#merry christmas you all ��❤️

[hasello]

Merry Christmas everyone! Or have a great day! Either way I hope you’re having a good time.

I really tried to not be late but I got sick just before Christmas and had no energy to finish this. I got a few asks about how would the cousins spend Christmas time so here you go, hope that answers your questions. Also thank you for the lovely wishes, you’re all awesome and I love you! ❤️

[tennis-kittens]

Vamos, Rafa !

As you get ready to graduate from tennis, I’ve got a few things to share before I maybe get emotional.

Let’s start with the obvious: you beat me – a lot. More than I managed to beat you. You challenged me in ways no one else could.

On clay, it felt like I was stepping into your backyard, and you made me work harder than I ever thought I could just to hold my ground. You made me reimagine my game – even going so far as to change the size of my racquet head, hoping for any edge.

And you know what, Rafa, you made me enjoy the game even more.

OK maybe not at first. After the 2004 Australian Open, I achieved the #1 ranking for the first time. I thought I was on top of the world. And I was – until two months later, when you walked on the court in Miami in your red sleeveless shirt, showing off those biceps, and you beat me convincingly. All that buzz I’d been hearing about you – about this amazing young player from Mallorca, a generational talent, probably going to win a major someday – it wasn’t just hype.

We were both at the start of our journey and it’s one we ended up taking together. Twenty years later, Rafa, I have to say: What an incredible run you’ve had. Including the 14 French Opens – historic! You made Spain proud… you made the whole tennis world proud.

I keep thinking about the memories we’ve shared. Promoting the sport together. Playing that match on half-grass, half clay. Breaking the all-time attendance record by playing in front of more than 50,000 fans in Cape Town, South Africa. Always cracking each other up.

I’m still grateful you invited me to Mallorca to help launch the Rafa Nadal Academy in 2016. Actually, I kind of invited myself. I knew you were too polite to insist on me being there but I didn’t want to miss it.

And then there was London – the Laver Cup in 2022. My final match. It meant everything to me that you were there by my side – not as my rival but as my doubles partner. Sharing the court with you that night, and sharing those tears, will forever be one of the most special moments of my career.

Rafa, I know you’re focused on the last stretch of your epic career. We will take when it’s done. For now, I just want to congratulate your family and team, who all played a massive role in your success. And I want you to know that your old friend is always cheering for you, and will be cheering just as loud for everything you do next.

Rafa that!

Best always, your fan,

Roger Federer

[forsapphics]

UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE (2021)

directed by Lisa Rose Snow

[shorelinnes]

12 days of skzmas [12/12] ↳ 24 to 25

[codychristiantreasures]

[quintessenceofdust88]

🎄🎄 The Christmas Book: A Tale in 4 parts - Part 1🎄🎄

2025

"Wanna help me with the star?" Tommy asks Evan, as they put the last of the tinsel on their Christmas tree.

It's Christmas' Eve, and they managed the rare feat of getting Christmas off together; they know it won't happen every year, but they were lucky enough this once, their first Christmas as a married couple. They went all out with decorating the house and their tree. They placed it right beside the fireplace, and Nonna's knitted stockings are decorating the mantelpiece (including the two tiny red ones she knitted for the babies). The only thing missing is the star, which Tommy has in his hand right now.

"Not this year" Evan says regretfully, resting his hand over his baby bump. His five-month brlly is straining his Christmas sweater (yes, Tommy is wearing a.matching one; yes, they're both aware they're sappy fools), and he's glowing every day more, growing their twins inside of him. "Better protect my tenants from the ladder this year"

Tommy nods with a smile, and Evan watches him place the star on top of the tree while caressing his bump. Then, he gasps, as if just reminded of something.

"Wait, I have to get something, I'll be right back!" He announces, rushing to their bedroom, and is gone while Tommy comes down from the ladder and puts it away in the garage. When Tommy comes back to the living room, so does Evan, with both his hands behind his back and a mischievous smile on his face.

"Watcha got there, mr. Kinard?" Tommy teases, coming closer to his husband.

"Two very important things. The first one is this" He says, and his right hand goes up, holding a piece of mistletoe over them. Tommy rolls his eyes with flushed cheeks and a smile; since mid-November, Evan has been taking every possible opportunity to trap him under mistletoe, and Tommy's been very willingly falling into every one of these traps.

"Well, who am I to break tradition?" He says, and presses a soft kiss to his husband's lips, the baby bump pressing against him as he leans over. Evan smiles in wonder at him as if they've never kissed before. There's always a warm feeling in Tommy's heart when he manages to warrant such a reaction from him. "And what was the second thing?"

"Right!" He says, as if he'd momentarily forgotten what else he had behind his back.

Then, he brings out a beautiful leather-bound book. The cover is rich green with a golden trim, and the title is written in beautiful cursive handwriting: Our Christmas Book.

"What's this?" Tommy asks curiously, opening the book to see that the pages are stylishly yellowed, and that the first one has a picture of their wedding day, with 'The Buckley-Kinard Family' written in Evan's handwriting.

Then, he turns the page to see the next one only says '2025', and the other ones are all blank. Ready to hold memories for many years to come.

"Evan..." Tommy says, a knot forming in his throat. He doesn't have the best memories of Christmas growing up, and he knows neither does Evan. The fact he wants them to have something like this for their kids...

"I... I saw the idea on the internet, and I don't know, felt right for us" Evan says shyly, caressing his bump. "I... I thought we could put a picture of the ultrasound and of their stockings for this year. What do you think?"

Instead of answering right away, Tommy delicately puts the book over the mantelpiece and then pulls Evan into a tight hug, pressing a long kiss on your forehead.

"I think" He says softly, putting a hand over Evan's bump. Tommy can't quite cover it all anymore; their blobs are growing by the day. "I'm gonna love to fill every page of this book with you. With memories of our family"

Evan's smile is brighter than all the lights in their Christmas tree. He puts his hand over Tommy's and the two of them spend a moment just looking at the bump. Tommy can't help but imagine their next Christmas, the first they'll celebrate with their babies, and his heart fills with hope and joy.

"I love you" Evan whispers, and Tommy smiles at him, not sure how he managed to get so lucky.

"I love you too", He answers, kissing his husband again.

It's going to be a Merry Christmas, the first of many.

[golden-racket]

So I dyed my hair the other day.

Joining the war against the redheads on the redheads side.

[saintlaurentbb1]

[missmaywemeetagain]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you lovelies! ❤️🎄❤️

[aheathen-conceivably]

Hello! Merry Christmas and good luck in the new year! I have a question, I don’t know if it’s been asked already, but I’m interested to know which of your characters is closest to you in spirit? What traits do you have in common with him? And vice versa. Which character is the most difficult for you to write, which you do not always understand: his actions, words and motivation, because you are a real writer and are probably good at the psychology of heroes (I really apologize for the distorted sentences, because I am a foreign subscriber and use a translator)

Absolutely no need to apologize, Nonny! Everything looks great and thank you so much for taking the time to send these thoughtful questions 💕

Y’all already know the rambler in me is getting all excited, so prepare y’all selves! Though I must say, it’s quite hard to pinpoint an answer, mostly because there’s at least a small bit of myself in each of the characters and who’s easiest to write is not always who is the most like me? So naturally, let’s go below the cut, and I’ll split this into sections to make it easier for us to read 😘

1. My spirit characters:

Honesty time. I think that it’s easier for me to put my “negative” qualities into characters and thus also easier to recognize them in hindsight. This is probably because it’s simply often easier to see what needs to be improved in yourself than vice versa, but also probably because I’m a dramatic broad who likes giving her characters flaws.

So although I could probably find a bit of myself in most characters, I would say those who are most like me are Rosella, Zelda, and Violette. Just down to sims traits, Rosella and my simself actually both have the self-absorbed trait (oops). I think this manifests in different ways, but at its core I’m just as likely to follow my wants and cut ties as she is. I also have a ~rather strong~ proclivity for the aesthetic and vain, enjoying beautiful things for their own sake often to the point of distraction. However, I like to think that this is tertiary to me, and my pursuit of them is not as detrimental as it was for her.

Which brings us to, of course, Zelda. Zelda shares this love of the beautiful with her sister, although for her it can extend into the ephemeral and artistic rather than simply the mundane. I would say I share that tendency toward internal existentialism with her, as well as the proclivity to separate from my immediate surroundings rather than live in the present moment. I, like her, can thus often seem “out of it” but in reality we’re just interpreting our surroundings through a distorted, if not tinted lens. However, I’m by no means as artistically talented or reserved as Zelda, which brings us to….

Our little heiress, Violette. Now I’ll try not to get too deep into spoilers here, but Little Lottie and I definitely share some core tendencies. I, like her, despise being told what to do, and will usually become more stubborn or do the opposite simply because of what someone said (whether it’s well intentioned or not). I can also be gregarious, dramatic, and loud when I want to be, and enjoy being the center of attention. However, I think the Zelda in me tempers that so that I need to retreat back into my cave after a while, while Violette thrives on it. I was also raised an only child, so a lot of Lottie’s experience with loneliness and not knowing how to relate to other children is coming from my own childhood.

2. The easiest to write:

So oddly, I don’t think there’s a clear connection between the characters who are most like me and those I find easiest to write. Rather I think that comes from the historical situation that is currently inspiring me, which character fits into that inspiration the best, and how clear of a grasp I have on that character’s personality. This often comes in the form of scenes just appearing in my head, and as I write it’s like the sentences already exist? So there’s this natural understanding between the character and me, where I don’t really have to sort through thought rubble or force their perspective quite as much?

This answer is highly dependent on what part of the story we are currently in. As in, there have been times I have found a character easy to write, and then it will suddenly switch. Zelda is absolutely one of those characters, as her perspective came very naturally to me in parts of the 1910s and then again after motherhood. Now, I find it easier to write the characters surrounding her, and I’m sure it will switch again at some point in the future.

Currently? I find Josephine easiest to write (although she is not very similar to me at all, and her deep fear of commitment is something that I don’t share in the slightest), with Antoine coming in as a close second. Violette’s perspective in the 1940s has also kind of begun presenting itself to me, although at various points I would say that Adelia, Virginia, and Florence have all also been the easiest characters to write for, and those who’s voices have inspired me to come up with new scenes and plotlines.

3. Who even is she?

Now for the characters who are least like me? That one has gotta probably gotta go to Florence, Virginia, and Antoine. As much as I may want to be like Florence, I’m gunna be honest with y’all and say that is not the case. Starting with the fact that I strongly dislike the great outdoors. Farming? Nah. Camping? Absolutely not. Living of the land? What a pleasant dream. What can I say, I am absolutely a Rosella; I enjoy being fancy and comfortable, and Florence in some ways is the antithesis of this. She also embodies selfless generosity and a sort of steady love, which are not things that I would say I really relate to (I once again point you to answer 1 😅).

Now Virginia is a strange one. I was actually very concerned with writing her, because I share none of the righteousness or quickness to action that define her. Likewise, I don’t think that I am able to remain as steady and surefire in tragedy and trauma as she does. So when I first conceived her character I thought I would have great difficulty writing her, but as I mentioned above, despite the fact that she is probably the least similar to me of all the Darlingtons, I found her easy and almost natural to write once we began her storyline.

Which brings us to my baby boy. Sigh. I say this next because Antoine has easily been one of the most natural characters for me to write. I think this is because I had such a clear vision of him from the start that has really been able to grow through the story. So he’s remained who he is through it all, and why I still find him so easy to write.

Despite this, there is very little to none of me in his character, despite the fact that I maybe sorta have a thing for the broken artist stereotype (hello, hubs, I know you’re out there 😙). So there may be some ways in which I wrote my partner into his character’s talent and approach to the world around him, but he is heavily inspired by these ideas of “old fashioned masculinity”, of self-imposed stoicism and protection and fatherhood. These are feelings that I have to imagine rather than pull from experience, but somehow the more I write him the more real they become to me as well.

4. The ~struggle~

Hands down the hardest characters for me to write have been Oliver and Isaiah. I think that Oliver really suffered from the fact that he was my first gen heir, so I was at a place in the story and my writing process where I wasn’t as sure in what I was doing or as good at honing into what I wanted to do. Then by the time this became more clear to me, I had really begun to lean into writing Florence’s character and then his children. So he kind of became less of a focus, and the less I focused on him the harder it was for me to define his voice, which then became a cycle.

I think if I could go back, I would lean more into the connection that I see between him and the romantic poets, really kind of exploring that juxtaposition between idealized nature and reality. I also think his position as a pseudo-wealthy aristocratic and failed businessman had a lot of potential, but alas, you live and you learn.

Now onto the Forgotten Child. Y’all (and I) call him that for a reason, and I think next to his sisters it’s no secret that Isaiah received much less focus (I even have a post about him realizing this 😂). Part of this is just that he’s the youngest, so I really didn’t get much time to explore his adult life or even his teenage years. It’s also because trying to juggle six perspectives all at once means that some are going to suffer more than others.

Now that being said, I am happy with his storylines. However, they often felt more like I was exploring plots I had come up with rather than really viewing things through his perspective. I think this is the biggest challenge to me when having trouble writing a character: it’s that their voice is just for whatever reason not really clear in my mind. Even in the subsequent decades, our English Darlington updates are mostly going to come from Summer, because I still have never really gotten my finger on exactly who Isaiah is. For that reason, my poor forgotten baby boy is probably the most difficult character for me to write.

—

ALSO if you made it this far please know that turning your delightful questions into a multi-paragraph rant about myself is a very self absorbed and very Rosella/Violette thing to do so in the end…I think you have all the answer you need right there 🤣

[nyamcot]

Bought super mystery dungeon n it’ll be the first time in a rly long while that I’ve gotten to play one of the newer pmd games, other than gti

[jessicanjpa]

Twilight Advent Calendar 2023 Event

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

Dec. 24 - What Christmas/holiday gifts are your favorite characters exchanging this year?

-Alice is forever coming up with new ways to dress up Rosalie. (She still does a lot of shopping/designing for Esme, Bella, and Renesmee, but Rosalie is the only family member who really enjoys getting into it with her.) So this year Alice teamed up with Jasper to design Rosalie a custom app. It helps her track what's in her closet and match those items either with each other or with outfits and accessories available around the world. So basically Pantrify, but for her (global) closet. Alice is constantly uploading her digital "Maybe this with the navy blue skirt?" ideas into the app for Rosalie to assess.

-Emmett: here

-Every now and then, Carlisle makes a heroic effort to create something artistic for Esme. This year he painted (from memory) the little chapel where they got married. Esme always displays these random creations in her studio or their bedroom with the indulgent (slightly overdone) pride of a mother hanging her two-year-old's drawings on the fridge. (His work isn't actually bad at all; it's more about his profound lack of confidence.)

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

You can find all of the #twilightadvent23 prompts here!

[jarofalicesgrunge]

Thank you to everyone who got me to 50000 likes!

[epaulando]

i’ve been sleeping literally all day (because my sister woke me up at the ass-crack of dawn to open presents) and then i check the fic exchange and there are so many wonderful fics by y’all……. this is like a christmas present to anyone who has good taste

[bellarkeselection]

Merry Christmas my readers/followers

I appreciate the interactions I have with all of you ❤️ 🎄🎅

[mimikip-stuff]

To those who are alone this holiday, to those who need a little comfort, and to those who celebrate

Merry Christmas ❤️🎄

Happy Hanukkah 💙✡️

And

Blessed Yule 💜🪵