And the winner of Best Christmas Pressie Award 2014 goes to......

....Wait for it.....

Well, I can't just tell you straightaway now, can I?  Where's the fun in that?   Like all good award ceremonies, there has to be a little ramble pre-amble first - the dull bits you have to get through just to see if Benedict Cumberbatch has won Best Actor in the 2015 Oscars (you heard it here first folks.... you're welcome, Ben).

Firstly, though, in non-festive notable notes of note since my last blog entry: I got the job! (well, to be more precise, I successfully interviewed for the job I'd been doing since August and was re-hired - huzzah!  I survived the re-org!  And... watch this space.... i may also have gotten a promotion too!!). It was certainly a very nice phone call to receive yesterday, so sod off 2014 and yey for welcoming 2015 in style - it certainly promises to be an auspicious year, if that's a sign of things to come!!

Anyway, I've been blogging a bit about some of the fun things I've been getting up to since arriving here in Northern Cyprus (I'dve blogged a bit more, but i've been too busy having fun.  And eating.  Lots of fun eating.  Sorry Christopher...).  I've been here just over 2 weeks now and am entering into that bittersweet phase of any family trip/reunion when you have to start to become more aware of what day it is, and you can describe your departure date as "next" something.  As of writing, I only have another 4 days til I'm on the plane heading back to EFFING FREEZING CHICAGO (its forecast to be minus NINETEEN degrees Celsius (3F) when I land on Monday - that's just downright rude) so I figured I'd better get cracking and crank out a few blogs before heading back into work next week (i'm not ready! I'm not ready!).

Before.  Pressies for all ranged underneath the tree.

So....you have a choice: blogs in the hopper include: The Cats of Villa Ten Ten, The Uncommon Delights of Dubious Bazaar and Other Cyprus Shopping Experiences, Santa and his Reindeer Massive Take Girne Harbour (2015 NYE special), Bowled Over (a tale of teen angst and triumph over ten-pin tragedy) or The Pressie That Won Christmas?

What's that? Christmas first?  Oh, go on then.  I know you are all DYING to know what I got as a Chrissy pressie from Dubious Bazaar.  And I will tell you, all in good time..... but first... a note or two about the finer details of a Holloway Family Christmas....  (pre-amble, pre-amble...)

Right.  Food traditions first. Well, for us, we've always had our main Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, not Christmas day itself.  The reason for this is pretty simple.  By having the main meal the day before, Mumsie (or the chef de jour - in this case, Loopy) doesn't have to spend all day on Christmas day in the kitchen slaving over a hot brussel sprout, but instead, can participate fully in Pressie Fest, enjoying watching the kids opening their Xmas stockings (and Eren and Thomas too).  It works out very well each year - we do the traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings (a million different types of veggie cos, frankly, that's the whole point of it right?) on Xmas Eve then, on Xmas day itself, cook a joint of beef and have that with the leftovers from the day before.  Boxing Day, we were round at Mumsie's for lunch, so she'd cooked lots of yummy things too  - resulting in bonza double leftovers!  Yey!!  Bring on the roasties and bread sauce!

Our traditions re opening our pressies are equally simple - book and PJs on Xmas eve for all, then stocking (or giant sack/pillow case depending on pressie size/shape/volume) pressies in the morning (but ONLY after the holy trinity of Christmas tasks were finished (cats fed, fire lit, tea made) - its amazing how quickly you can get all those things done as an over-excited six yr old!) followed by tree pressies later on in the morning/day.  The exact timing of Tree Pressies was always a variable from year-to-year, adding an element of frission to proceedings, as my sister and I vied to be the coolest and feign indifference as to when the pressies should be opened that year. ("oh - after lunch? sure, no biggie to me - i don't mind - totally cool - whenever really") - translation: AFTER LUNCH?!! ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?!!!  YOU'RE KILLING ME HERE!!!  OPEN THEM NOW, NOW, NOW!!!).

After.  Christmas carnage and a Thunderbirds Tracy Island
emerges triumphant from the decorative debris.....

Each year, someone is nominated as Tree Pressie Hand-er Out-er where you take on the heavy responsibility of making sure that everyone's gifts are handed out a) to the right people and b) in the right order.  You don't want to - shock horror - hand out the Finale Pressie too early or the suspense you are carefully building towards that moment will be lost and the donor of said Finale Pressie will be jolly cross.

You also have to juggle the order about such that everyone seems to be getting a pressie in turn - but have to artfully adjust your giving sequence to account for the inevitable fact that not everyone has the same number of pressies.  Its usually Dad who draws the short straw on this one (sorry, Dad, but you shouldn't be so damned difficult to buy for) but I know that I caused Mumsie to become almost obsessive-compulsive about checking that Loopy and I had EXACTLY the same number of sack pressies and tree pressies, lest a certain younger offspring become all pouty should the delicate balance of festive offerings fall out of sync.  I remember, though, on a couple of occasions (when I was a lot younger and more devious than I am now) of deliberately slowing down opening my sack pressies so that I would have more left at the end and experience the glory of still opening pressies once Loopy had already finished!   Sorry about that, Mumsie - you did count correctly all those years, it was just me being a d*ck.  Quack.

OK - so here's a weird/funny thing about Christmas pressies that I've noticed.  Do you find that, no matter how many pressies you open (little ones, big ones, expensive ones, cheap and cheerful ones, lots of them, fewer of them (but obviously more than one, or this anecdote won't work), that - on Christmas day - you find yourself coming back to the same pressie to "play" with for the rest of the day?

For me this year (for you never know which of your pressies will turn out to be The One), the pressie I kept coming back to was one given to me by Mumsie, an Extreme Dot to Dot book (Around the USA) edition which included puzzles with over 1,400 dots!!!  That's a lotta dots, i can tell you.  Not sure exactly why that gift, out of all the bounty I'll share with you in a minute, was the one that grabbed my attention, but it did.  At time of writing, I've dot-to-dotted my way around New York City, Yosemite valley, Mount Rushmore and am currently engaged in a epic join-up-jaunt round Gettysburg Battlefield, complicated only by unfortunate fact that Mount Rushmore's dots have bled back into my current puzzle page, such that I'm now trying to navigate about 1,700 dots, about 900 of which are faux dots.  I'm now having to spot-the-dot - no wonder the book is dubbed "extreme".  I'm exhausted.

For Eren (my youngest nephew), the pressie de jour was a bright pink toy washing machine.  A very good choice, I felt.  Start 'em young and then, when they're old enough, send 'em on over to do my laundry/cleaning/hoovering etc etc....

However, on the roster list of Phenomenal Pressies that I received this year, while the dot-to-dammit-thats-not-the-real-one-dot book consumed much of my time on Christmas day, it did not make the Top Five list for the Best Christmas Pressie Award for 2014.  It certainly made the top 10 but, as you'll see below, competition was particularly stiff this year, given my sister has had a full 2 years worth of DB dodginess to monitor weekly, ready to pounce when The Perfect Gift surfaces.

And so, in reverse order (count 'em), I'm proud to present my pick for the Best Pressies Awards, starting with...

Number 5: Square Boiled Egg Maker (not pictured; currently in kitchen sink)
A handy gadget every kitchen needs to ensure your egg sandwiches are filled in the most eggscellently efficient manner possible.  Its no yolk.  Can't be beaten.  You shell all be wanting one of these.

Number 4: Musical Mosque Alarm clock
Complete with morning or day-time prayer settings, this ululating delight is a stylish time-piece for any home. Coincidentally co-ordinates with my bedroom color scheme too, so Allah-s, no excuse for it not to be on proud display when I get home.

I daren't put a caption on this one.

Number 3: NERF gun
How could I not have been aware of the awesomeness of the NERF gun?  I have since discovered that running round the garden outside trying to shoot your 17-yr old and 5-yr old nephews with foam pellets is the best way to work off those excess holiday calories.  Alas, Thomas had been given the Pro version, the sniper NERF gun, which fired from a 10-15m distance and made a rather alarmingly accurate whistling sound as it hurtled towards your face.  First blood, Thomas, but I'll get ya next time.....

Bring it ON!

Number 2: Moouriel the Velour Cow
Oh, Moouriel.  I knew the first time I saw you, standing alone and forlorn on the shelf at Dubious Bazaar, that we were destined to be together.  And my Christmas prayers (unrelated to number 4) were answered as you turned up under the Christmas tree, moo-ing softly to me and promising me unlimited supplies of Milka chocolate.  I think we are going to get along famooo-usly.

So soft and stroke-able. Lovely Mooouriel.

AND THE WINNER IS........

Number 1: Musical, Light-up Battery Powered Dolphin
I challenge ANYONE ANYWHERE* to come up with a gift more awesome than this one.  Words can not describe its sheer magnificence, so I will leave it to the Power of YouTube instead.   Christmas - DONE!  Suddenly, that song seems to make a whole lot more sense.....

* Terms and conditions apply.  Applicants must not live within easy shopping distance of Dubious Bazaar, nr Girne, Northern Cyprus.

While not on the LSD Dolphin-Level, there were some other notable Christmas pressies and experiences enjoyed by all - here are a few more snapshots from our fab family festive festivities!  I hope you and yours had as much fun as we all did - MERRY (belated) CHRISTMAS!!

Xmas brekkie of bagels, smoked salmon & cream cheese - nice
to see Loopy doing it NYC-style!!

For a bathtub that's bigger on the inside, just add Tardis shower
curtain

Tardis Yahtzee with Loopy scoring a RIDICULOUS
one-throw Cyberman-powered Yahtzee!  In one go, I tell you!!

This is a board game about who can adopt the most cats.
Even then, Loopy almost sweeps the board.  There is no doubt
that Loopy is Cat Lady Supreme.

Notable runner-up: Weeping Angel snow globe

Your guess is as good as mine on this one.  Look carefully at the box.
The "mystery bump-grind action" promised on the side is the reason
I daren't put the batteries in....

BONUS!!  Boxing Day round at Mumsie's and more pressies!!
(Spot a few of Loopy's Xmas day haul....)

Thomas and Eren eye up the pressie stash

Mumsie and Dad 

Methinks Santa was stacking the deck with his NERF gun pressies
this year.  I never stood a chance....

And THIS is what a totally surprised and enraptured
teenager looks like, as Thomas receives a completely
unexpected top-of-the-line iPad 2 Air

Eren hard at work.  Get to it, young man - i'll have some walk-in
closets needing installing in about 12 months time.