All Things Christmassy!

[featherxquill]

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, or a wonderful Saturday, if you don't celebrate. Boxing Day is drawing to a close for me, now, and I just woke from my post-lunch afternoon nap. Had one both days. Whee.

Pumpkin pie was a hit! My brother especially was dubious because omg pumpkin as desert, but everyone really enjoyed it! Including me. Yummy!

I received, among my loot, a copy of Judi Dench's 'And Furthermore', 'The Fry Chronicles', and 'Room'. You can tell I'm a reader - my gift pile always looks like BOOKS and a few other things (this year, perfume! Three bottles from different people!). Also, gift cards from Dad so I can go shopping :D.

In fandom news, hoggywartyxmas has started posting, and everything so far has been a winner! Go check out, and I will do some more specific recs later. Christmas chat was fun, too - it was great to 'meet' you all 'properly'! :D


Also, snape_ldws Secret Santas have been posted, and my gift is amazing!

Here Comes Santa Claus by albalark
Rita/Severus | R, bondage | What Rita wants, Rita gets.

Eeee! One of my OTPs! And Rita in a sexy Santa costume, and ahsghsggsfhsjsh YAY!

Go check out the comm for all the other drabbles, including my own, which is Minerva/Severus.


Also also, there's Yuletide!

Here is my gift, which is made of awesome! A fabulous look at the life of one of my favourite characters:

Life's Work
Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan | Verin Mathwin, Gen | Verin worked for a long time to gather all she knew, and kept her secrets until the hour of her death.


And here are a few recs from my first bit of reading:

Alternates
Back to the Future | George McFly, Marty McFly, Gen | Marty's life isn't at all like how he left it.

A wonderful exploration of Marty having to live with the changes in his family and his life, post-canon.


Practical, and Magic
Bedknobs and Broomsticks | Carrie, Eglantine Price, Emelius Brown, Gen | Carrie thought that Miss Price was simply the most wonderful lady in the world.

Pitch-perfect Carrie voice, and a wonderful depiction of her relationship with Eglantine, and how it shapes her view of the world and her role in it.


I'm a Free Bitch
Bad Romance (Music Video) | Lady Gaga, Original character, Mature Gen | Racquel was sent to the Haus by her parents to become the perfect girl. But she came out a Monster.

A wonderful story with a dystopian sci-fi feel that tells a chilling story about the world depicted in the video.


Shades of Bittersweet
Beauty and the Beast - Disney | Various Characters, Gen | What if Belle married Gaston? A series of vignettes set ten years after Gaston's ultimatum.

This story is a wonderfully written and desperately sad alternative to the happy ever after.


For a Bit of Colored Ribbon
Downton Abbey | Various characters, Gen | Some of the ways war comes to Downton.

A wonderful continuation of the series and exploration of the way war affects its characters.


So there's a few for you, but I have barely scratched the surface of the 2000+ fics (!!!) posted this year. Go check out the Complete list of fandoms for the main collection. If the archive is overloaded, there's also the static list, but you do have to go back to the main site to leave comments.

Go scroll through the famdom list for anything that takes your fancy. I'll be flailing around for days, yet. :)

Comments

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

It certainly was fun to meet you! Loved the chat. Good luck with tomorrow's shifts - at least they'll bring their reward.

[miss-morland.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked your Yuletide story. Also, thank you so much for the lovely virtual gift! *hugs*

[featherxquill.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! :)

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

"Back to the Future" fic! What fun. And I'm bookmarking the Downton Abbey, since I still haven't seen it yet. I crashed my computer twice, trying to download it. So I'll wait till the US DVD version is released, on Jan. 11.

Glad you've had a fun Boxing Day. We're still getting snow, snow, snow. It was lovely yesterday, when I didn't have to drive. But today I have to go out and tend a friend's cats.

Your Secret Santa drabble is a delight. I'd hoped to get your prompt myself, but now I'm glad I didn't.

And THANK YOU for the lovely ornament. I had to go to my profile page several times over the course of yesterday, just to look at it.

[featherxquill.livejournal.com]

There's more than one Back to the Future fic, btw. Both of them are awesome, but I recc'd that one because at that stage, it had less reviews.

And you're very welcome for the v-gift. :)

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a fabulous two days for you! A belated thank you for the v-gift, and best wishes for a 2011 filled with friends and fannish fun! Maggie

[featherxquill.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! :)

[englishwanabe.livejournal.com]

merry christmas my dear! is Room meant to be good? I nearly bought it at the bookshop the other day. xoxo

[featherxquill.livejournal.com]

I hope you had a great Christmas, too! I'll let you know what I think of 'Room' when I've read it :). It seems promising.

[arfies.livejournal.com]

I just love these! (I read the Bedknobs & Broomsticks and Beauty and the Beast ones). I wish more people would write "Bewitched" fics like the Rita/Endora crossover you wrote (and I love). Hardly anyone ever seems to, and there's so much potential. For example:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6502928/1/Missing_Pieces

[b]EXCERPT from "Missing Pieces" by Moogsynth (it's really better if you read the whole story, but...)

[quote]
[i][Samantha catches Rollo flirting with another woman and pops out in a huff.][/i]

Samantha was fuming on Cloud 9 when Endora popped in behind her.

"Mother! I came here to be alone! What are you doing here?"

"Why, I could sense my own daughter's unhappiness far across the atmospheric continuum!" Endora replied. "What is it this time, darling?"

"You wouldn't understand, Mother," Samantha said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll be the judge of that. Let me see," Endora pondered. "It has to do with men, doesn't it?"

"Partially," Samantha sighed.

"Oh, my poor baby. They don't deserve you," she comforted, giving her daughter a light hug. "Come on. Let's have lunch in London and forget all about it."




Endora had bought a lovely picnic lunch for the two of them in Green Park using zapped-up money. Considering her previous mood, Samantha would have scolded her about tampering with the mortal economy, but she appreciated her mother's gesture so much that she let it it slide. Besides, the lunch didn't cost too much, and it was delicious. The conversation was pleasant, enjoyable, and helped take her mind off of Rollo.

Samantha was almost done with her roast beef sandwich. "While we're in London, could we visit Daddy at the Warlock Club?"

"Ha! Your father with one of those reprehensible 'Kitty Girls' is the last thing I'd want to see at the moment," Endora scoffed. "I'll never know what I saw in that man."

"Surely something," Samantha grinned knowingly.

"Well . . . I'll admit he hasn't been a [i]complete[/i] disaster as a father," Endora acknowledged. "But as a husband, that's another matter entirely."

"What made you fall in love with him in the first place?" her daughter asked, taking another bite.

"Oh, I suppose he was charming and debonair. Once. Eons ago. He still had his looks then," Endora reminisced, sipping Cabernet Sauvignon. "All the witches fell for him. I suppose I should have seen what was to come, though, when—" She stopped herself.

"When what?"
[/quote]

[arfies.livejournal.com]

[quote]
Her mother paused. Very primly, she took a deep breath through her nose. "We had just moved to America then. It seemed like the 'in' place to be in the 17th century. Soon, we were expecting a baby. You," she beamed at her daughter wistfully. "It was the eve of the Galactic Rejuvenation and Dinner Dance. Maurice was attending a cricket match on Jupiter—or so he claimed. I was in labor and cried out for him desperately, but he was nowhere to be seen. Eventually he did fly to my bedside, but . . . it was too late. He had missed your birth," Endora sighed. "Later on, I had heard through the grapevine that he wasn't on Jupiter at all. He had been on Venus . . . with another woman."

Samantha was in shock. "But Daddy? He—he couldn't! Not then!"

"Maurice never forgave himself for that. I think that's why he spoils you so. It's his way of apologizing, I imagine," Endora surmised. "You really are the apple of his eye. But did he ever apologize to me for not being there? Oh, in his pseudo-poetic words, yes, even though he never directly admitted to philandering. Fool that I was, I fell for his flowery language and forgave the man. However . . . later actions spoke louder than words," she said, taking another sip.

Samantha continued to shake her head in disbelief.

"Again, I should have seen it coming," Endora continued. "He simply could not resist the spirit of conquest."

The young witch's mind flashed. Her father, then George, and now Rollo, too?

"Are all warlocks like that?" Samantha asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Ha!" Endora burst out. "Who isn't? Men are all the same. They're all charm and roses until someone new catches their eye. The only thing you can do is beat them at their own game. Enjoy the attention, and then move on. Believe me, you'll be much happier that way. And for goodness sake, don't marry the wrong man. If someone were to break your heart, my child, I don't think I could bear it," Endora said, stroking her daughter's cheek.

"But . . . how do I know who's the 'right man' or the 'wrong man?' What if you had married the 'right man' in the first place, Mother?"

Endora smirked to herself, then smiled warmly at Samantha. "Because if I had, my dear, I never would've had you. And I wouldn't give you up for anyone."


[/quote]