Can you smell the snow in the air yet? Apparently we’re due some on Wednesday and I’m a little excited, even if I hate becoming housebound. But I digress. Yes, the tree is (still) up (and crooked), the presents are wrapped and there’s a Yule-themed shopping list on my fridge for a festive trip to Waitrose. I can’t believe it’s mid-December already!

I feel awful as I’ve not blogged in a while. Truth be told I’ve been in a bit of a funk. I’m not a fan of the bitter, harsh side to winter when it seems to rain constantly and goes dark by lunchtime. Brrr. Added to that work has been depressingly slow and I managed to burn my hand.

So what have I been up to?

• I finally got to see New Moon with audio description to boot! I was one happy camper even though it took me a few minutes to figure out how the silly thing worked. No operating tips from the Vue staff, sadly.
• I’ve been baking scones!
• Due to the seasonal absence of work, I’m 25k words into my novel.
• I managed an attack of smugness when all my presents and cards were wrapped and delivered by 4th December.
• I completely and utterly heart WoW again. Patch 3.3 is awesome, I’ve taken Serisa into every instance using the awesome Dungeon Finder and it’s not only fast, it’s profitable too. We even did a guild run in Onyxia’s Lair and totally downed the evil bitch. Now I’ve just got to kill Malgyos … not as easy.
• I’ve mainly been listening to 30 Seconds to Mars’ awesome new album This is War and the amazing Avatar score.
• I had the world’s largest tooth removed after a massive tooth infection which ended five and a half months of pain and suffering.
• The other game I’ve been playing is, of course, Assassin’s Creed II. I absolutely love it, indeed I’ve actually just restarted the game and love just being able to run round Florence. I’ll do a proper review as soon as I finish it. It’s definately my Game of the Year though and such an improvement on the first title.
• Ceridwen has been out and about. She’s finally fully grown now and is as curious as ever. Bless her heart. She spends much of her time mewing to be let out or snoozling in the warm. She has developed a taste for my ankles, especially if I’ve not fed her. I shall get my revenge when she has to go to the vet in the new year.
• Isis is really content. Each morning after Ceri has gone out, she climbs up onto the kitteh box and pokes the baubles on the tree. She doesn’t knock them off – although fallen ones are fair game – but just bats them, mystified by her reflection. She spends much of the day on her chair (in the Ginger One’s old spot) and then moves to the bed. By the time Ceri comes in, they curl up together. She’s developed a fondness/addiction to playing with foil as well and often appears out of nowhere, giving me her cute kitteh eyes, and waiting for me to throw a KitKat wrapper in her direction.

I’m raring to get into 2010 as it means only four short months till my trip to Japan. This week is a bit more sedate as I’m semi-off work but it’s nice with no pressure to do anything. I’m aiming to catch up on blogging and have plenty of bits and pieces to review. As a treat, the Parental Unit is taking me out to dinner and to see  Avatar next week and I’m very excited about it. Until then I have to avoid spoilers. Then it’s  Yule and Christmas, both of which are going to be a quiet and family orientated. Indeed the latter will involve me, the sofa, the girls and several bottles of cider. Oh and the Doctor. I’m very exited by The End of Time and it’s definitely the highlight of my Christmas and New Year’s Day. I just can’t believe the year has passed so quickly.

Oh and just for added cuteness. Check out the girls (Isis is on the left, Ceri on the right) at their most adorable: