Christmas approaches

Is that the time? How many sleeps until Christmas?  Really?

Well, as promised to the recipients of my Christmas cards, here's an online miscellany of a few 'best bits' of 2010.

Wee project For reasons that remain unclear I decided to celebrate my sixtieth birthday by cycling solo from Land's End to John o'Groats (and then on to Kirkwall, Orkney) to raise funds for Falcon Camps, holidays for children and teenagers from tough backgrounds.

Should you feel so inclined, you can follow the course of my 'training' (pedalling around the cafes of Warwickshire, Gloucestershire and Derbyshire) and the ride itself via the Summer Cycling Saga blog, which includes various breathless podcasts recorded more or less in the saddle.


Angus The ride was packed with rare and random moments, mostly involving me being helped, boosted and (occasionally) rescued by kind and generous people. Chief among these very good Samaritans was the admirable Angus, the Cromarty crab man.

Bard news Mr Gnome relished a brief moment of celebrity when he boosted the Royal Shakespeare Theatre's Transformation Project. And I found myself chatting on local radio about Gregory Miller, the inspiring teacher who turned me on to Shakespeare.

Bill's Christmas cat

Christmas feels like Christmas now that my friend Bill Sanderson's Christmas card has arrived.

It's exactly one year since I wrote about Bill and his remarkable artwork.

This year's is a gem, I feel.

Christmas

Mr Gnome apologises to readers (if any remain) for the Trappist-like silence that has enveloped the blog in recent weeks.

As always, Mr G's human operative willingly takes the blame. But in the spirit of 'never complain, never explain', we crave your indulgence and shall try to do better in the New Year.

The current cold weather has transformed the neighbourhood into a hard-edged winter world. The canal is frozen, giving ducks an opportunity to show off their triple Salcos. Fieldfares bob about in the hedgerows.

There's a new linked blog, by the way. All about my plans for June 2010.

Year end

Advent Sunday - a good time to emerge from one's customary self-delusion that the year is far from over.

The Christmas picture-card is ready - thanks to the annual struggle with the wonderful Comic Life software. This is graphic design for the technically challenged, delightfully easy to use and providing sound effects (squeak, creak, grind, whoosh) as one shuffles the image around the screen, adding captions and speech bubbles at will.

Christmas cornucopia

Once again, Christmas has brought a torrent of fabulous gifts. Mr G is beside himself with pleasure and gratitude.

• A suite of office-related paraphernalia: tape dispenser, stapler, hole-punch, pen holder - each item bearing iconic images of Mr Gnome. How useful.
• A pack of gnome-inspired playing cards. Snap!
• A trio of glow-in-the-dark gnome figurines, inspired surely by the famed Easter Island statues. Uplifting.

Hurrah for Christmas!

Light

This is one of my favourite nativity images: light and darkness, amazement and mystery, peace and disturbance, heaven and earth.

A tiny, naked incandescent baby bathes his young mother in dazzling light, the illumination shared by a group of small, excited angels and by two attentive animals.

Joseph, rapt and still, watches from the shadows. All is peace and adoration.

But outside on the hillside, it's a different story as the shepherds desert their little fire to gaze in wonder at a single, vibrant angel, who chooses them, the poorest of the poor, to be the first to hear the news.

The picture was created by Geertgen and may be seen in the National Gallery, London.

I wish you a joyful Christmas.

Bill's Christmas cats

My friend Bill Sanderson makes his living as an illustrator. The arrival of his Christmas card has become an eagerly anticipated annual treat.

His theme is often feline. The image above appears on the front of the card and its witty sequel appears within.

Bill works on scraperboard, removing and removing the black surface to reveal the white board below. It's the opposite of traditional drawing, where dark lines are added to a white background.

I love the amazing economy of his images, and his ability to evoke textures, in this case the tufty silkiness of this very comfortable cat.

Very Bard puns

Tip-top gift today from a kindly Secret Santa - this wee coaster uses a design by cheery punster Simon Drew.

We hooted at the liberties taken with WS's titles.

Have you got them all yet?

Cavey Christmas

Mr 'in-the-moment' Gnome doesn't quite 'get' the concept of delayed gratification.

But this year, he's been making a sturdy effort to avert his gaze from the avalanche of twinkly, Christmas-related doo-dahs that threatens to overwhelm the human world.

Today, however, he has succumbed.

The catalyst? The advent of the first, fabulously festive guinea pig of the season.

Let the mince pies and mulled wine be brought forth. Mr Gnome is, er, 'up' for Christmas.

Ding dong.

Jessye + guinea pig - they work for us...

Ever persistent, kindly-but-firm Mr Gnome has at last succeeded in motivating the HB to crack on with Christmas preparations.

The record player has been cranked up and the sumptuous strains of Jessye Norman's Christmas Album provide the background to this year's frenzied card-fest.

Should energy levels dip, the Village People are standing by.

Cards are plunking through the letterbox at an alarming rate - all of them delightful.

Mr G's favourite so far is pictured: a charming guinea pig sporting a dashing knitted hat.

Hurrah!

Birmingham brilliance

The sounds, the smells, the tastes and the delicious dazzlement of Birmingham's German Christmas market have lifted Mr Gnome to a pinnacle of pre-Christmas pleasure.

He urges all to hasten towards New Street to participate in this annual celebration of mid-winter light, colour, sparkle and innocent delight.

Hurrah indeed!

Current affairs

Micro-celeb Mr Gnome tonight helped bring twinkling illumination to a Midlands street by switching on the famed Banbury family Christmas lights.

Mr G said: 'What an honour! I'm galvanized, electrified and dynamized to have been chosen to perform this joyous task.

'The Banbury family brings light into the lives of many people. How appropriate, then, that their home at Christmas should be transformed into a glorious glitterball of a zillion coruscating points of light.

'Hurrah!'