The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[NotWise]

We're part of the demise of card exchanges. We've never done it. A few friends and family still send us cards anyway.

 

[iwatchus]

My card send expired somewhere around 1985

 

[TheLobster]

The only cards I exchanged were the Pokemon ones.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Jo sends cards to many of the shop's customers; I send them to my clients; we send some to friends and family. But not that many, not like my family used to send it but even Mum and Dad don't send very many anymore. Of course, their circle of friends shrinks every year.

 

[yowser]

Twenty years ago my list (to send) was a hundred and twenty. Maybe half of that number would come into my mailbox. Both numbers have more or less halved now.

Great uncles pass on. 'Friends' move and don't give you a new address. It is, or can be, a fair amount of work to get cards out, and at some point for many, for all kinds of reasons, it becomes too much of a chore.

I like it myself since often this is the only time I am sending an actual letter to someone. I address the envelope and think of Uncle Roger, his image in my mind, and how he used to play Frisbee with me when I was young. And while not a universal rule, it is common that if you write someone, they will write back. The reverse is more true, if you DON'T write to someone, you are much less likely they will write you. I got lots of news from farther flung friends that I might not otherwise get (I don't do the anti-social media thing, unless you consider Lit in that category.)

Nice to see photos, nephews turning into teenagers, new babies joining a family. An old practice I am happy to continue.

 

[MillieDynamite]

My father lost a cousin on Sunday. He was three months older than Pops, and he didn't take it so well.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Since I stopped being able to hold a pen for more than a minute, I've sent very few - my grandparents and godfather until they died, then my lovely aunts. I'm actually planning to send about a dozen this year which is the most in years, as the number of relations and friends who don't get out much and might appreciate something to look at rises.

But I've had that intention before. I'll aim for the key two international ones tomorrow. And email round a few photos.

 

[iwatchus]

I finished the draft of my pink orchid novel. Not sleeping has advantages

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

If the forecast holds, the old coot in the red suit may be making his rounds in Bermuda shorts.

 

[Rustyoznail]

If the forecast holds, the old coot in the red suit may be making his rounds in Bermuda shorts.

That's the norm around here.

Checked the letter box of our new house and there was a Christmas card! It was for a previous tenant, but still...

 

[MrPixel]

However, I was very rudely awakened this morning by a real plot bunny. It started in a dream about a hobby I used to have, and it blossomed into a full-throated LW story. Haven't decided to let it simmer, or have it dominate my day as I smash keys into submission.

The latter. 5K words and done. Fun, a lot of subtle, niche-interest content, but even those who are not cognoscenti in this particular niche will get the point. And the fun.

 

[sirhugs]

I have carrots but there isn't a bunny around.

leave them out, the bunnies might come at night

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Temps are above freezing and will remain so until tomorrow night. I'm going to go do some holiday stuff today and am looking forward to get out of the house for a while.

There's fresh coffee brewing and the teapot is boiling. Hot chocolate is on the back burner and there are plenty of holiday goodies on the counter. It should be okay to leave out carrots as long as the plot bunnies don't start nibbling on the presents under and around the tree.

I'll be over in the corner working on my story and hoping the pile of gifts don't fall over on top of me.

 

[iwatchus]

It's amazing how much sharper I feel after 10 1/2 hours of sleep last night. But it still feels good to have finished the draft, too.

Today is going to be trying to finally catch up on my grading. Probably take well into tomorrow as well. But then onto writing a New Year's Eve party story for my Friends universe. It will be notably different in one sense; every story in the universe thus far (22 of them that are really core stories to the universe) focuses on one of the many characters and their problems. All 1P (and present tense). This one will be looking at the dynamics of the group as a whole much more, so told in 3P, probably omniscient. I'm interested to see if any of the readers of the earlier stories will complain (or even notice).

 

[TarnishedPenny]

We still send real cards, along with a retrospective of the past year. It's dated, yes, but some old customs deserve to be kept alive. It's like reading - I still maintain that there's pleasure to be hand just in having the weight of a real book in my hands.

 

[NotWise]

I'm listening to my third Indie Christmas list in three days. This one has advertising embedded in it, so maybe I won't stay with it.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I came across this today:

Leaving politics aside, this is a moving song about the 1914 Christmas Truce.

 

[iwatchus]

I can't believe there has never been a good movie treatment of the Christmas truce.

I've often thought of trying to write a historical fiction novel about it (not for publishing here, obviously)

 

[NotWise]

I can't believe there has never been a good movie treatment of the Christmas truce.

I've often thought of trying to write a historical fiction novel about it (not for publishing here, obviously)

Gemini tells me there's a French film from 2005 (Joyeux Noël) and a made-for-television movie (All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914). The made-for-tv movie is pretty well known.

When I set out to write a story for this year's holiday contest, I took a direction I've never used before. My first decision was to use Vonnegut's "man in a hole" story arc, and I invented everything around that. Then I wrote the first two sex scenes before I told the story.

Now I've written the story to the bottom of the pit. My man is in despair due to nothing under his control. It's all up from here.

 

[iwatchus]

Gemini tells me there's a French film from 2005(Joyeux Noël) and a made-for-television movie (All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914). The made-for-tv movie is pretty well known.

Yeah, I know about the made for TV, my memory is that is was pretty awful. I do not know the french film. I may try to see if I can find that.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

https://genius.com/The-royal-guardsmen-snoopys-christmas-lyrics