I aten't dead!

 Merry Christmas!

I didn't think I'd manage to post in December, but here it is, probably the last one for 2018. I won't deny it, my December deadlines really kicked my arse. I had two three-week ones simultaneously (usually we have four weeks to do an issue), and one of those titles was new to me. Three deadlines in three weeks, in total. It was hard, and pretty much everything that wasn't work went by the wayside.


I knew it was going to be tough, so had food in the freezer (and, of course, Pete is a great cook), had pretty much finished my Christmas shopping by the start of the month, and had got my beta blocker prescription refilled. Be prepared. And this year was much less awful than last year, but I did basically abandon most of the things I do for fun, including blogging and reading blogs. So now I have a mountain of your exploits to catch up on over the next few days! A big thanks to Gisela, too, for an amazing care parcel containing an olive green boxy bag and diamante brooches, among other things. I wore those brooches every day I wasn't wearing Christmas jewellery, because even if I didn't have time to read blogs I could look at them and think of all my online pals.

The days off have been really good. We've had some excellent food, though not as much as usual, and some equally excellent drink, though again not as much as usual, and I've been slobbing about wearing tatty, comfy things because it's been nice having a few days when I don't have to think about anything at all. I hope your time has been as relaxing. I feel like I've recovered from December deadlines more quickly than I expected to, and have been doing some hard thinking about my work/life balance and my social media activity, which needs some balancing out. I feel guilty for neglecting my vintage-loving lovelies, and am going to make more effort not to do that in 2019.

ANYWAY you're not here for my moaning. Christmas wasn't especially vintage-packed, but Santa (Pete) did bring me a pile of classic crime novels, a bottle of Chanel No. 5 and the full DVD box set of Monkey, among other delights. I am particularly looking forward to reading Murder on the Flying Scotsman because TRAINS. I hope your Christmas was as well-stuffed with goodies and great food, and now I'm off to read blogs and see what everyone got up to.