Thorn Wilde

Oooh... I may try to make this for New Year's... Unless one of our guests wants to bring a cake, since we're making the turkey (it's become common to eat turkey on New Year's Eve here, since it's not traditional for Christmas).

Paul and I will be spending Christmas with my parents. I'll be going over there tomorrow to help decorate the tree. Christmas Eve we'll be having various kinds of lovely fish (pickled herring, cured and smoked salmon, lots of stuff), and Christmas Day we'll be having pork rib, which is traditional in Norway, but we'll be switching up the sides to add some Finnish stuff this year, because I wanted to show Paul all my favourite Christmas foods. And he's making mince pies. So all round fun Christmas, food-wise. Thank you for the well wishes. ❤️

We had snow earlier in December, but it melted and then turned into ice. Tomorrow and Christmas Eve we're getting rain and sleet, and on Christmas Day we're getting freezing temperatures again and no precipitation, that will last until New Year's at least, so we'll have a lovely, icy, dangerous Christmas time here. Nothing like a little excitement when you leave the house.

Well, that cake sounds delicious, in any case! I love chocolate and orange together... ❤️

Yes! That's another version of the same one. How fun! When my mum was a kid, they were visited by the Yule Goat. Didn't look anything like the Santa-like figure presented in that photo, though. Looked more like this: He used to be a thing in Swedish tradition as well. The name has just remained in Finland and is now used for Santa Claus. In Norway, we always had the 'nisse', which was part of the inspiration for the modern Santa Claus. EDIT: We're way off topic now, we'd better stop.

Happy Sunday, everybody! I hope you're all well. My cold has mutated into a chesty cough, but at least I'm done with the most strenuous Christmas chores. Only need to get a few things tomorrow, and then only celebration remains. Yay! What plans have you all got for the holidays?

I like that story! And I like the idea of spider ornaments. I want some of those.

That's a fascinating piece of family history right there.

Me neither. I am going to boycott her for supporting transphobes, though. Just since we're on the topic of boycott.

@Reader1810, this just showed up in my Facebook feed and it reminded me of the brief Christmas movie chat we had the other day. I hope everyone is as well as they possibly can be. I’ve come down with a cold, so I’m crawling into bed now, in hopes that I’ll feel better in the morning.

We all screw up. It's part of being human. The best we can do is try to learn from it. ❤️

Storytelling is, I think, the most fundamental form of human communication. Yuval Noah Harari would appear to agree. If you haven't read his book Sapiens, I think you should. It's really interesting and fascinating. He posits that the point where human communication began to differ from that of other species was when we began to talk to each other about things that weren't there. Telling stories. But I digress. Thank you so much for reading and commenting on my story, Gary. I appreciate it greatly, and I'm very glad you enjoyed it.

Well, I hope you didn't go into reading this story thinking it would be safe for work. Thanks a lot for commenting. You know me. One way or another, the shit always hits the fan...

I love bacon with sweet things. I've made bacon banana splits before. I used just vanilla ice cream, strawberry sauce, a banana split in half (as is custom), and fried the bacon super crispy, then crumbled it up and added it kind of as sprinkles. And whipped cream, obvs. It was upon recommendation from a friend. It was weirdly tasty. Never thought of bacon and chocolate... The next time I make that banana split I'll add chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce!

I'm just theorising, but maybe it was specifically because it was the prologue? Which isn't so much a first chapter as part of the story itself, as you can't choose to add just a prologue but check it when you first publish the story.

God, this story is such a breath for fresh air after the other one. Lol! It was sweet when I proofed it. It's still sweet today. Thank you. ❤️

Well, I already told you I loved this piece. It's so different from most things you get here and I find that wonderful.

Ouch. Oh, this was painful. I know you said it wasn't a happy story, but fuck me. I can't believe Damon did that. I can't believe that he'd want anyone to go through what he'd been through, that he could be that vindictive. In the end, the only person I feel really sorry for is Will. He was clearly really upset, and after everything he did for Damon, he deserved better than having to watch his boyfriend have sex with someone else, even if it were just for revenge. Bad times all round. Fantastically written, Cassie, in all its painful glory. This one's gonna stay with me for a long time.

Hehe, thanks Wayne. Thanks for taking a look at it.

Always.

That's great, but then those warnings aren't for you; they're for people who have experienced trauma and would like to avoid it in the things they read or would like to be prepared for it before they read it, and for otherwise sensitive readers. I failed to put a content warning on a story that contained sexual assault that happened off the page (non-graphic, in other words). It did not go over well and I now make sure to include content warnings for sensitive themes not just in story notes, but in the individual chapters, because I know that's something many readers want and need. And if they bother you and you don't want spoilers or whatever, just skip past them. EDIT: A note on wording. I've found that what people actually react to is, for some reason, the word 'trigger' rather than the actual warning. This is a word out of psychology. People with various mental illnesses can have episodes triggered by a variety of things. For example, I'm bipolar; my depressive and hypomanic episodes are often triggered by stress (emotional or physical) or big changes in my life, both good and bad (a life change that is ultimately good, such as a new job I really like, can nevertheless make me depressed because it causes stress). For a person with PTSD, episodes are often triggered by a reminder of the trauma they went through. That's what 'trigger' means. For some reason, the moment you skip the word 'trigger' in favour of 'content', or you write just 'warning', nobody cares anymore, even though it's the exact same warning. And, just so we're clear, GA actually demands that authors place warnings on sensitive content, as do many other fiction websites. All things to think about the next time someones see the word 'trigger warning' and lets it turn them off reading a story.

Wise words well worth remembering. Hope everyone's doing well today.

Aww! This was so sweet! ❤️ Also, Oberon. Good name. Lol! Wonder how long it'll take before he throws a fit and wrecks the bedroom at all the unfamiliar smells and voices out there?

Good morning, all. I'm sorry you crashed. I know the feeling; I also have a hard time saying no. Glad you took the time to recharge. I've got podcast editing to do today, and then a Christmas concert with my choir this evening. After that, choir season is over and I can relax, at least in that respect.

You're weird. Parsnips are the best. ❤️