A Wonderful Christmas Time

Christmas kind of crept up on me this year. You'd think, what with your arrival and various other things it would have been momentous. In fact, I thought it ought to be just that, but in real time, it was a lovely, fairly understated few days with my nearest and dearest.

Perhaps the positive MRI of a few days before took the sting out early, but no, I personally felt like it was another Christmas - a good one, and one I will always cherish, but not as epochal as I'd thought it would be back in, say, the dark, hot days of July.

So, what happened? Well, we got all the decorations up pretty early this year, by Hutchings standards - ours were finished on the 23rd-ish. I couldn't wrap presents worth a damn, so opted for the ever-reliable fail-safe that is the gift bag instead. As a consequence, I was finished with wrapping after about half an hour. I thoroughly recommend this approach should it arise in future, as I was able to make an early start on the Christmas Eve martinis.

Our only real concession to having a noisy nine-month old baby in the house was the addition to our festive arsenal of a fake plastic tree. Then again, you already know that because as you read this, you'll be aware of how redoubtable a tree he has been over the years. At least, I hope so, as he cost a fucking arm and a leg. Anyway, he is a beaut, as you can see from the pics below and throughout.

Our veggie Christmas dinner was fortified with 12 pigs-in-blankets, and your first taste of the unholy matrimony that is sausage. You went a bit mental for it, and I can't really blame you. I had nine of them. Yummy!

Your favourite present, I think, was the big red bus from Tim and Claire (via the good old ELC, natch), but you also loved your tractor and sheep combo, and you don't even know about your illuminated globe yet. Laugh of the Day goes to the unveiling of the giant lion soft toy we picked up from IKEA. You nearly burst with happiness, to be fair, it was pretty awesome.

Boxing Day
We headed over to Sladewyns for additional festivities, but things were tempered somewhat by the realisation that Sparky had liberated about 200g of really quite nice camembert from under our noses. Bastard. You were dressed as an elf throughout, which was downright adorable, obviously.

Concerned that we need to get you out in die frische Luft every day, we even did something on the spur of the moment yesterday - we bogged off to notorious dog hotspot and sandpit Exmouth, about an hours' drive away, to see how quickly one or all of us would have a nervous breakdown. Turns out, nobody did. The dog was completely overwhelmed, and you were rosy-cheeked and laughing all the way. We staggered home, ate leftovers and then your Mum ate some people, thanks to Vampyr, which is very good indeed. A hardcore-but-worthwhile daytrip.

We've pretty much hunkered down at home since, working our way through various supplies of chocolate, booze, cake and other resolution-smashers. I feel pretty good, physically, and psychologically, this little blog is a light in the dark sometimes. New Year tonight always brings back memories of Lucy, a little more so this year as this marks the 18th anniversary of her passing. I still miss her.

Alex’s Favourite Albums

This list is the one that I keep in my head, and I just spewed out fifty amazing albums that are important to me now, or informed my journey through music when I was a kid, really. The first single (ask your Mum) I ever bought was Creep by Radiohead, because of the guitar landing in the middle of it. I defy you not to like that one. The first time I heard the climax of Abbey Road I was on a train and gasped audibly at the sheer wit of it. Similarly, when I came back from a lunchbreak in 1999 with Discovery by Daft Punk on CD, it was a beautiful summer’s afternoon in Bournemouth, all the pretty girls were out in town and a friend described it as ‘sunshine pressed onto a plastic disc.’ He was right.

There are so many memories connected to these records. As I say, I’ll explain in the fullness of time, but my advice is to search out these records if you’re in any way drawn to them. There’s gold in them thar hills, son.

I’m not saying these are the best albums ever made, as such a distinction doesn’t make a lot of sense. One person’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist, after all. No, these are just the albums, and I suppose, by extension, the groups or artists, that I really love. Every album on this list is vital for some reason. It may not be perfect - in fact, none of them are - but something about each of them makes them special and uniquely great in some way. I hope you listen to them and love them as much as I have, mate.

Lots of love, breathless excitement, sunny days and a lifetime of discovery,

Dad x

Reasons to be cheerful

Great news from my most recent checkup - Mr Cancer is still in retreat, and the specialists don't really know why. I do though - it's because my immune system rules, and I have you to fight for, young man. And fight for you I shall.

I am feeling better today than I have in weeks, and feel like you can bet on all sorts of Daddy-shaped memories now. A weight has, at last, been lifted.

You're also sitting up, and have been for a few weeks. You're into everything, and have now been real longer than you were imaginary. Well done, you. You are almost sleeping through (you get more sleep than Mummy or I, but that's fine), and you love your food. I have never seen anyone cast as many amorous glances at cauliflower and broccoli as you do, you massive wierdo legend.

'Tis nearly Christmas, and the house is a happy, forward-looking place today. This time next year, we may well be chatting about it.

Too negative by half: let's have a laugh

I feel much better today, so I thought I'd share a list of my favourite songs and artists that you should definitely check out. I might even expand this to, like, Dad's Top 50 Films' etc, because you might like them :) This list is ever-changing, and a mere sample of the stuff I like at the moment. Hope you enjoy it, and imagine me Dad-dancing to it up there somewhere. I assure you I will be.

https://open.spotify.com/user/alexjones46/playlist/5fdVEW1nrMQRmum27sRDdf?si=DpISgRqbRlCPfvr7ISeIXA

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On the unravelling

"Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace."

—Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost

"It is the secret of the world that all things subsist and do not die, but retire a little from sight and afterwards return again."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it."

—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

"They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time."

—Banksy

"Death is only the end if you assume the story is about you"

—Welcome to Night Vale

. "You'll drift apart, it's true, but you'll be out in the open, part of everything alive again."

—Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass

It's not here yet - today, I feel fine and dandy. I just liked these collections of words...