard, full of wrapped presents and a birthday card that cracked me up (my favorite part was where she pasted an Andy Warhol Christmas tree painting, and then a picture of Warhol himself, with a speech bubble addressed to my very long nonsensical email address).

The gifts she sent me were so on-point and hilarious -- an erotic Mr. Burns-themed zine called 742 Evergreen Ter., a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror mystery figure (Mr. Burns and Homer sharing the same body), and a hardback copy of "Desperate Passage" about the Donner Party, one of my favorite historical tragedies and something I love to read about during the winter. She didn't even know that, she just correctly assessed my vibes.

Rich and I ended the night by rewatching It, Chapter 2, which was oodles of fun.
( TE Lawrence, Gu Cheng, Carol Emshwiller )

( Tiptree, The Tenants, The Fates )

merrileemakes posting in

booknook

A Chorus, Divergent anthology by Reckoning Press

A special issue featuring reprints by neurodivergent creators from Reckoning’s first decade.

Essays, poetry, fiction, and art by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe, E.C. Barrett, Kaye Boesme, Offor Chidera, Jacob Coffin, Kelsey Day, Tania Fordwalker, Abbie Goldberg, A.P. Golub, Ruth Joffre, Taylor Jones, Laura McKnight, Kat Murray, Micah Nemerever, Mari Ness, Ellis Nye, Maria S. Picone, T.K. Rex, Ariadne Starling, and Adam Stemple, with new cover artwork by Abi Stevens.

I read quite a few anthologies this year and this was one of the best. It has some real stellar stories that I'll be thinking about for a long time, and some new writers that I definitely want to see more from. The stories are all speculative fiction and many dance with the climate apocalypse in its many forms and stages.

The real knock-out of the whole book was SQUAWKER AND DOLPHIN SWIMMING TOGETHER. I am a sucker for animal communication stories, and dolphins, and climate disasters and finding glimmers of hope amongst the rubble. There was so many cleaver plot threads dropped in here and there, the story felt like a much longer and fleshed out novel. (I've already preordered their upcoming anthology!)

Also shout out to The Blackthorn Door and Fixing the System in Tilt Town, both with really interesting worldbuilding. And a nod to Icediver, which started off strong but I feel like the wheels fell off halfway through.

I didn't dip into the poetry but if it's of the same quality of the fiction than it's pretty good too.

The entire anthology is free to read online or follow the links to support through an indie bookseller.

low_delta posting in

birdfeeding

The goldfinches finally showed up. My winter visitors are:

sock - nyjer seed - goldfinches and the occasional junco

platform feeder - safflower seed - house finches and cardinals (the cover is too low for the doves)

squirrel-proof column feeder - mix of safflower and black oil sunflower - house finches, chickadees, sometimes a nuthatch. I get woodpeckers when I use a better mix of seed (downy and red-bellied, occasional hairy).

ground - safflower and sunflower - mourning doves, juncos, cardinals, squirrels. Saw some goldfinches there today.

I should get some suet.

I just received a feeder/webcam as a gift. I'll have to figure out where to put it. I want to put it on the side of the shed, but I'm not sure it gets wi-fi signal out there.

kaberett

... which meant I thought it was very funny when later said afternoon I became aware that there's ongoing scrutiny of their operations from the Business and Trade Committee (first link I could find, it's bedtime). Also very funny that the time from name change to shed legacy of being Awful to Nah You're Still Awful was approximately -5, on a more national scale than I'd previously clocked...

hamsterwoman

Yuletide has revealed! (a bit more than intended, LOL, but everything appears to be back in order now, thanks to some swift manual workarounds by the mods! ♥)

I got two wonderful fics, which both really, really surprised me. I was convinced that I was getting a Rivers of London fic, because when my gift popped up, that was the only fandom I had requested with stories, and there was a RoL fic that fit what I had requested, which had recently appeared, so of course I figured it was mine. Then a treat popped up the night before reveals, and the fandoms were unchanged, so I figured it had to be another RoL fic… except Varvara wasn’t tagged in more than one fic, so I was very puzzled. Until I remembered/realized that Lady Eve’s Last Con would not have been wrangled yet, so, OK, my treat was probably that. But it never for a second occurred to me that my main gift could ALSO be Lady Eve’s Last Con, so I was completely blindsided by it:

Forgetting is Musical (1214 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lady Eve's Last Con - Rebecca Fraimow
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Esteben Mendez-Yuki & Sol Mendez-Yuki, Esteban Mendez-Yuki/Jules Johnson
Characters: Esteban Mendez-Yuki, Sol Mendez-Yuki, Ruthi Johnson
Summary:

Intimacy is a name given to an infinite distance.
Esteban has a few more things to learn.

It is a set of Esteban-centric vignettes, pre- and post-canon, and through this format it manages to fit pretty much ALL of my letter prompts into a single elegant package (all the more impressive because I know it was a late pinch hit). I loved getting a glimpse of the roots (heh) of Esteban’s interest in soil, the light humor, complicated family stuff, the abiding but very sibling-y love of his relationship with Sol, and a hopeful ending, the whole of it very poignant and warm.

I also absolutely loved my treat, which was indeed also Lady Eve’s Last Con, but still surprised me because it was for the crossover prompt I never expected to get, because I’ve been prompting crossovers since my very first Yuletide, in every fandom, and have never gotten any, until now! And not just a crossover between fandoms, but the specific crossover prompt that had greatly amused me when I was reflecting on the book:

Natural Habitats (2161 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lady Eve's Last Con - Rebecca Fraimow, Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Esteban Mendez-Yuki, Mark Vorkosigan
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat
Summary:

Esteban escapes New Monte for an academic conference on Escobar, where he receives an intriguing business proposal.

This was such a fun fic! The crossover works perfectly, the universes blended seamlessly, the fun of the premise itself – but I’d posited it offhandedly, as a cracky plot idea, and my author took it deeper, into excellent character work where Mark and Esteban can relate to each other in interesting ways. And I love this Esteban’s POV, and his awkward flailing at an academic conference, and the uplifting win-win ending.

(It appears from the comments that it is entirely possible to enjoy this fic with only Vorkosigan Saga knowledge, so, y’all who are Vorkosiverse fans should go do that, and then you should read Lady Eve’s Last Con, and read the other fic too ;)

Anyway, so, both fics were a blast, in highly complementary ways. And I’m so pleased that Lady Eve fic now exists in the archive! :D

And I got a very nice comment from my recipient within an hour of the collection opening, so, Yuletide is being very good to me :D

Also, it’s nice to be able to read my gift(s) and comment immediately, instead of reading them either while falling asleep or still bleary pre-coffee, so I’m a fan of this new reveal time.

*

In non-Yuletide news – Merry Christmas to friends who celebrate! Or actually, Merry Krysa-mouse!

(Backstory is that B made a joke, pronouncing "Merry Christmas" as "Merry Krysa-mas" and then L took it a step further to "Merry Krysa-mouse" [krysa = rat, for the non-Russian-speakers]. Of course, I embraced this new holiday, and was even compelled to illustrate it. You are looking at the pinnacle of my artistic ability, y'all. Drawn from "life" -- i.e. a rubber Halloween rat (which is no more, as it melted/disintegrated several years ago -- horrifying pictures available upon request) and a box of mouse finger puppets.)

We are having a quiet day after a very active Tuesday and before B’s return tomorrow, so I’m going to enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit :)

atlas_obscura_places_feed

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/santas-hometown

Santa Claus Village Square

Finland's Lapland region is a land of dense forests and pure air known as one of the best places in the world to catch the Northern Lights, and also to meet Santa Claus! The region has capitalized on its winter wonderland geography and climate, and its capital city, Rovaniemi has, since 2009, claimed to be the official hometown of Santa.

This moniker has now been challenged by a Dutch non-fiction author who has recently submitted an application of trademark annulment with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. The Office has yet to make a decision.

Despite the legal challenge, Rovaniemi is entirely committed to its claim to fame, with all kinds of Santa themed attractions spread throughout the city, and a booming Christmas tourism economy. Visitors can spend time in places like the Santa Claus Village, the Santa Claus Secret Forest, and SantaPark, a theme park located underground. This last attraction comes with a fascinating history - despite being a theme park, the main purpose of the underground bunker was originally far from festive, as it was built as a bomb shelter to accommodate up to 3,600 people in the event of a bombing, chemical, or nuclear attack.

Even if the city loses its official patent, the Santa spirit will likely remain strong in Rovaniemi.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/santas-hometown

luzula

Day 24: Alibi editing, but that's fine, since the 24th is the main Christmas celebration in Sweden. How about you?

Tally:
( Read more... )
Day 23:

luzula,

trobadora,

sylvanwitch,

sanguinity,

goddess47,

chanter1944,

cornerofmadness,

china_shop,

badly_knitted,

chestnut_pod

Day 24:

luzula,

china_shop

Bonus farm news: Put my chainsaw lesson to use by cutting down our Christmas tree. : D

china_shop

I received an utterly gorgeous, poetic post-canon moment between Keema and Jun, and I love every single word. If you know the canon, please check it out!!

After the Moon Rose Anew (1048 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Spear Cuts Through Water - Simon Jimenez
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Keema of the Daware Tribe/Jun Ossa
Characters: Keema of the Daware Tribe (The Spear Cuts Through Water), Jun Ossa
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Introspection
Summary:

After the curtains close on the Inverted Theater, there are still moments of interest in the lives of these two young heroes who are no longer gods but mortals seeking contentment in their second lives.

This is one such moment.

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Hello, Yuletiders–as you may have noticed, the anonymous setting on the Yuletide collection, which should hide all author names until reveals on January 1st, does not seem to be working as expected, and shortly after our planned works reveals, we had an unplanned reveal of author names. We’re very sorry for this unexpected breaking of anonymity!

We’re reaching out to AO3 to help us resolve the problem. In the meantime, we have updated all works manually, and author names should now be hidden again. If you notice we have missed any, please reach out to us privately at yuletideadmin@gmail.com.

Again, our apologies–and we hope you enjoy the collection!

Yuletide Madness is scheduled to reveal at 9 PM UTC on 25 December, but this may be delayed if necessary to ensure author anonymity.

ETA: We know many of you have received email notifications to say, "The collection maintainers of Yuletide 2025 have changed the status of your work [work] to anonymous..." This is a result of us updating them manually to hide author names, in order to achieve the same effect you would expect from reveals in an ordinary Yuletide. Sorry for the confusion! You can safely ignore these notifications; we will reveal author names on January 1st, manually if we have to.

rachelmanija

The Yuletide collection is live!

Enjoy browsing the collection! Leave kudos and/or comments if you enjoy a story! Comment here to recommend stories, and/or recommend them at the

yuletide comm!

I have three stories in the collection. Can you find them?

I shall now spend the rest of the day cuddling with my cats and reading Yuletide stories.

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Yuletide 2025 Collection Is Live Here!

Enjoy 1539 works in 992 fandoms! (The number will go up as wranglers canonize fandoms - this will take a little time, though.)

The reveals process takes a little while to work in a collection of this size; if a story in the collection is still a mystery work an hour after opening, please let us know.

Finding works
You can find your own gifts on your AO3 gifts page: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOUR-NAME-HERE/gifts, or by searching the box at the top of the collection works page for the full name you signed up with, or by checking your email if you get email notifications from AO3. Note: your email notifications may bundle together, and it might look like you only got one gift, when in fact you got more.

You can browse the collection by tags or by fandoms. Some fandoms are new and may not show up immediately (wranglers are working on this) or where you expect them; please check labels such as Original Work, 19th Century Historical RPF, Object and Concept Anthropomorphism, and Unspecified Fandom. More info about Unspecified Fandom here.

Anonymity
Yuletide is an anonymous exchange until creator reveals January 1. Please don't give away what you've written. When logged in, you can, if you want, reply to comments on your own works, and you will show up as Anonymous Creator until the authors of the collection are revealed.

Commenting!
Please comment on your gift(s) to let your writer(s) know you appreciate them. We also recommend commenting far and wide to spread the comment joy around! You may enjoy the challenge of a comment bingo card [update for this year's link!].

AO3 changed default comment settings last year. If you want to make sure people can comment on your gifts when they aren't logged in, you may need to change a setting on your work. More information here, under 'Your comment settings'.

Recs
Making work recommendations is a tradition. Please see more information at the participant community (

yuletide) about where you can post your recs.

Madness
For those still writing, the 2025 Yuletide Madness collection will stay open for new stories to be posted for 24 hours. It will close for posting, and open for reading, at 9pm UTC 25 December. If you're looking for prompts, there's a roundup of links here.

Problems
If there is something wrong with your gift or you have another concern, please contact the mods at yuletideadmin@gmail.com.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is partly cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/24/25 -- We hacked up most of the remaining brushpile in the parking lot, and some of the older one by the driveway, feeding those into the chipper.

EDIT 12/24/25 -- We moved the new mulch to the mulch pile.

EDIT 12/24/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio. As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

atlas_obscura_places_feed

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/charlton-route-20-cow-tunnel

This cow tunnel was built around 1926 during the modernization of Route 20. The new road split a local farm in half, preventing the cows from crossing safely. To solve the problem, the highway department constructed a tunnel beneath the roadway.

For decades, cows passed safely under the busy highway. Over time, however, the tunnel fell into disrepair as Charlton transitioned from rural “cow country” into a more developed area.

In recent decades, the tunnel was restored and repurposed as a public footpath. Today, it forms part of the Midstate Trail, a 92-mile hiking route that runs between Rhode Island and New Hampshire. In 2025, a local conservation group acquired land on both sides of the tunnel to help preserve this historic bovine passageway.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/charlton-route-20-cow-tunnel

shewhomust

It is Christmas Eve, and this morning I submitted my tax return. That's the big one.

The milkman left five pints this morning, which will have to last us until Monday morning. We have succeeded in fitting it into the fridge.

I (we, in fact) have stripped the bed, and there is washing in the machine. I have placed an order with Ocado for just before the New Year (there's plenty of time to edit the order, but the delivery slot is reserved).

durham_rambler went out this morning to collect his prescription and - above and beyond the call of duty - managed to snag a red cabbage (I'd been unsuccessful at both Sainsbury's and Aldi).

Yesterday we went to lunch with J: which was fun, but it's just the two of us now until D. and

valydiarosada arrive for the New Year.

So we are ready for whatever the next few days may bring.

Season's greetings, everyone!

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magid

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25 December

Happy Thingie.

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noel

wednesday christmas eve books

Plates will shift and the earth will groan

Bradbury Challenge Days 9-10

Review: A Chorus, Divergent anthology

goldfinches

today EVRi actually managed to deliver a parcel, not only on time but early

Yuletide! :DD

Santa's Hometown in Rovaniemi, Finland

Write every day: Day 24

My Yuletide gift: The Spear Cuts Through Water fic

Yuletide 2025 Anonymous Period

Happy Yuletide!

Yuletide 2025 is live!

Birdfeeding

Charlton Route 20 Cow Tunnel in Charlton, Massachusetts

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