Its' Chriiiiiiistmaaaaassssss!!!!!

First wake at four but decided that it's just too early to get up, even for me. So I wait till six and spend a couple of hours on the computer waiting for Anne to waken up....

Present opening follows with both of us receiving unexpected surprises from each other and then a civilised breakfast as we listen to Anne's CD of the year which I'd compiled for her...

Then we watch the the new Rush DVD...



...and before we know it, it's time to get ready for Christmas "proper" round at Jane and Bobby's...

Much drinking and carousing and eating follows, to the accompaniment of the 150 track "party" MP3 CD - many tracks take a slagging from fellow guests and I have to defend myself by advising that, whilst songs may have been chosen for their general happy-go-lucky atmosphere, they are not necessarily my own favourites - case in point being that song about everything being Blue by some Belgian bunch...

The quiz is a success and becomes more and more enjoyable as time goes on and people's faculties, particularly Bobby's, are blurred by, ahem, "Christmas Cheer"...

And so, on this Christmas Day we learned the following strange facts (amongst many others):-

Liechtenstein is the only landlocked European country which is bordered only by other landlocked countries...

The Munsters live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Mockingbird Heights...

Midnight Cowboy was the first, and so far only, X-rated film to have won the Best Film Oscar...

Brazil is the only South American country which has had a Monarchy...

The literal meaning of the word 'Islam' is submission...

The proper name for a common mouse is Mus Musculus...

It is Ringo Starr who holds a trumpet on the cover of Sgt. Pepper...

The 100 Years War lasted either 116 years: 1337 - 1453 or 114 years: 1339 - 1453...

Members of the Nazi SS had their blood group tattooed on their armpits...

Salvador Dali wore a diving suit to the opening of the International Surrealist Exhibition at London's New Burlington Gallery in 1936...

With over 7,000, India has, by far, the most universities (the USA comes second with over 4,000)...

The three wise monkeys' names are Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Hear no evil), and Mazaru (Speak no evil)...

The first man-made object to move faster than the speed of sound was a whip...

On the presents front, the new Fiona Apple album "Extraordinary Machine"....



.... and the 3CD retrospective compilation "Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal : An Island Anthology 1967-1972"...



...make their way into my collection...

I am also now reading more books on Architecture and Modern Art...

A good day...