#The Christmas Trip

[ritusmiles]

Book and a Brew with Ritu - A Holiday Romance In Ferry Lane Market by @nicolamay1 #NewRelease #BookReview

An extra special guest! How exciting! Today, I am hosting the wonderfully talented Nicola May, an author who has shown how youcan make it successfully as a self-published one! Hello, and welcome to But I Smile Anyway, Nicola! Now, the first thing we do is get thedrinks sorted. How lovely to be invited, thank you. Before I get all flustered and fangirly, let me get you a drink. What I your…

[bebs-art-gallery]

Foggy Winter

— by James O’Brien (Vadim Ignatiev)

[sourapplesauces]

the question is:

[drawthethingdoppelganger]

Oh what's this? Me actually posting a holidays fanart on time? Either witchcraft or a Christmas miracle, there's no middleground

But yeah, have a couple of doodles to appreciate the most annoying muppet woman who's just soooooo incredibly normal about Christmas ❤

[overchromatic]

quick sketch of Kieran in an outfit i own irl

[ruthbaderjaneway]

One of my favorite scenes in Star Trek Enterprise's "Regeneration."

[salmonpiffy]

Merry Christmas, Grumbles <3

[jouyato]

wow the fic i like just ended here's some art of these two being happy and spending christmas together because wow the ending was so sweet and wholesome!!!

pls read stalker au!burda (И пусть никто не уйдет обиженным) on ao3🙏🙏🙏🙏

update:

author approved delusions yippeeee u heard it here first folks no one dies 🥴🤝🥴🤝🥴

[ritusmiles]

Book and a Brew with Ritu - The Nosey Parker Series by Fiona Leitch #AuthorChat #BookReview

Another return guest! How exciting! Today, I am hosting the lovely Fiona Leitch, whose books I have wanted to read for a while,but as you all know, my TBR is a teetering pile! Still, I went off and prioritised a certain seriesin September… Hello, and welcome to But I Smile Anyway, Fiona! Now, the first thing we do is get thedrinks sorted. I have all the hot drinks available. Let me know what…

[fictionadventurer]

What was the point of Scrooge's trip with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come? On a structural level, it makes sense--three is the fairy tale number, and you can't visit the past and present without also including the future--but on a character level, it doesn't quite seem necessary. Showing a man that he'll die alone, unloved, and unmourned seems like the strategy you take as the last-ditch effort to convince a guy that he needs to change his ways. But that situation doesn't apply to Scrooge. He started softening immediately after he first arrived in his past. By the time he finished with the Ghost of Christmas Present, he was fully onboard with the need to reform, so the Ghost's vision of his future seems like unnecessary cruelty. Why show him all this when he was already planning to change his ways?

A few things come to mind. One is that this vision of the future wouldn't have affected Scrooge unless he had already changed his ways. A cold, hard businessman could have seen his lonely death as just the way of the world, might have viewed the people who stole the clothes from his corpse as just people doing what's practical in this world. He needed to relearn the value of the intangibles--human connection, respect for others--to see the true horror of the lonely death and the vultures who defiled the dead man.

But why the horror? Can't he reform without being threatened with doom? It's possible--but it's also possible such a reform would be temporary. After all, Scrooge started as a friendly, loving young man, but retreated into himself and his business out of fear of poverty and fear of the way the world looks down upon poor people. Even if a reformed Scrooge started on a course of Christmas charity, there was always a chance that the enthusiasm would fade, and the worldly fears would start creeping back in. The only way to beat those fears is to give him something to fear that's even worse than poverty. He needs to see the horrible end that his selfish ways would lead to, so he won't be tempted to slide back into them.

There's also the fact that seeing his death makes him ecstatically happy to find that he's alive after the Ghost is gone. Had Scrooge been spared the vision of his future, he might have been happy to find himself on Christmas Day, but his joy would have been nowhere near the manic glee he experiences after coming back from the future. Now, he doesn't just get a new start--he gets a second chance. Coming back from his own grave makes him mindful of his death, but it also makes him hyperaware of the fact that he's still alive. He isn't in the ground yet. He still has time to do good and make connections with others so he doesn't die alone.

Seeing the past reminded him of the innocence he'd lost. Seeing the present reminded him of the people whose lives he was missing out on. Seeing the future reminded him that death is waiting, so it's important to live virtuously while we can. All three are important because all three brought him outside of himself and taught him to value the wider world, just in time to live through another Christmas Day.

[egberts]

our first Christmas tree!! we got it set up a little late because money has been tight and we were waiting for sales... the sale stuff kinda went off tho 😳 I'm so proud of it, it's like art to me. oh and the cookie boxes I made, those were also a lot of work 🤣 anyway merry christmas!! this year has been nuts for us but we are trying to end on a high note with some holiday spirit. and then alana's mom went and brought over a mountain of presents to go with the tree 😭

[gabi-trollastic]

Dickory's Christmas Night Trip (Regular/Future Au)

@happyqueenandgrumpydork *Around christmas season, trolls were preparing for sharing jolly and holidays magic with their dear ones, in Lonesome Flats, Hickory and Delta were decorating their home as their babies Jessie Swiss Roll and Tumbleweed were playing.*

[rustyelias]

Alright dropping my tma Christmas headcanons this is as festive that I will get

Jonathan:

- only puts up with Christmas for Martin.

- Steals martins Christmas jumpers

- Terrible at buying gifts

- Hates getting gifts

- Never celebrated growing up when he lived with his grandma

- This man will info dump about a Christmas carol

- He is 100% a big fan of hot chocolate

- Hates mince pies (so real of him)

Martin Khrismas Blackwood:

- Knits his own Christmas jumper for himself and loved once

- Takes Jon on tree shopping dates

- Along with being able to make the perfect cup of tea he can also make a pretty wicked cup of hot chocolate

- He makes his own tree decorations

- Will always have Christmas scented candles burning to the point that Jon is scared the flat will set on fire

- He buys special fairy light that are dim so they don’t overstimulate Jon (URRGDHD GAY PEOPLE)

- Not a big fan of modern Christmas music refuse to let anyone play it

Tim:

- Always wears matching jumpers with Sasha

- [Makes everyone do secret Santa but rigs it so Jon never gets him

- Mother fucker walks around with mistletoe and waits for Martin or Sasha to walk past

- Always ends up drunk. It just happens

- “Come on Elias!? It’s Christmas! Lighten up double boss”

- “Oh come on don’t be a Scrooge” - Jon then proceeded to infodump about acc

- [ ecorates his flat fully but no tree. He forgot one year and it’s become a joke

Sasha:

- Makes her own mulled wine and bakes her own Christmas cookies

- Hosts a Christmas party every year and has every one round for Christmas dinner (she knows her friends are lifeless losers with no family)

- She really loves ear Muffes

- Every year she gets everyone super personal gifts even Elias and every year makes Martin cry

- She uses the holiday to show off the fact she can play Piano

Elias sexy pipe murder… wait what who said that 👀 :

- Shockes everyone every year by showing up one day in a Christmas jumper instead of his perfectly tailored three pieces suit

- This man just spawns in when ever Sasha brings in her Christmas baked goods

- He wears peters scarf (he stole it and yes Peter wants it back)

- “Yes Peter I know it’s Christmas darling but I still want another divorce”

[solarmorrigan]

💘 for the writing game!

Hello! I definitely have to thank you for this prompt because I think it might be my favorite of all the fills I got to write for this meme (although I maybe got a little carried away) <3

Call this one a modern AU, probably. CW: emotional abuse, briefly mentioned homophobia, Steve just has a shitty family

💘 fake relationship / mutual pining / dared to kiss

Prompt from this list

-

So Eddie’s maybe been laying it on a little thick.

That’s his excuse, anyway.

It’s just – it’s possible he’s gotten a little carried away; while the idea had been for him to accompany Steve for moral support to the annual three days of torture that are his visits home for Christmas, Eddie’s priorities had shifted a little with the last phone call he’d overheard Steve taking from his mom.

Something-something-I hope you’ve found someone to bring home with you, Steven-something-something-your cousin already has a baby on the way-something-something-such a disappointment to see you alone, Steven-something-something.

Steve had looked so small and sad after talking to her, the way he always does after talking to her, and Eddie wishes his parents’ approval (or lack thereof) didn’t hold such a sway over Steve, not when they don’t deserve that kind of respect, but he also gets it – family is complicated. So instead, Eddie offers Steve a way to shove his parents’ faces in it.

Instead of showing up in a strictly platonic, friendly-like capacity, he offers to play Steve’s boyfriend for the holiday.

And since Steve is the same brand of crazy as Eddie (even if he buries it better), he accepts.

So from the moment they pull up in front of the Harrington house the morning of December twenty-fourth, Eddie plays the doting boyfriend to a tee. He holds Steve’s hand, he kisses him on the cheek, he snuggles up to him on the sofa; he plays nice with Steve’s homophobic grandfather, and is only a little snarky with Steve’s patronizing uncle, and talks Steve up every chance he gets.

So yes, he’s laying it on a little thick, but Steve’s family should think he has a partner who adores him.

Because Steve deserves a partner who adores him.

(Because Eddie does adore him. Which is – well, that’s probably part of the problem.)

It doesn’t work as well as Eddie had hoped it would, in the end. Steve’s family can’t fault him for being “pathetically single” anymore, but they can pick him apart in literally every other respect – and they do.

He takes it like a pro, letting the nasty, pointed comments roll off him, smooth and brittle as glass, never causing a scene or biting back, because it’s Christmas and apparently this is just how they celebrate.

(They mostly ignore Eddie, acting like he’s beneath them, which has Steve sending apologetic glances his way the whole day, like Eddie is the one who needs an apology when Steve is the one being vivisected by his family.)

Steve just holds in whatever he’s feeling until they’ve retired for the night, up in the guest room that used to be his room, that his mom had apparently barely waited until he’d moved out to start converting.

He holds it in and holds it in until the door shuts behind them and he all but collapses on the edge of the bed, crumpling in on himself like the ugly plaid duvet is crumpling underneath him, with his shoulders curved in and his face covered and his chest heaving with what are maybe supposed to be calming, deep breaths but are definitely not working, because the stress is still coming off him in waves.

And like Eddie said: he’s maybe gotten a little carried away with his role, but it just feels completely normal to go right to Steve, to curl his arms around him and pull him in close and remind him that his family’s opinions aren’t worth shit and that Steve is so good, and–

And when Steve uncovers his face, a little blotchy and pulling tight with the effort not to let any tears flow free, it just feels completely normal to press a kiss to his cheek, and another to the corner of his mouth, and another to his lips, all in quick succession, all soft and reverent and reassuring.

Eddie freezes the moment he’s pulled back. The moment he realizes what he’s just done.

“Eddie,” Steve murmurs into the still air between them, “there’s… no one watching right now.”

You don’t have to do this, he means.

“I–” Eddie’s voice gets caught up in his throat, because his brain is screaming at him to play it off, to tell Steve that he just got carried away, got too into the role – but his heart, noisy fucker that it is, has different ideas. “I… maybe haven’t been faking as much as I said I was. Or, like– at all.”

“Oh, thank god,” Steve breathes, and then he’s pushing back in for another kiss, his mouth eager and warm and perfect against Eddie’s.

And the next two days aren’t going to be any less stressful, spent around a flock of hungry vultures masquerading as people, but Eddie figures that if nothing else, at least one good thing will have come from the holiday.

He tilts his head to deepen the kiss and Steve opens up beneath him, anticipating him like they’ve been doing this for ages, and – yeah, Eddie decides.

One very, very good thing.

[darqx]

Check out my freakishly awesome prezzies from @gatobob! :DD (Sans some of the candy...because i ate them already XD We also get the added fun times of finding out what candies melt going from the freezing depths of Canada to the summers of Aust LMAO)

And why yes those are light up TPOF keychains (plus a special Rire one just for me :3cccc)! Why yes Gato has a bunch of these lying around! 👀 HMMMM.

GATO I think you should just put these in your shop, I mean we used this as a mailing test and if it can get through like 3 customs without being flagged I think you’ll be right for anywhere else XD (The li-ons are so small anyway i dont think 12 of them even constitute one “proper” battery lol)