Dear nerds1,
It’s the magical time of year where I feel overwhelmed, overstimulated and over caffeinated. Yep it’s the lead up to Christmas where I promise myself that this year I WILL NOT:
Buy the stupid plastic shit in the self-checkout line; the stocking IS full enough
Oscillate between the panic of NOT HAVING ENOUGH CHEESE in the house to HAVING TOO MUCH CHEESE in the house
Visit the local 80s mall hellscape
Anxiously plan the Christmas menu and give myself nightmares of NO CRANBERRY SAUCE!
Eat my whole Terry’s Chocolate Orange, in one sitting, before Christmas.
Christmas Vanilla Voyeurism
One of my favourite things is glimpsing other people’s lives. (Probably why I desperately loathe and love the HELLO magazine spreads on British reality TV stars.)
Winter evening walks around here are dark and the Christmas lights lend me a certain “stop here - look at me and my house” opportunity. So fun!
If you aren’t in my neighbourhood here is a voyeurs glimpse into my living room:
Crows are not just a Halloween decoration. They want to be fancy and festive too! (Put a bird on it.)
The Christmas rats are my favourite (don’t tell the crows) and this year the pair got new red bows. Very fancy.
No, that is not a jar of weed behind them - it’s catnip. I keep my weed a touch more low key than that….actually maybe I’m inspired for next year: Christmas Weed!
While some people have stars, and some have angels, we have a Tardis. I will forever take great joy placing it at the top of my tree. Love you Doctor Donna.
We All Need A Fucking Break
This is my last post of the year lovely nerdy reader. I’ve got SOOOO much bubbling in my cauldron (thank you MRT) but here is a peek into the corner of my brain:
Re-branding my Subtack - I’ve got such a fun name coming and I’m working on illustrations with one of my oldest friends, New Zealand fine artist Hannah Schickendanz. Buzzing!
I’m doing my 4th revision of my speculative fiction novel getting released in September 2025. It has witches, ale brewing, mushrooms, death and parallel world travel…so much to come next year including cover reveal!
More collaborations - One of the great joys in 2024 (amongst all the shit) has been making two lovely new friends:
and . I’ve learnt things from them that have CHANGED me. I’m looking forward to more collaboration and celebration with other smart, amazing women writing awesome shit. Come and say hi!Be safe and take deep breaths when it’s all a bit too much.
With love and Christmas despair, cheer, apathy or whatever works for you,
Annabel
xxoo
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I’m using nerds in the best possible way. Nerdship: How we love a thing with such veracity that we annoy others, and then one magical day we find other people who feel the same way about the thing we love. That is nerdship.
Omg the oscillating between not enough cheese and too much cheese is SO relatable.
I am eating so much chocolate it’s disgusting. I buy it for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when we host, and throw it into the cookie tins I make, but mostly I eat all of it. Peppermint snowmen and bark and mint m&ms and the ridiculous Lindt Christmas truffles. They’re all so, so good.
❤️ ❤️