My mum made this malevolent little elf for Christmas about twenty years ago, and every year he shows up again, looking more and more dilapidated and horrifying.


Longstanding scholars of my journal might recall previously seeing Santa's Little Helper in this series of comics by my mother.

Sadly, we've lost our traditional tree-topping angel: a loo roll on which my little brother once drew a smiling face saying, 'Ow, my arse!'

Christmas was fun! We played charades in the evening, and I will always treasure watching my brother Joseph try to convey the 'Italian' in The Italian Job by miming eating a mushroom and growing bigger, repeatedly, with increasing desperation and occasional breaks to mime fixing a radiator.

(The Italian Job was my prompt. Joseph got his revenge by forcing me to act out Thus Spake Zarathustra, which did not go well for me.)

Because both my housemates and my family wanted to watch it, I ended up watching The Muppet Christmas Carol twice in the course of a few days. The 'Marley and Marley' scene is genuinely scary, as is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come!

I was surprised by how invested I became in Scrooge. I think the film works because Michael Caine is taking the role completely seriously, regardless of the fact that most of his co-stars are Muppets. As Tem commented, 'He says, "My first job was here. This is Fozziwig's old rubber chicken factory" so sincerely that it never occurred to me that the original Scrooge might not have worked in a rubber chicken factory.'

Catastrophic news: I watched the Doctor Who Christmas special ('The Church on Ruby Road') and really enjoyed it. It was fun! I got emotionally invested! There was a ridiculous musical number! The Doctor and Ruby Sunday have great chemistry, and I keep wanting them to make out.

It took me so long to escape the terrible grasp of Doctor Who. I can't believe I'm considering watching the next series; it would be a huge mistake to get back into this show, which disappointed me for six years straight before I finally managed to get out. But I haven't shipped the Doctor with a companion since Nine with Rose and Jack, and watching Fifteen interact with Ruby really made me realise that I'd missed that. Doctor/companion shipping has the potential to be weird and intense and slightly claustrophobic in a way I enjoy.

The 2024 series of Doctor Who starts in May. I've got four months to come to my senses. We'll see if I manage it.