Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 05:55 pm
Ugh, I am so busy! I owe Yuletide comments, among other things.

But since this is mostly copy-pasting, I thought I'd do it...

Remember a couple years ago when I explained how my wife and I celebrate St. Salmon's Day on December 24 by eating salmon?

Furthermore, since my wife likes some of the Christmas trappings more than I do (tree, decorations, gift exchange, ritual meal), but is also an atheist who does not celebrate actual Christmas, we decided to call December 24 Salmon Day, because that is the day she makes our annual salmon (Brazilians celebrate Christmas on Dec 24). We were wishing each other a happy Salmon Day yesterday, and then today I wished her a happy "Day after Salmon Day," and she joked, "We are devotees of St. Salmon," and now Dec 25 is "Day after St. Salmon's Day" by sheer accretion of inside jokes. :D

This year, since she's living in Brazil again, she's visiting family for Xmas dinner, and we had this exchange on WhatsApp yesterday:

Her: i hope saint salmon doesn't get mad at me, I'm eating a different fish tomorrow
Me: We have made many offerings to St. Salmon, I'm sure you will be forgiven!


Then today:

Me: Happy Saint Other Fish's Day! 🤭
Her: happy saint fish's day to you too!
Me: You'll have to let me know what saint this is the day of.
Her: it is Norwegian cod day!
Her: in souffle format
Her: it is very holy
Her: 👀
Me: Happy Saint Norwegian Cod Day!


And later, after the dinner:
Her: damn, the cod souffle was amazing

I laughed a lot. Now back to work for me!
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Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 08:18 pm
This hasn't been a week of tremendous productivity. I haven't minded. I finished a couple of fics and went back to editing an original work, I've been going to the gym, and I've done a fair bit of cooking - following recipes closely, modifying recipes slightly, sweeping the kitchen to follow a basic template. It's one of those weeks the world shrinks down somewhat, but given what's out there, I don't mind staying within narrow confines. Come Friday, I can go outside without much worry, but for tonight and tomorrow, I'd rather avoid what I can.

It's true I'll need to head out to buy flour, and it's also true there's a grocery store in my neighborhood that doesn't play music. As such, I'll happily give them my business throughout the year, and especially during December.
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 07:50 pm
pass-it-on-1

https://i.postimg.cc/7hFH3t95/pass-it-on-1.png

Dalton Kincaid & Dawson Knox (Buffalo Bills)

Next Picture:

Screenshot-20251108-185735-Chrome
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 01:26 am
I'm finally truly slowing down here at the end of the year. We've got seven days left of 2025 and I hope everyone is having a good end of the year. I certainly am! Vacation is here at last and I can recover from all the things I've put myself through since January 😅

Yeah, this did not end up being the self-care year I had planned. At all. In fact, I've not worked this much overtime since I had my old, shitty job that gave me actual burnout. Wheee. Everything that could go wrong at work definitely did, this year (in ways that no one could help).

Will absolutely aim to take things slow for a long while and to NOT do this to myself again. My loudest wake-up call was now in December when two massages therapists, independent of each other, made the O_O-face when assessing me. Going to take a while to recover but it is doable. I just need plenty of rest.

BUT! I still managed to write 50k words on one of my book projects during November and I finished my Yuletide fic in time, so all is not terrible by any means of the word. And I have plenty of personal plans for next year, to prevent myself from taking on too much work or "work" (+ I've had everyone who would be "picking up my slack" agree to not overwork themselves either, which is the biggest win of this year for me!)🩵🩵🩵

Speaking of Yuletide, I got this wonderful Bioshock Infinite fic 💖Highly recommended!
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 10:51 am
The Yuletide collection had a glitch this morning where half the authors revealed way too early, but now that everything's gone back anon I'll link the gift fic I got:

Cat Distribution System (3809 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Pet Shop of Horrors (Manga)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jill (Pet Shop of Horrors) & Leon Orcott (Pet Shop of Horrors)
Characters: Jill (Pet Shop of Horrors), Leon Orcot, Count D (Pet Shop of Horrors), Original Animal Character(s)
Additional Tags: 1990s Era is its own character honestly, The Dirtbag 1990s, Stalking (light), Period Typical Attitudes
Summary:

A cat adopts Jill, in canon typical fashion.



It's cute!

I ended up writing fewer Yuletide fics than last year, between holidays in November and exhaustion, and I feel weirdly guilty about it, but I appreciate the earlier opening gives me time to browse the collection before I head off to family Christmas Day hell 🤣
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 03:51 pm
She had been told not to go into the adult part of the library, even though she had read everything in the children’s section already--twice--but someone was whispering. Mean Mrs. Jordan worked on Wednesdays and had once kicked someone out for sneezing too loud, so she really just wanted to warn whoever it was to stop talking before Mrs. Jordan found them instead. By the time she noticed just how very long the aisles in the adult section seemed to be, she had been walking too long to see the way back to the rest of the library anymore, the books on the shelves had artifacts mixed in with them, and the whispering was definitely getting louder.

---

LL#1347
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 05:51 pm
I got such a lovely story for Yuletide! It's extremely charming, all the voices feel spot-on, it made me laugh out loud, and it reminds me of so much of what I love about this canon in all its forms.

Wrong on the Internet (1159 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Murderbot (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Gurathin (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Mensah (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Ratthi (Murderbot Diaries)
Summary:

The SecUnit didn't go to its repair pod last night. Gurathin is determined to find out why.

Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 04:41 pm
TRY NEW THINGS THIS YEAR: 28 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION IDEAS

The best New Year’s goals are all about getting out of your comfort zone or routine! Even if you love setting resolutions that are practical—like saving money or decluttering—it’s great to dedicate yourself to trying something new this year. Here’s some inspiration for your 2026 goals!


Mixing fun or adventurous goals into your list along with practical ones makes it easier to accomplish things.
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 03:24 pm
Nightwalker is an amazing song. Vic really likes Ten, and I can appreciate him. The song is amazing, there's no question. Vic calls him their Thai boy, but considering most of their Thai boys are actors who also sing, that didn't help. It also didn't help that I forgot he is Thai, so.

Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 10:11 pm
A Complete Mess
Pairing: Collie Parker/Gary Barkovitch, Billy Stebbins/Gary Barkovitch, mentions of others (and one unnamed man)
Rating: NC-17
Prompt: 101: Free use
Warnings: Free use, bukkake, Modern AU
Notes: Finally, after almost a year, I’ve finished an entry from the prompt table, woo! I started this in October and it would’ve been done sooner if it wasn’t for *gestures at all the issues in October/November* but finally it’s done, yay! It’s a modern au so you don’t need to know anything about The Long Walk (just that there’s hot men). Hopefully now I can actually write more! (And do lil gift fics next) title from 5 Seconds Of Summer.
Read more... )
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 04:52 pm
The Yuletide collection briefly revealed authors as well as stories today, due to an unexpected AO3 glitch. The valiant Yulemods managed to restore anonymity, though they had to check a box manually on more than 1000 fics (much respect!).

So if anyone got a subscription email for a Yulefic I wrote, no you didn't! *shifty eyes*
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 04:51 pm
Galavant:

Note the part where this is tagged as Original Music Composition! I GOT A GALAVANT SONG FOR YULETIDE!

There is a bug de-anonymizing the collection, so with any luck, my author will be willing to post more than the sheet music and save me from my current predicament of "I can sorta sight-read but not that well." I love the Madalena voice in this, so perfectly discontent with her amazing lot! and there's MUSIC!

Madalena's Ballad of Vast Success (1264 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Galavant (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Madalena (Galavant), Brief ensemble Galavant cast appearance
Additional Tags: Character Study, Inspired by the song What Am I Feeling (Galavant), Original music composition, Post-Canon
Summary:

Madalena stood on her balcony, in her castle perched high on a cliffside overlooking her vast and endless empire. "This is the best life has ever been. Everything I wanted is now mine... Yet sometimes it seems that there's something out there that eludes me, something I can neither buy nor take. But that's crazy! Who would dare deny me? Deceive or defy me? None at all! Well, almost none!"



Galavant 2:

The share button isn't working on Tad Cooper, a Life, which is an adorable summation of the life and times of Tad Cooper, as one can imagine from the title. I enjoyed the POV the author chose!

Slow Horses + Rivers of London:

My other Yuletide author took me up on my deep and soulful desire for Slow Horses + Rivers of London, and does great things with the interaction of law enforcement and Regent's Park, and the various characters. Spoilers for Diana Taverner's fate if you've only done the first book/show, but nothing that will surprise anyone. I love the way the mundane and magical intersect here:

The Spirit of Regent's Park (2370 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Slow Horses (TV), Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Thomas Nightingale, Diana Taverner, Jackson Lamb (Slow Horses), Emma Flyte, Molly Doran
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Yuletide Treat, add some magic to your spy show
Summary:

Newly minted First Desk Diana Taverner visits the Folly to find out who this Thomas Nightingale fellow is, and learns a few things about London that are closer to home than she expects.



*

What I wrote:

2 stories!

Spot either and I'll write you a drabble. One of them is so me it hurts and the other is less obviously so but still extremely Petra.
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 01:03 pm
The Yuletide collection is live!

Enjoy browsing the collection! Leave kudos and/or comments if you enjoy a story! Comment here to recommend stories, and/or recommend them at the [community profile] yuletide comm!

I have three stories in the collection. Can you find them?

I shall now spend the rest of the day cuddling with my cats and reading Yuletide stories.

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Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 08:45 pm
...it's that time of year when there is a crisp chill in the air, a gentle hint of longer days to come, Santa Claus gagging a trussed-up Robin, and Batman proving that his claim to be “The World’s Greatest Detective” might be a little optimistic… (I mean… it’s fricking SANTA CLAUS Bruce!)

(It's from Batman #33 which came out in December 1945, so 80 years ago now!!)

Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 08:37 pm
It's Christmas Eve, and the retail trade has been going like the clappers all day.
How goes the creative work (if at all?)
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 08:34 pm

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.


This Week's Question: What are your crafting goals for 2026?


If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!



Thursday, December 25th, 2025 09:04 am
Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: linettesmth on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: Aaaand, it's the inevitable Klimt kiss portrait of Ilya and Shane, and very nicely done, too! I like the echoes of their team uniform colours in their robes.
Link: Ilya and Shane

Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 08:00 pm
Wishing you all the very best, whether or not you celebrate

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