A Smashing Hot Christmas!

Amid all the turmoil out there in the world, Ms. B. and I have managed to have a pretty mellow Christmas season, for which both of us are very grateful. Recently, we both have had to deal with some unpleasant health issues, expensive cat health issues, and the loss of a dear loved one a couple of weeks ago, so a little holiday joy has gone a long way.

Last night, we went to visit and have dinner with friends Bob & Yvonne, which was a lovely time. We had some delicious food, excellent drink, fun games, and great music. One of their (several) cats, Frei, hung out with us as well, which gave us a few good laughs. Since they don't live very far away, I walked both ways (though Ms. B. drove because she transported the foodz, presents, and other goodies), and I enjoyed seeing so many nice holiday decorations around the neighborhood. Down at nearby Lake Lanier, there's a floating wire Christmas tree, about 25 feet tall, which is quite lovely at night, as you may see in the photo at left.

 

This morning, Ms. B. and I opened a fair passel of lovely presents we got for each other. I got a Space Godzilla figure, which I'm sure y'all will be seeing amid one of my miniature sets very soon. To celebrate, as you can see above, Godzilla took a festive Christmas morning stroll. The cats enjoyed some fun wrapping paper adventures. After all the gifts were opened, I went for a stroll around the neighborhood, only to find it unpleasantly hot out there. It's not like I'm all that keen on freezing winter weather, but Christmas morning ought not feel like it's late summer. But I did enjoy getting out there, walking around the lake, and taking a few photos of the scenery.

This afternoon, we'll be having Christmas dinner with friend Samaire. And to all of you who visit this little corner of the virtual world, Scary Christmas to those who celebrate it, and Happy Horrordays to all.

Old people making merry at Bob & Yvonne's

Old dude, Yvonne, Fred, Bob

Frey, nonplussed by all the excitment

L: Our Christmas tree; R: Ms. B. is festive on Christmas morning!

Do you see Mr. Moose?

Working up a sweat walking around Lake Lanier

The boathouse

Apparently, this is where Great Pumpkins go to die.

THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND for Christmas?

As many of my readers already know, I'm currently working on the sequel to my novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond, which came out earlier this year. So, if you haven't already read the original novel, I think you really otter! It's a fun blend of folk and cosmic horror, available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook (narrated by the inimitable Joshua Saxon) from Crossroad Press.

Why not scare the pants off somebody you love (or loathe) for Christmas? It's what I'd do!

 

"Stephen Mark Rainey brings Lovecraftian horror to rural Virginia in this chilling tale...the grounded and believable characterization of his protagonists makes suspending disbelief easy. This is cosmic horror done right.”

—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

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More info and ordering links for
The House at Black Tooth Pond here

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Let It Snow...

Well, we got a wee bit of the white stuff overnight. Predictions ranged from one to five inches, and ours was about one and a half inches. It is right purty out, and at the moment, the sky looks like it's wanting to dump some more, though I don't believe there's any additional in the forecast. That may or may not mean diddly. I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more anyway.

Brugger is at her folks' place in Michigan, so it stands to reason we'd get snow here. In the past three years, every time we've gotten snow in Martinsville, she's been in Michigan. I think she believes we don't really get any snow, and the local folks are just joking with her. Of course, she's got plenty of snow up where she is, so she ain't missing much.

The roads aren't too bad out there, but since I don't have to go anywhere, I can just enjoy the view from home. As long as things don't get ugly enough for us to lose power or anything, I reckon I'm happy as I can be. Now, the cats are sure enjoying piling onto me while I'm trying to write, so forward progress on my current project has been kinda slow...

No need to laugh—though you certainly can if you like—but I've been getting in the mood to watch some old Christmas shows, and the night before last, I watched the Rankin/Bass Frosty the Snowman from 1969. I didn't like it any better now than I did back then, but hey, it fulfilled a craving. I'll probably watch The Grinch, and maybe Rudolph - The Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Ms. B. and I watch Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown! every year at Christmastime because we just gotta. But because I was in a Rankin/Bass mood the other night, I also watched Mad Monster Party, which I loved as a kid, though now it's a bit harder to sit through. Still, it too fulfilled a craving.

It's Starting to Look a Bit Like Christmas

Black Friday is when I typically start decorating for Christmas, and so it was this year. I do love the festiveness of the Christmas season, and Brugger and I always try to do up the house as best we can. We both have a bunch of decorative stuff from our days of living in our separate places, and there's a good bit that Mom had in the house. Mom's decorations were always nice, but fairly low-key. Ms. B. and I tend shoot for at least slightly more extravagant.

Merry, Scary Christmas, 2024

Yes, I do love me some Christmas. When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, my family's Christmases were very much in the traditional mode of the times—Santa Claus, presents, family gatherings, serious feasting, and all that good stuff. I come from a long line of very religious folks, and even though I haven't exactly followed in those footsteps, I appreciate the holiday as a celebration of life, love, friendship, and special memories. As the sole remaining member of the family with which I grew up, I have many, many precious memories from Christmases past, and I do pray that, unlike my mom—and others in my family—I'll be able to hang onto those for the rest of my days. But we don't get to choose that kind of thing, so it's one of the reasons I record so many personal memories, thoughts, and reflections in this blog; and while I endeavor to make them relevant, or at least engaging, for those who choose to follow my ramblings, they are more for me than anyone else.

This year, I can't say there haven't been some pretty intense stressors leading up to the winter holidays; numerous factors at work here, but neither Ms. B. nor I have allowed them to overwhelm our joy of the season. And today, our morning together made for a new memory that I am joyfully adding to my carrying case of special memories I hope to retain till the end.

Our house—as at least some of you know—is the house in which I grew up from my second year of life until I left for the wild world out yonder. In our just over a year living here, Brugger and I have made it a melange of the old and the new, combining countless relics and reminders of the best my past offers in equal measure with everything Ms. B. and I have created in our almost fifteen years together. This year in particular, we did up the place with all the spirit we could muster, and when I think about it, that's an awful lot. We watched a host of Christmas or at least Christmas-themed movies and shows during this past week—Die Hard (YES!), A Christmas Horror Story, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and A Charlie Brown Christmas — and I even watched Andy Williams' 1966 Christmas Special on YouTube (which I saw when it originally aired way back when). Last night, we continued our longstanding Christmas Eve tradition of watching A Christmas Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. And so it was that we rang in Christmas, 2024!

 

It was a beautiful Christmas Eve and Christmas morning—cold (but not too cold), clear, and, for us, comfy and cozy. It was just the two of us; Allison will probably be here over New Year's, so we'll have a little belated Christmas celebration with her. Last night, for Christmas Eve dinner, we had boeuf bourguignon, which I spent a couple of days preparing (and it was delicious, certainly worth every minute of it). This morning, we exchanged some really, really nice and personally meaningful gifts. Our friend Yvonne stopped by and dropped off some lovely goodies from her and her husband, Bob. And this afternoon, we'll be having Christmas dinner with friend Samaire, her son, and friend Charles.

I'm posting some of my favorite photos from the past few days and nights. To all of you, our best wishes. Scary Christmas, Happy Horrordays, and all that.

Merry, Merry

Ms. B. and I put up some Christmas stuff last night. We've resolved that we're gonna be merry this season if it fuckin kills us.

Scary Christmas and Happy Horrordays!

CHRISTMAS EVE MORNING... I got up fairly early, well before Ms. B., and made my usual Christmas Eve morning slapjacks. Tradition, don't you know. On a whim, I took a photo of the cast of the 1974 original Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, the lot of whom are hanging out on the shelf in my office. Then I did a little Photoshop job to post as a Christmas greeting. And as you can see, these guys are sure having a great time!

Brugger and I had ordered a bar set a while back as a Christmas present to each other, so we spent most of the afternoon hammering it all together. It's really quite lovely, and I made an extra run to the liquor store to insure we had sufficient spirits to stock it up. We put it to good use during the evening, as friends Charles and Samaire came round for treats. We ended up going till the wee hours; a most enjoyable little gathering.

An absolutely lovely Christmas Eve at Casa di Rodan

CHRISTMAS MORNING... Quite early, our houseful of housecats set to hollering impatiently to get their gifts from Santa, so that was all she wrote for dad getting any more sleep. The afternoon weather forecast wasn't looking promising, though the temperature was lovely, so once Ms. B. was up and going, she and I took a pleasant walk around nearby Lake Lanier. Then she started dinner cooking — a big ol' pot roast in the crock pot to make shredded beef to go on jalapeno pasta a friend gave us a while back.

Wacky people taking a Christmas morning walk around Lake Lanier

Friends Terry & Beth recently picked up a brand-new huge-screen TV for themselves, so they very kindly donated their old one to us. Brugger and I spent the early afternoon getting it set up. Then I made mulled wine. Allison originally intended to come round during the afternoon, but she had gone to visit her mom in Greensboro and their festivities ran a bit late, so we'll be seeing her at some later time. Mid-afternoon, Kimberly and I opened our presents to each other, and there were good things. A new S.H. MonsterArts Gigan figure is a particular favorite, and he's now up on the shelf with the rest of the daikaiju figures that currently haunt our house. I took a photo of him and futzed around with the scenery. After all this, Brugger set to work building a chess pie for tonight's dessert.

 

The cats made out like bandits, by the way.

Our shredded beef on jalapeno pasta with roasted brussel sprouts turned out fantastic — amped up with a bit of Smoky Bourbon Ghost Pepper that Santa put in my stocking. And Brugger's chess pie for dessert was out of this world. For our second dessert, we watched Destroy All Monsters on the big-screen TV, which came purty near duplicating a fun theatrical experience (my most memorable Destroy All Monsters experience is detailed here: "A Random Godzilla Story," September 7, 2014).

 

And so ended another lovely Christmas Day. Christmas was my parents' favorite holiday, and I always find myself a bit wistful, since I am the last of the family I grew up with. I tend to not dwell on that fact, but at Christmas, it's easy — and, for me, desirable — to reflect on what a wonderful family I did have and to express my love and appreciation for my current family: Ms. B., my daughter, and, of course, our four lovable yet terrible catses. I could hardly ask for more.

L: There's nothing like relaxing with a hot cup of coffee and a bear hard on your trail.
R: My new coaster has bigger feet than your coaster.