Merry Christmas and stuff

Looking out the window here in southern Sweden, the clock being 11.45am - sun is shining and it looks as if it was August not December. When I was a kid there used to be snow from November to February on rare occasions it would snow in Mars as well.

Two things come to mind, one is being grateful for having grown up with snow - building large forts out of it in the park with friends. The other is being really grateful now that I'm grown up and don't have to plow the front yard anymore and being able to take the car into town or over to a friend’s house without problems.

Also having this detached view on holiday’s and other supposedly festive occasions I  feel as if they are an artificial inconvenience forced upon you. The world comes to a halt for nearly a month, it is rather annoying. Also, at my age it just feel outright silly to put gifts under a tree, the act of putting stuff there or picking stuff up from there has definitely lost its charm as the years went by.

I would much rather be in a coma or go to an island with likeminded people and just mellow out for the duration of Christmas and New Year's. I can enjoy some of the food and a bit of the leisure time Christmas brings but looking at it all with a sober mindset makes me fatigued and I feel almost trapped - reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George's father brings up their alternative Christmas holiday "Festivus" (if you have not seen the episode please do so - it is hilarious). I understand this is not the case for everyone, some really enjoy and look forward this time of the year - if you are a kid you most definitely do.

So anyway, if you're into Christmas - then Merry Christmas to you. If you're not - well you're not alone at least. I also hope that everyone who has been reading the blog will get some peace of mind and downtime over the holiday. Watch a movie, paint some miniatures, play a game - if you didn't have time for it earlier this year then make sure to break away for a few hours and do so now. Also a shout out to Jim and John Bailey from Grindhouse games, Andy and Wendy Cooper from West Wind, Pär of Kulturkommissariatet, Tommy from Gamemaniacs and Mike from Uncle Mike's, wishing them all a productive and equally busy 2012.

The blog will take a short break for a couple of days as I finish writing a school assignment. After which I will be back with more painted Gladiators and a fresh new boardgame review. The next year looks to become a great year for wargaming. Lots of cool stuff coming out, new rulebooks, new editions, more miniatures, new games etc. I will also finally be done with my studies by the start of summer - a somewhat scary but also relieving prospect.

I also found this little slideshow from Times magazine called "It happened on Christmas day - top 10 historical moments to land on December 25th " which is quite interesting if you're into history.