#so for the holiday season from xmas to the new years i prepared like three comics | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

clanwarrior-tumbly · 1 year

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happy au steven mike n reader doing xmas stuff. tree decorating, cookies, etc. if it’s ok to go on from the last happy au ask, then maybe mikes egg hatched and is either lil baby charmander or is now a big strong charizard :> kinda wanted a cute lil thing with steven n reader under the mistletoe bc mike was like “LMAO this’d be funny” and hung it where he KNEW they would stand. also mini request could the reader have a shiny eevee companion? maybe as a gift from one of the boys? -galaxy(imoutofs

Aw yeah holiday sequel!

........

It was Christmas time in Kanto, and every human and Pokémon in town was making their final preparations for the holidays.

You, Steven, and Mike had just finished decorating the outside of the brothers’ home, so now there were a few more things to add inside to get you all hyped for the season.

You never thought you’d be spending Christmas with them, of all people.

But after a rather awkward meeting with Steven, that ended with Miki and your Charizard becoming lovers and having a baby Charmander (who Mike raised to become a strong and powerful Charizard like her mother), here you were years later, having grown closer than ever.

Especially Steven.

Ever since Blue--and then Red--defeated him and became the new Kanto champion, he decided to settle for a quieter life with you, Mike, Miki, and the rest of his Pokémon team. It was much-needed “retirement” of sorts. The three of you went on vacations to other regions, the most recent being Galar, but returned home just in time for the holidays.

Of course, with both of your Charizards falling in love, it’s no surprise that you’d eventually develop your own feelings for Steven.

But the truth was that he also had a die-hard crush on you..one that Mike knew very well.

He’s been trying to motivate his little bro for a while to make the first move--to no avail. Despite being quite charismatic with his fans, Steven faltered on genuine romantic things, even though he fell for you because you were the only one who treated him like a person instead of a celebrity. It’s you who he could envision a future with.

He simply didn’t know how to take things further from here.

However, with tonight being Christmas Eve, Mike may have just discovered the perfect plan.

While you were taking cookies out of the oven, the Charizards were playing in the snow, and Steven was adding finishing touches to the tree, the brunette had strategically placed some mistletoe above a gift his brother accidentally left on the sofa. He forgot to put it under the tree when he got side-tracked by other matters.

‘All according to plan. This should work out just fine.’ Mike snickered, before heading into the backyard. He wanted to make an ice skating rink by using his Blastoise’s new Ice Beam attack.

Shortly after he left, Steven turned around and noticed the gift. “Crap, I forgot all about this one..”

“You forgot what?” You peeked out of the kitchen, taking off your mitts and leaving them on the counter. The cookies were cooling down now, so you decided to investigate what was going on in the living room.

He picked up the present and looked at you, standing rather awkwardly. “I was gonna put this under the tree but got caught-up in other stuff.”

“Oh! Is that for Mike or-?”

“You.”

“Awh, sweet!” Grinning, you took it from his hands, looking down at its spherical shape. “Y’know, in some traditions it’s okay to open one present on Christmas Eve.” Then you looked up at him, eyes shimmering. “Do you mind I choose this one?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Sure. Go for it.”

“Thanks!” You removed the wrapping paper, stuffing it into your pocket so you didn’t make a mess on the floor. And it was revealed to be a...

Pokeball?

“Huh..nice. Just what I always wanted.” You snickered sarcastically. “My very own standard pokeball.”

Steven was flustered, but before he could say anything, the device opened up by itself to reveal-

“...oh my gosh, is that a Shiny Eevee?!!!” Your eyes widened in shock for a few moments, before you hopped up and down in happiness, scooping the silver-furred Pokémon into your arms. “I love it!!”

It seemed just as happy to be your companion as it uttered a joyful “vee”, before wriggling out of your arms to curl around your shoulders instead. There, it nuzzled its nose against your cheek. You grinned and rubbed its ears. “It’s so cute. Thank you, Steven!”

You hugged him tightly, feeling him tense up for a moment before he returned the hug, smiling lightly. His heart was hammering in his chest at the closeness.

‘We fit perfectly in each other’s arms..’ His smile grew softer, wondering if this was now the right time..

But his eyes wandered up to the ceiling, and that’s when he realized...

There was mistletoe directly above you both.

“Huh, that’s funny.”

His face exploded into a blush as he looked back at you, seeing that you noticed it as well. And you just had a staring contest for what seemed like an eternity.

“Well..you know what they say about traditions.” You winked.

“I-”

But Steven was barely able to get a single word out, as you quickly pecked him on the lips. Only for a second, though this was a moment he’ll never get out of his head.

You were actually kissing him.

When you pulled away, you chuckled. “Awh, your face is as red as a Shiny Gyarados.” You teased softly. “Too bad you can’t hide it behind all your hair.”

Your Shiny Eevee seemed to agree, as it giggled at his flabbergasted expression.

“Now, what were you trying to say before?”

“...[y/n]..I-I...um...” Steven was completely tongue-tied right now.

There was a lot he wanted to say in this moment.

So much that he wanted to tell you-

-click-

Startled, you jumped out of each other’s arms and saw Mike standing there with his Rotom Phone, a grin spreading from ear-to-ear. “Oh that’s cute. I’m totally posting this on my Pokégram!” He laughed, though he tensed when Steven began fuming. “Now, now bro..what do we say?”

“Mike...”

“..uhhh...hey I-I think Blastoise is calling me!! H-He learned how to use telepathy now so bye!!”

“YOU GET BACK HERE!!”

Mike sprinted away laughing, while Steven chased him outside, hellbent on ensuring he didn’t post that image of you two.

All the while, you stood there with the Shiny Eevee still on your shoulder, petting its fur. “Heh, brothers..am I right?” You sighed, shaking your head in amusement.

“Vee, vee.” It nodded.

“...I hope he likes the Shiny Applin I found in Galar. Do you think he’ll like it?”

“Hmm...Eevee!”

#clanask #galaxy anon #pokemon x reader #pokepasta x reader #strangled red x reader #fluff #christmas

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thewritewolf · 3 years

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Mari Christmas And A Happy New Adrien

Summary:

Lost in the aftermath of Hawkmoth's defeat, Adrien loses complete track of time and before he knows it, the holiday season is upon him. Will a Christmas visit to his girlfriend's house be just what he needs to move on?

Hello and welcome to my piece for the @mlsecretsanta event! My giftee, @lesslinette, asked for among other things, Adrienette, family bonding, fluff and just a bit of hurt/comfort and I aimed to please!

I had to do a good amount of research into French and Chinese Christmas traditions (including interviewing my long-suffering French friend - thanks @emsylcatac!), so hopefully I didn't get anything *too* wrong.

Read on Ao3

Enjoy!

Marinette 💖: You still up?

Adrien: Yeah Still not sleeping great House was always too quiet Never thought it could get more quiet tho lol Whats up?

Marinette 💖: :( Just wondering what u were doing 4 xmas Since You know

Adrien: Since father went to jail and mom died again? Haven’t thought about it Guess ive still got time to figure it out

Marinette 💖: … ..Its the 23rd of Dec Like 2am Not a lot of time left

Adrien: oh Guess uh Stay at home?

Marinette 💖: Adrien Its been like two months Youve been going crazy in there Youll just be stuck in there all by yourself Why don’t you come over?

Adrien: I don’t know… I don’t want to bring anyone down Or ruin anyone’s christmas

Marinette 💖: Adrien ‘Kindest Boy in Paris’ Agreste

Adrien: Oh no she used my middle name

Marinette 💖: You are coming over tomorrow And letting me pamper you And letting my family - your REAL family - love you And that is the end of that ...Is that okay with you?

Adrien: Whatever you say ma’am

Marinette 💖: Good Be here no later than fifteen hundred Let me know if I need to pick you up

Adrien: Will do

Adrien laid back down, his face lit up only by the glow of his phone and the only noise in the room being Plagg’s snoring. Putting his phone to sleep, he turned over, closed his eyes, and honestly smiled for what felt like the first time in a long time.

---------------------

Adrien reached the door to his girlfriend’s house with a gift under one arm, an envelope in his pocket, and a weak smile on his face. The latter wasn’t because of a lack of feeling on his part - the exact opposite, actually.

It had been hard to go to sleep after their conversation that night, a swirl of mixed emotions keeping him from getting the rest that he craved. Last night wasn’t much better and he was left exhausted. He’d even been half tempted to call and say that he couldn’t make it, but somehow that only made him feel worse.

So here he was. He’d shambled his way to the car, driven himself there through blurry eyes and frequent yawns, and turned the doorknob. Maybe they’d understand if he just dropped off the present and headed home.

Well, maybe not home, but just where he lived.

The instant the door opened, a wave of hot air buffeted him. Not only did it warm his freezing face, it brought all sorts of wonderful smells on it. There were the expected scents - baked potatoes, salmon, chicken. But then was something else, something a little harder to place.

After puzzling over it for a moment, he shook his head and stepped into the house. No sooner had he closed the door behind him than he heard some voices calling out from deeper inside.

“Wait, was that the door? The family wasn’t supposed to be over until tomorrow, weren’t they?”

“Tom, that has to be Adrien!”

There was excitement in Sabine’s voice that warmed his heart, but not quite as much as when he’d taken a couple steps into the house and was blindsided by Marinette bursting out of the living room to wrap him in a hug.

“Worried I might not show?” Adrien whispered after they parted from their kiss.

“Not even for a moment, chaton.” She smiled up at him before her eyes wandered down to his arms, a suspicious look on her face when she saw the one present. “Looks like you showed some restraint this year.”

“Of course!” At her continued doubting look, he added. “Come on, I’m perfectly capable of giving reasonable gifts.”

“Last year you tried to give me my favorite restaurant.”

“But I didn’t!”

“Only because I hid your checkbook and credit cards!”

Adrien snorted. “Details.”

Rolling her eyes, Marinette tugged on his coat sleeve. “Follow me, you ridiculous man. You can put your gifts under the tree, we’ll open them tomorrow.”

She led him into the living room, where their Christmas tree had been set up in all its glory. There were red paper chains wrapped all around it and a huge variety of homemade ornaments - including a few that he’d made in years past. Ever since he and Marinette had started dating, he’d been welcomed into their household with open arms. And even before that, they’d been nothing but kind to him.

His eyes poured over the tree, looking for one specific ornament. It didn’t take him long to find it - with its poor quality, it stood out among the beautiful glass orbs and painted baubles. His fingers brushed over the patches of glitter, a nostalgic smile spreading across his face as he took in the patterns of melted wax inside it. His first ornament. They’d barely been dating a few months when he’d made that one.

Had it really been four years already?

Arms wrapped around him from the side and he looked down at Marinette’s chin resting on his shoulder, peering up at him with big blue eyes.

“What’re you thinking about, hot stuff?”

“Old memories, that’s all.”

“Hmm…” She leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek. “You just about ready to make some new ones?”

“With you? Always.”

“You two want to come in and help us finish cooking dinner?” They both jumped when Sabine’s voice reached them.

Blushing, Marinette reluctantly let Adrien go and headed toward the kitchen. “Coming, maman!”

------------------

A few hours later and the four of them were seated around the dining room table. Some things had been moved around from what Adrien remembered from the usual arrangement, and a long table had been set up. Most of the spaces were empty - with the four of them, only about a third of the table was occupied. But while the chairs were mostly left bare, the table was not.

Even though he had helped make some of it, Adrien was still amazed at how good the food all looked when laid out on the table like this.

Most of it was pretty traditional, at least from what he knew. A lot of the time his experience with Christmas dinners were meals allowed to grow cold until he gave up on his father showing. But the roasted chicken was still steaming when they cut into it, the smoked salmon and toast still holding the heat of the oven on them. Add in the gratin dauphinois and this was just about the ideal Christmas dinner he could imagine.

Naturally, it got even better with Sabine’s contribution - spring rolls.

As Adrien shoveled them onto his plate, he asked Sabine, “Is this the only Chinese dish for today, maman?”

“Just you wait, dear.” She smiled over her plate. “Today was Tom’s turn to make dinner. Tomorrow will be mine and you’ll definitely have your fill then.”

“I can’t wait!” Adrien took some of the chestnut sauce to pour over his chicken. Which reminded him… He glanced nervously toward the oven. “I don’t suppose you made foie gras, did you?”

Marinette made a face and shivered.

Tom quickly shook his head. “Oh no, son. Back when Marinette was… what? Eight, nine? She found out how it was made and made us promise to never have it again.”

“Eleven years later and we haven’t broken that promise yet,” Sabine finished. “There are plenty of other foods in the world.”

“That’s good.” Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. “It always made me uncomfortable when my father ordered it.”

“Ordered, dear?” Sabine gave him a confused look.

“Oh, we never really cooked our own dinners.”

Tom’s jaw dropped. “Not even Christmas dinner?”

“Nope. Sometimes he’d have to order the dinner prepared the day before and then we’d reheat it the day of, since no one wanted to come into work on Christmas day, you know?”

“I see…” Tom shared a look with Sabine, but the meaning was lost on Adrien. “Well, you make sure you have your fill, son! We’ll be making more for tomorrow, so this is all for us.”

“Thanks,” Adrien said with a grateful smile.

The conversation meandered and for the most part Adrien was just content to listen in, drinking in the company after spending so much of his time recently just by himself. Well, mostly by himself. Marinette would visit whenever she could get the time between college classes and internships. Nino and Alya were more elusive, if only because they were outside the city so often these days.

But there was one person who was his constant companion, Adrien thought with a smile as he peeked into the breast pocket of his T-shirt…

...Only to see that it was empty. Maybe he’d gone to visit Tikki and the kwamis of the miracle box? Adrien was drawn out of his thoughts when Sabine directed a question at him.

“Are you ready for the pre-dessert snacks, dear?”

“Oh! Sure, yeah. What do you have?”

“You’ll love it!” Tom excitedly got up and hustled over to the kitchen, Sabine right behind him. He raised his voice to be heard as he went to the room next door. “We know how much you love camembert so…”

Adrien’s eyes widened. They didn’t…

Tom returned with a platter of cheeses in his hands and a frown on his lips.

“Something wrong, papa?” Marinette’s eyes glanced between Tom and the cheese platter.

“No, no… its just… I could have sworn I bought more cheese than this. And I was so sure that I had purchased camembert.” He rubbed his chin. “Ah well, there is more than enough for the three of us anyway.”

While Sabine set down a large bowl of salad in the middle of the table, Adrien glanced at Marinette. At his side, Marinette was biting her lips and pointedly staring into the middle distance, trying her hardest not to laugh. For his part, Adrien was frustrated that he couldn’t go anywhere without Plagg making a noticeable dent in the food supply.

His annoyance with Plagg was so great he almost didn’t enjoy the Yule Log that Tom had made for dessert. Almost, but not quite.

Once they were done with dinner, they cleared the table.

“So, how’d you like the meal?” Marinette asked as she dried off the dishes while Adrien washed them.

“Definitely better hot. And homemade.”

Marinette chuckled. “I’m glad the bar was so high for us. Really makes us feel like we accomplished something here.”

“How about…” Adrien bit down on his lips and narrowed his eyes in thought. “It was the most delicious meal I’ve had in months.”

“Ooo, now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Years even.”

“Good, good, go on.”

“I had never known food could taste so delicious until you graced me with your heavenly meals.”

Marinette’s eyes gleamed with restrained laughter, the hint of a barely contained smile ruining her deadpan. “Glad I could finally weasel how you really feel out of you.”

“Yeah you’re pretty good at that, aren’t you?” Hands still in the sink’s soapy water, he leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“No fooling around now, we still have to help put up the last decorations before we relax for the night.”

“What sort of decorations?”

“Paper lanterns and paper chains. That sort of thing.” At Adrien’s politely confused look, she added, “It’ll help make mom’s side of the family feel welcome. Plus they look pretty cool.”

“Well what are we waiting for then? Let’s kick this into overdrive!”

Adrien suddenly worked in a flurry, Marinette scream laughing as she got splashed with some of the water thrown up by his breakneck pace. Marinette could barely keep up between her giggling, but she somehow managed.

With the last fork, plate, and glass sparkling clean and put away, Marinette shook her head and dabbed at her slightly damp shirt with a fresh towel.

“You’re a dork, you know that?”

“So my girlfriend tells me.”

Adrien relished the sometimes quiet, sometimes loud evening he spent with the Dupain-Chengs. When he went upstairs and cuddled Marinette in the cozy darkness, Adrien felt only excitement for the next day

----------------

Morning came swiftly, but Adrien rose to meet the dawn’s first light with a smile on his lips and a spring in his step. Marinette was… a little less eager, but he managed to coax her out of the bed, eventually.

When they finally got down the stairs and made it to the kitchen, Sabine’s eyes widened and she even froze in the middle of folding one of her dumplings.

“Marinette? I’m surprised to see you up so early.”

Bleary eyed, her daughter simply jabbed a finger toward Adrien and grunted. Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled.

“I knew you’d be a good influence on her, sweetie.” Sabine patted his cheek with a warm smile. “Now, once you’ve had some breakfast I’d really appreciate some help out here. From you especially, Marinette, since you know exactly how to do it the way I like it.”

“Can’t Tom help?” Adrien made some toast for him and Marinette, doing his best to stay out of Sabine’s way. “Not that I’m not willing to lend a hand, but he’s got to be pretty good at it after all this time, right?”

Sabine laughed and even Marinette cracked a smile. “You’d think so, but no. The man can make almost any dessert known to French mankind, but I’ve yet to see him finish one spring roll or dumpling in all our years of marriage. Just about the only thing I’m trusting him with today is the roasted pork.”

“Not even the cheese plate?” Adrien asked, tongue in cheek. To his surprise, Sabine shook her head gravely.

“We don’t make one for Christmas day. After all, everyone that is going to be here is from my side of the family and we’re all lactose intolerant.”

“Oh.” Adrien glanced at Marinette, who shrugged.

“I got lucky and got papa’s tolerance for it, I guess.”

“Huh… well, can I help?”

A few hours passed, most of which Adrien spent doing vital but unskilled cooking like stirring and kneading. Although they did let him try to fold a few dumplings. It ended up nowhere near as well done as Marinette’s, but she still gave him a kiss on the cheek for the good effort. From what he gathered, Tom had never even managed to get it to stay together.

They had just put the last batch in the oven when they heard a knock at the door, Sabine quickly taking off her apron as she rushed to answer it.

Adrien’s ears perked up when he heard a conversation in Chinese start up, but between him being a little rusty and them speaking so fast, he couldn’t pick out much.

A few moments later, Sabine walked back into the room with an older Chinese couple. Marinette pulled him towards them. Sabine put a hand on Adrien’s shoulder and introduced them.

“Adrien, these are my parents. My mother, Ling,” she said, gesturing towards the grey-haired woman currently hugging Marinette. “And my father, Zheng.”

The older man’s grey eyes sparkled with excitement as he held out a red envelope for Adrien, who just now noticed that Marinette had also been given one. He froze, eyes widening. Was he supposed to have gotten them something too? He hadn’t realized that anyone would be getting him anything, except maybe Marinette. There was a moment where he was about to decline but he took a shot in the dark and accepted.

The moment his hand touched the envelope, Zheng spoke in Mandarin, “Best wishes for the New Year!”

“Thank you very much!” Adrien replied automatically in the same language. While the finer points might escape him, Adrien was fluent in niceties.

Zheng’s eyes widened before he nodded sagely to himself. “Ahh, I see you’ve picked up some Mandarin from my daughter, yes?”

“Oh, no, sir. I’ve been studying since I was fourteen.”

Once again, Zheng’s eyes widened before he chuckled and looked knowingly at Marinette. “This one is definitely a keeper! I approve.”

Marinette’s cheeks were almost as red as the envelope, but she still smiled.

The bright, enticing red of the envelope made him want nothing more than to open it right then and there. But Adrien took a nod from Marinette, who had very pointedly left it sealed even as she refused to set it down. He chose to follow her lead as they all made their way to the living room.

While the Dupain-Cheng parents and the Cheng parents were getting settled there, Marinette volunteered them to go make some tea. Once they were in the kitchen and out of earshot of the new arrivals, Adrien held up his envelope with a raised eyebrow and curious look.

“You can go ahead and look at it now, it’s just not polite to do it right when you get it.” She carefully unsealed the envelope. “It's this Chinese tradition - good luck money for the new year, you know?”

Adrien followed her lead and found one ten, one twenty, and one fifty euro note inside. Glancing over, it seemed Marinette got the same. He was half tempted to just give her his euros since he didn’t have any need for it, but decided that might be tacky. If she would even take them at all. After stashing the envelopes away in a kitchen drawer, they came back with tea for everyone.

Over the next few hours, more and more family members funneled into the house. Adrien, used to seeing maybe four people during the holiday season, thought the room would be close to bursting after the first aunt arrived with husband and two kids in tow. But then came the uncle and his family, then the second aunt with her boyfriend and by the end of it fifteen people were packed into the living room. For some reason apples in boxes became involved? Adrien thought that was a pun but that was more his pun sense than his linguistic skill.

Before anyone could get too settled in, they finally got to opening presents. Despite his fears from the red envelope, no one else seemed to have gotten Adrien anything.

At least, none of the extended family had. The Dupain-Cheng family, however…

“Here you go, dear.” While the rest of the room was chattering among themselves, Sabine placed a package about as big as a shoebox on Adrien’s lap. Before he could react to it, Marinette had shoved a bag stuffed with packing paper.

“Let me go get your-”

Adrien felt a tug on his arm and looked down at Marinette seated beside him. “Open your gifts first and then we’ll open the ones you got us.”

“Okay, okay.” Adrien looked at the box on his lap and tore it open. He tilted his head in confusion as he lifted the fabric that he found there out of the box. His eyes widened when he realized it was an apron with ‘Kiss the Chef’ on it.

“Its for when you come over to cook with us!” Tom beamed down at him proudly. “Now you don’t need to borrow our aprons any more - you’ll have one of your very own!”

Adrien felt his eyes get misty and he bit his lips to keep himself from crying. After a few moments of pulling himself together, he managed to say, “Thank you, guys. I’m really looking forward to wearing it!”

“Speaking of…” Marinette prodded the bag she left with him.

“Right, right.”

Adrien removed the paper and pulled out what turned out to be a sweater, cream colored and decorated with mistletoes and black cats in red scarves. It felt amazingly soft as he slipped it on over his head, embraced in a warm hug that - he lifted the fabric to his nose and took a deep breath - yes, smelled exactly like Marinette. For now at least.

“Do you like it?” Instead of replying, Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette and pulled her close to him, nuzzling his nose against her neck. Giggling, she smacked his arms lightly. “I’ll take that as a yes, now let go!”

After he pulled his arms back, he stood up and stepped between the Cheng family members and made it to the tree before heading back to the little corner of the living room that they had claimed. He passed the envelope to Tom and the box to Marinette.

“A… gift card for an appliance store?” Tom said, his brow furrowing.

“I wanted to get you an actual new stove because you’re always upset at it,” Adrien explained in a rush, feeling embarrassed that his gift felt so… impersonal compared to theirs. “But when I went to the store I had no idea what actually made a good stove and searching it up on the internet only made it more confusing and… yeah,” he finished lamely.”

He glanced up at them and felt better to see them smiling back.

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Adrien! Thank you, we’ll make good use of this.”

Beside him, Marinette began opening her gift, which Adrien was much more excited for. Not because he had spent any less for it, but because that at least he knew exactly what to get.

He knew he’d done good when she gasped as she pulled out the expensive fabric she’d once stared at longingly from the otherside of a store’s window in Paris. Which, of course, meant that he was also expecting the smack on his arm from her as well.

“Adrien! This is expensive! You definitely shouldn’t have bought this.”

“Actually, you’ll remember that I get to spoil you exactly three times a year - birthdays, Valentine’s, and Christmas.” He gave her the most innocent look he could manage. “So you like it then?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You know I absolutely love it, you cat.”

“Then that’s great!” He continued with the overly chipper and oblivious tone, knowing how much it bugged her. He rubbed his hands together. “So… when’s dinner?”

-----------

After a Christmas dinner packed with Chinese dishes, they slowly returned to the living room.

Adrien sat in a corner of the room, taking in the warm and inviting atmosphere, the excitement and energy of so many people gathered together in such a small space.

Holding Marinette close, Adrien felt like he was part of a real family for the first time in a long time.

#Miraculous Ladybug #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrienette #Love Square #Tom Dupain #Sabine Cheng #ml secret santa exchange #my writing #Mari Christmas and a Happy New Adrien

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sweater-daddiesdumbdork · 3 years

Text

Sage and Sweaters Holiday/Winter Challenge Submissions

Hello Tumblr Peeps! As were getting further in the season, figured we would share what has been submitted so far as Challenge Fics. (Others will be added as they are submitted, there is no rush to participants to get them in.)

Its a lovely list with a bit of everything on it. Make sure to give the writers a round of applause for there submission, they are extraordinary stories that they have shared with all of us. I am always humbled by everyones talents.

Divider made by @firefly-graphics

Happy Reading!

Holly Jolly Xmas by @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho featuring Ransom x Reader. Ransom doesn't care for Christmas, but Reader loves it and is out to show him that it can be a good time by placing a friendly bet. Fluff

Pure and Good by @donutloverxo featuring Steve x Desi!Reader. Steve has found the love of his life and brought her back to the states. Its time for a wedding right around the holidays. Things don’t always go as planned in life, but sometimes its the unexpected that really makes the memories. Warnings- Smut

Naughty or Nice by @sweeterthanthis featuring Ransom x Reader. Its Christmas Eve and you are busy getting ready for your family coming over to celebrate your favorite holiday. Ransom on the other hand has other things on his mind and when he catches you nibbling on a forbidden holiday treat. Well... He cant just let you get away with being naughty can he. Warnings- Smut

Cozy Christmas Night by @just-one-ordinary-fangirl featuring Ransom x Reader. Its Christmas time and you are in full Holiday Spirits. Cookies, Music, Trees, Decorating. You are not letting anything ruin your Christmas, and your love for the holiday is slowly rubbing off on one Ransom Drysdale. Fluff

25 Days of Christmas: Day 2 by @stuckonjbbarnes featuring Loki x Reader. You and Loki are decorating the beloved Christmas Tree. Loki feels like its a bit of nonsense, but you won’t be deterred. Fluff

Surprise by @viinchester featuring Chris x Reader x Dodger. You decide that give Dodger a bit of a fun makeover for the holiday to surprise Chris before he gets home. Fluff

25 Days of Christmas: Day 6 by @stuckonjbbarnes featuring Bucky x Reader with Sam showing up at the end. You make the perfect cup of cocoa and Bucky is all there for it. Teasing and playing with you. Fluff

Riding High One Shot: Whamaggedon by @what-is-your-backupplan-today Frank x Fliss. Its the jolliest time of year and the girls are all for pulling everyone into the festivities, including Thor the dog. Franks gotta admit, maybe this will be one of the best Christmas’s yet now that Fliss joined the family. Fluff

Once Upon A Christmas by @the-soulofdevil featuring dark Steve Rogers x Reader. The Endgame is finished and Steve knows he needs something deep in his soul. Its not Peggy, that life is behind him. He’s seen to much and come to far. He delves into a new lifestyle, maybe something more then the reader was ready for when she started dating Steve Rogers. Warnings- Non Con/Dub Con

Stark Spangled Forever: A Very Rogers Christmas Part One Part Two by @what-is-your-plan-today/@what-is-your-backupplan-today featuring Steve Rogers x OC Katie Rogers. Its Christmas time in the Rogers house hold and the kids are all excited for Santa Claus to come to town. It features many guest characters, and I promise full of laugh and love. Fluff

Jingle All The Way by @sweater-daddiesdumbdork featuring Sam Wilson x Reader. The Avengers are spending Christmas on Clints farm. Sam decides to take you on a winter sleigh ride with Clints trusty horse team. Fluff

Parts of Whole by @gotnofucks featuring Sam Wilson x Bucky Barnes. After Steve has left, Sam struggles with missing his friend and taking up his title as Captain America. But there is someone always at his side, someone who understands how Sam feels. (you will need tissues. I did.) Angst/Fluff

Stealing Ingredients by @nekoannie-chan featuring Steve Rogers x Brock Rumlow x Reader. You want to make Steve his cookies and Brock his muffins, but you need some extra ingredients. While you are gone, they boys come up with there own idea to surprise you. Fluff

Too Loose and You'll Lose It: Jesus Is My Homeboy by @icanfeelastormbrewing and @what-is-your-plan-today/@what-is-your-backupplan-today featuring Jake Jensen x OC Stella Stevenson. Stella and Jake are preparing a stag party for Pooch when looking at pictures brings the two of them down memory lane to a Christmas celebration filled with good memories for the both of them. Warnings- Smut, Swears, Drinking.

The Christmas Pickle by @thefanficfaerie featuring Steve Rogers x Reader. The Reader has a Christmas Tradition that requires a glass ornament pickle. Steve decides to join in on the family tradition and gets to hide it away for the other avengers to find for a special gift. Fluff

Search For The Perfect Tree by @theenchantedgalleryofstories featuring Chris Evans x Evangeline Blackwood. Evangeline has joined Chris’s family for her first New England Christmas. Fluff

The Highest Bidder Epilogue by @pagesoflauren featuring Ransom Drysdale x Reader. Its Christmas time and readers family is all arriving for the holidays. Ransom will get a first look at how his wife celebrates the season. A beautiful ending the The Highest Bidder and I highly suggest taking a look at the series. Warnings- Smut. Also Ransom also being completely lost shopping.

Freezing Cold by @steebsbabygirl featuring Steve Rogers x Reader. Steve and Reader are going away for a Christmas Vacation, thanks to Tony. A snowy cabin for the holiday? what could be better? Cuddles! all the super soldier cuddles in this beautiful snowy escape. Beautiful! Fluff

Pretending by @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad featuring Sam Winchester x Reader. Sam and Reader are old friends during Sams college days. After reconnecting their friendship, reader has a favor to ask. Of course Sam is ready for the challenge... pretending to be her boyfriend during her families Christmas Party. Fluff

You’re A Mean One by @stargazingfangirl18 featuring Frank Adler x Reader. Frank is a bit grumpy with Reader and Mary around the Holidays. His two girls playing a prank on him. But Reader is happy to make it up to him, and it is the holidays after all. His heart grows three sizes that year. Among other things. Warnings- Smut.

New Year Woes by @just-one-ordinary-fangirl featuring Steve Rogers x Reader. New Years Eve is here and you have to spend the holiday alone because Steve is stuck out on a mission. Its hard to hide the dissapointment from Steve no matter how hard you try when he tells you. But its the season of surprises, maybe Steve has one in store for you. Fluff

Not-So-Secret Santa by @navybrat817 featuring Bucky Barnes x Reader. Its secret santa time and Bucky wants to make sure his gift is PERFECT for you. With Alpines help and encouragment, he is sure to wrap the precious gift. When the party commences, the team is sure to encourage this beautiful moment between you two. Fluff.

The Pack: Silent Night, Holy Night by @sweater-daddiesdumbdork featuring Alpha Steve Rogers and Little One Reader. It’s your first Christmas with the Alpha, and Steve falls in love with the holiday all over again because of you. Warnings- Smut

In Love And ... by @bananapie99 featuring Bucky Barnes x Reader. The snow is falling and you can not contain that child like excitment for the occassion. Bucky isnt quite as enthusiastic, but you are able to bring him around to sharing snowy day fun and love. Fluff.

My Snowy Valentine by @twittytelly featuring Chris Evans x Reader. Sometimes the best things are the simple things. Like getting snowed in at home on valentines day. The world just consists of you two and Dodger spending some quality time together. Fluff.

Slush and a Side of Toys Part One by @redhairedfeistynerd featuring Chris Evans x Reader. You are much to busy getting ready for the holiday seasons, your time donated to the children who deserve the magic of Christmas. You dont have time for one Blue Eyed individual checking up on you. But you cant control the memories of the past that he brings up with one little text message. Smut

#ssholidaychallenge #holiday #holiday 2020 #winter fics #holiday fics

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polyamorous-mysme · 3 years

Text

Really fucked up that i got 3 asks ten days ago and literally didn’t get notified about them until 1am this morning. fucking bullshit.

anyway did y’all know in korea christmas is more akin to valentines day than western xmas. i didn’t but.

Jumin x V x Zen

“Have the documents for the bistro deal been dealt with yet?” the Chairman’s voice crackled through the speakerphone, the sound of papers rustling in the background.

“Yes, sir. They’ll be posted first thing in the morning. Jaehee will be taking care of it on her way home tonight.

“Tonight? Don’t she and that lady friend of hers have dinner plans tonight? I know Christmas Eve is less chaotic than Christmas, after all, I figured Jaehee to be the type to prefer that.”

“Yes, they have a reservation at eight. My gift to the two of them this year.” Jumin knew, in fact, that both had devised separate proposal plans for the evening, to the pure delight and entertainment of the other RFA members who’d agreed in secret not to let either of them know about the other’s respective plan despite numerous chat rooms helping them plan speeches and dinner and other details. Though, Jumin didn’t think his father needed to be privy to that piece of information.

“At somewhere nice, I hope. That woman deserves a nice night out, after the last few months.”

The interest Jumin’s father had in Jaehee wasn’t new. He still held hope that Jumin would follow in his footsteps, even down to sleeping with his secretary, though he’d never say so out loud.

“And you, I hope. You have Christmas plans?”

“Yes, dinner with friends tonight, as well. And a small gathering afterwards with the RFA. I should probably get going myself. My car is waiting.”

“Oh, yes, of course. Merry Christmas, Jumin.”

“And to you as well. Merry Christmas.”

He hung up the phone with one hand, the other holding his half-tied tie’s position around his collar. It was a simple royal blue, small silver polka-dots. Zen liked it best for the season. He said it looked like snow. He conceded to a small, corner-mouthed smile at the memory, where Zen’s slender fingers grazed the front of the tie before loosening it to remove it from Jumin’s neck, leaning in for a kiss as he did so. His other hand had reached around Jumin’s waist, soft hand gripping it lightly to tug himself closer.

That was last Christmas. The three of them -- Jumin, V, and Zen -- hadn’t made real plans due to the storm that had taken the power in the penthouse for the night. They’d stayed in, eating the cake Jumin’s chef had prepared the night before and sipping mulled wine in the candlelight. Despite the lack of grand planning, it had been quite romantic -- perhaps not as romantic as a double proposal, but it remained one of Jumin’s favorite evenings in living memory.

He slipped the three envelopes with Saeyoung, Saeran, and Yoosung’s gifts in the pocket of his suit jacket. The three of them were expected at the cafe after dinner for the Christmas party to exchange gifts and listen to carolers in the plaza. Obviously, congratulations were in order for the future engagement, but V and Zen were in charge of that.

Even now, only half an hour from their dinner reservations, Jumin’s heart ached at the thought of them. He longed for them every moment they were out of his sight, craved their conversation and laughter every second he wasn’t listening to it. Christmas held a special place in their relationship, after all, as it was three years ago tomorrow that the three had made their relationship official and come clean to the other members of the RFA. Two years since the first real disastrous fight of the relationship. A year since the favorite night of Jumin’s life.

Three years of the most love and worship Jumin had ever given anybody, and he wouldn’t change it for the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

V, of course, was early. He was seated on a bench outside the restaurant, listening to the bustling sounds of the city, feeling the soft, cold flakes of snow fall on his upturned cheeks, completely at peace. While not particularly religious himself anymore, Christmas remained his favorite. He loved the spring and summer, of course, but he took the winter months as a chance to reset, to reevaluate what he wanted from the next year to come. And, of course, the holiday itself served as a reminder of how much his life had changed over the last few years.

Though he’d be terrified to say it in as many words, that Christmas three years ago, and the two men he’d shared it with, genuinely saved his life. He’d been quietly setting all of his affairs in order for months, ready to simply disappear with the end of the year, no plans to return. No escape plan. He’d listed Yoosung and Jumin as the trustees to most of his assets, with instructions to the RFA on what to do with the rest. He’d written a letter to Saeyoung to be delivered posthumously, as well, with explanations and plans and last known whereabouts.

He really hadn’t expected to make it to the new year, until that Christmas. Until the explosion of vulnerability that had been building for months finally forced him to face his issues head-on, to ask for help. Even now, he could be quite the locked box, but it was Zen and Jumin that made him feel safe enough to entrust the key to someone else rather than hide it away in yet another box.

“Well, hey there, stranger. You out here all by yourself?” a musical voice asked, interrupting V’s dramatic reflection.

It took quite a few moments for V’s vision to focus onto the character, as focused as it could get, anyway. He knew who it was before that, of course, Zen’s sarcasm was uniquely recognizable, even in a crowded stadium.

“Actually,” V started, stretching his neck, “I’m waiting for a very handsome man to sweep me off my feet. Maybe you’ve seen him around. He’s the most beautiful man on the planet, about six feet tall. A bit self-absorbed, but his musical talent is unparalleled.” V could sense the smirk on Zen’s face, feel the air stir as he stood a little taller with the praise. “His name is Jumin Han. Have you seen him?”

He heard Zen’s melodramatic gasp at the insult, and stood to embrace him, wrapping his arms around Zen’s neck and giving him a small kiss to the cheek. “Really, though, have you seen Jumin? I expected him here first. You, after all, are chronically late to anything remotely important.”

“He’s right here, you two. Sorry, there was an accident on the road.”

At the sound of Jumin’s voice, V broke away from Zen to turn and smile. Jumin, quite frankly, sounded exhausted. It always worried V, when he had big projects and deals to navigate at work that took up months of free time and proper sleep, but Jumin wasted no time in moving closer to the other two men and giving them an entirely appropriate embrace. Fair enough, of course, one could never be sure of what opportunist was around to gather the gossip on three fairly well-known men.

“An accident? I’d blame it on my astounding beauty and rockin’ good looks, but according to V here, that’s your area of expertise now,” Zen huffed. V might not be able to make out the finer details in sight anymore, but it didn’t take eyes to tell Zen was gearing up for the eyeroll of a century.

“Well, Astounding Beauties, I have been sitting out in the cold and wet for far too long waiting on your fashionably late selves. Shall we go inside?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zen truly did admire Jumin’s taste. In most things, at least, it was impeccable. Fine dining was definitely no exception. When Jumin made reservations, they rarely ate at the same place twice, at least not together, yet somehow the experience never failed to exceed expectations.

Their real plans didn’t fall through, so much as got transferred. When Jumin heard Jaehee and MC had planned their proposals on Christmas, he immediately called the other restaurant to alter the reservation as a gift to them. Zen never would have expected it from the Jumin of three or four years ago, or perhaps even the Jumin before this year, but lately Jumin seemed to have melted into quite the romantic. He insisted that a proposal was much more worthy of the experience, and he had no shortage of strings to pull to find another. It gave Zen an odd mix of pride, awe, and sentimental mush to see how much effort Jumin had personally put into the night, for both V and Zen, and Jaehee and MC.

Zen never put much stock into Christmas before. His family would always attend a Christmas service together growing up, and he’d done it the years he lived alone, but he’d never done the big romance aspect of it before.

Well, not until V and Jumin, at least. That Christmas three years ago, it was like someone had given him glasses, corrected his vision. The whole ordeal sharpened into focus, and Zen finally understood why it was considered such a romantic holiday, why his parents would go out to dinner and come home flushed and laughing and more in love than he’d ever seen them. They’d give him and his brother a to-go box with two perfect pieces of Christmas cake, even though they’d never get home until hours after their usual bedtime, and they’d all sit in the kitchen laughing and making jokes long into the night. Now, those nights no longer seemed like a slightly better than average night, they were full of love and care Zen hadn’t seen or experienced anywhere else, until three years ago.

Last year, they hadn’t gone out or exchanged gifts or anything, but it was still the best night of Zen’s life. He hadn’t said it at the time, but the simple pleasure of sipping a warm drink, sitting in the candlelight talking and laughing and telling stories had meant more to him than any fancy dinner or gift. They spent the night completely present with each other, no distractions, no work, as though they’d found themselves on their own little planet, completely untethered to Earth and its day-to-day, and had fallen asleep in a tangled mess on the floor as the fire slowly died.

He’d have settled to have done it again this year, but Jumin felt as though he needed to make up for the sorry excuse for dinner he’d made last year. That, of course, and the party afterwards. Zen was looking forward to hearing the story of Jaehee and MC’s accidentally joint proposals, drinking champagne, and seeing Yoosung and the twins for the first time in a while.

Mostly, though, it was the look V had given him while cracking his joke earlier. It was the way Jumin’s entire body seemed to have been relieved of ten tons of weight as soon as he laid his eyes on the two of them together. V’s small peck still burned on his cheek, just like it was the first and not the thousandth. At the end of the day, Zen didn’t care if it was in a crowded restaurant, a room full of friends, or on the thick carpet on Jumin’s hardwood floors in front of the fire while the world around them was buried in snow, Zen was most at peace, most loved and loving, most humbled and worshiped in the presence of the two men he’d bore his soul to three years ago, nearly to the date.

“Zen, are you coming or not?” V’s voice called from the door of the restaurant. His lips were red, cheeks flushed from the cold, blue eyes wild with anticipation and the remnants of laughter. Zen could see Jumin waiting inside through the door, his dark eyes peering around V’s head to look at him, one smug rich boy eyebrow cocked and the corner of his mouth turned upwards.

“No, the two of you don’t even need me for my looks anymore. What use could I possibly have for you inside?” he mocked, though his feet had already begun walking, one arm outstretched to grab the door from V. catching their collective reflection in the door window as he did so.

Well, if nothing else, he could agree that Jumin had impeccable taste.

#mystic messenger #zen #hyun ryu #jumin #jumin han #v #jihyun kim #ot3 #polyamorous mystic messenger #poly mystic messenger

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inevitably-johnlocked · 5 years

Note

Heyo! Do you know of many fics where John cooks food and Sherlock has that moment of realization that he just loves John and their life together? (Or just any fic where one cooks food for the other haha)

Hi Nonny!

AHHHHH, not 100% this concept, but I do have a few food-related fics! Check it out!

COOKING, FOOD, & DINNERS

See also:

Food Sex

Johnlock & Food (Alexx’s List)

Dinner With John by Zang Bluetterfly (T, 505 w. || Friendship, Romance) – “Let’s have dinner, John.” Sherlock secretly smiled. Irene had been right: he had rejected her dinner’s invitation because he already had John by his side, even though the doctor was still clueless about Sherlock’s true feelings for him.

The Basics by wearitcounts (Sher_locked_up) (T, 611 w. || Schmoop, Fluff, Coffee, Kissing, Friends to Lovers, The Morning After) – Morning snogs, and coffee.

Easy like Sunday Morning by lbmisscharlie (G, 910 w. || Fluff, Breakfast in Bed, Epic Friendship, Platonics/Domestics) – John and Sherlock and their lazy, dysfunctional Sunday mornings in bed. In which Sherlock has difficulty sleeping and John makes lots of toast. Shameless fluff. Part 1 of No Mushrooms Please

This Isn’t About the Bathtub by cypress_tree (G, 1,142 || Marriage Proposal) – John and Sherlock go to Angelo’s for dinner. In both of their pockets are rings they are going to propose with, but the other has no idea. John proposes first, and Sherlock answers by pulling out his engagement ring.

Overtime by glow_in_the_dark (G, 1,149 w. || Fluff, Tea, Caring Sherlock) – John has worked over 80 hours this week, and will no doubt have to go into work tomorrow too. Arriving home beyond dead tired, his flatmate seems to take make it his personal mission to make John comfortable. Part 2 of Little Fluffy Oneshots

There’s Always Three of Us by Itsallfine (T, 1,765 w. || S4 Fix It Fic/Post TFP, Parentlock / Rosie, Angelo’s, First Kiss, January 29, Love Declarations) – Sherlock takes John and Rosie out to Angelo’s and gets a chance to correct the biggest mistake of his life.

Risotto by Richefic (K+, 2,153 w. || Friendship, Angst, Misunderstandings, Apologies) – The first time that John cooks dinner for Sherlock is almost the last. Fortunately, Sherlock is really quite observant. Inspired by John’s reference in “The Great Game” to there being some leftover risotto in the fridge.

Corn Dog Daddy by inevitably_johnlocked (M, 2,719 w. || Sherlock POV, Fluff and Crack, Corn Dogs, Fairgrounds, Coming In Pants, Euphemisms, Military Kink, Flirting, Sexy John, BAMF John, Smol Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Humour) – Sherlock and John wind down after a case in a small town at a county fair. Sherlock’s imagination goes awry as John’s sexiness drives him crazy. Also: John knows how to handle a meat stick. Part 2 of I-J’s Tumblr Ficlet Collection

On a Sunday Morning by SD_Ryan (G, 3,136 w. || Fluff, First Kiss, Obsessive Sherlock, Pining Sherlock) – Sherlock has a little problem. He can’t stop obsessing about John Watson. {{Note to Self: ‘Cheese Tease’}}

It Was All Right There In Front of Him (A Five Times Plus One Story) by bees_stories (T, 3,191 w. || 5+1, Protective Idiots, Grooming, Bed Sharing, Lestrade POV) – DI Greg Lestrade is a good detective. But sometimes he doesn’t trust the evidence in front of him, until there’s a compelling reason to do so.

Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down by standbygo (M, 3,282 w. || Post-S4, Five Plus One, Missing Scenes, Parenthood, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Cuddling & Snuggling, Hurt/Comfort, Declarations of Love, Fluff, Food, John Whump) – Five times when Sherlock and John ate together, and one time they didn’t. A history of the boys, in food.

Five Times John Cooked Something with Peas and One First Kiss by 221b_careful_what_you_wish_for (T, 3,915 w. || 5 and Ones, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Cooking / Food, Sick Sherlock, Music, Domestic Fluff, First Kiss) – After John cooks five dinners that slowly reveal their hunger for each other, Sherlock and John finally share a first kiss.

Lingerie by Sexxica (E, 4,135 w. || Valentine’s Day, Lingerie / Women’s Underwear, Mildly Public Masturbation, Picture Texting / Sexting, Bottomlock, Body Worship, Anal Sex / Fingering, Rimming, Orgasm Delay / Denial, Est. Rel.) – It’s Valentines Day and Sherlock is taking John to Angelo’s for dinner. Sherlock also happens to be wearing a garter belt, stockings and a rather small pair of women’s underwear under his clothes. There’s no dessert at Angelo’s because John needs to get Sherlock home just as quickly as he can before they both lose their minds entirely.

See Recipe for Details by pandoras_chaos (E, 4,981 w. || Oral / Anal Sex, Food, PWP, Fingerfucking) – John knows Sherlock’s mouth will never water over the sweet smells of baking chocolate biscuits or a lovely roast chicken, but he’s watched Sherlock nick mince pies out of Mrs. Hudson’s fridge often enough to deduce that the man does have taste, albeit confusing and obscure. So John makes a list: Things Sherlock Likes

Because Blah Blah Blah Happy by cwb (E, 4,578 w. || Fluff, Cuddles, Kissing, First Kiss, Requited Love, Pining Sherlock) – John is entirely done with the milk situation and gives Sherlock a list of shit he’s pissed about. Sherlock sets out to make John happy. John is happy. Sherlock makes his own list. They are both very, very happy.

Survival Strategies for the Domesticated British Butthole by Atiki (E, 6,183 w. || Crack, Rimming, Anal Sex, Iced Lolly, Hair Removal, Depilation) – In which there’s a rimming disaster, Sherlock depilates his butt, everything goes very, very wrong and groceries are mistreated. This fic contains hair removal creme in a butthole, ice lollies in a butthole and John Watson’s penis in a butthole. You have been warned.

where the good things grow by anchors (M, 7,066 w. || Tea Shop AU || Alternate First Meeting, Magical Realism, Gardens, Tea, Friends to Lovers) – “I have a magic garden.” As come-ons go, John’s heard worse.

Bread and Wine and Curry Once a Week by cwb (E, 8,737 w. || Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Stroppy Sherlock, Love Letters, POV John) – Sherlock asks John for relationship advice. Little does he know that it’s him that Sherlock is in love with.

Fucking Cake by Random_Nexus (E, 12,965 w. || Pre-Slash, Humour/Crack, Inanimate Object Smut, Frottage, “For a Case” / “Experiment”, PWP / Kinky, Mutual Pining, Fluff) – Sherlock brings home a chocolate cake, John finds him about to have sex with said cake, then exceedingly weird hijinx ensue. Part 1 of “Fucking Baked Goods” - Sherlock BBC

Merlot by Itsallfine (E, 14,844 w. || Christmas, Pining Sherlock, Wine, Slow Burn, First Kiss / Time, Love Confessions, Wine, Holmes Family) – Sherlock and John work toward becoming something more as they prepare to host the Holmes parents at 221B for the holidays. Part of 25 Days of Fic-Mas 2015.

The White Lotuses by SilentAuror (E, 20,340 w. || Slowburn, Domestic, Romance) – One day John realises that he just isn’t where he belongs, which is back at Baker Street with Sherlock. So he goes back and Sherlock, in his own way, courts him. Romance.

A Shipless Ocean by myswordfishmind (M, 22,135 w || Post-TRF, John has a Kid) – Ten years after the fall Sherlock goes back to London to find that John no longer lives there. Instead, he resides in a seaside town, a widower, and the father of a seven year old son. Now, Sherlock must struggle with the fact that there may no longer be a place for him in this new world.

You Can Imagine the Christmas Dinners by ardenteurophile (T, 23,584 w. || Pre-Slash, Drama, Fluff & Angst, Humour, Romance) – Sherlock takes John along for Christmas dinner with Mycroft and Mummy (And “Anthea”, too). Over the course of the evening, John realises that everyone in the room - apart from him - seems to think that he and Sherlock are a couple. Part 2 of Xmas Dinners Verse

a good old-fashioned happy ending by darcylindbergh (E, 32,731 w. || Christmas, Frottage, Comfort, Est. Rel., Fluff, Insecure Sherlock, Frottage, Nightmares, Sleepy Sherlock, Marriage Proposal, Humour, Fluff, Dancing, Cooking, Happy Ending) – For Christmas this year, Sherlock wants to get John something special: something every fairytale deserves. Part 2 of things fairy tales are made of

Goodness Gives Extras by mydwynter (E, 39,629 w. || Fluff & Angst, Case Fic, Oral / Anal, Humour, First Time, Miscommunication, Snark, Christmas) – Christmas time. ‘Tis the season to settle down with a drink, some food and a present or two, and to enjoy the quiet relaxation of the holiday. Instead, there’s a case that drags them all over, missing presents, disappointed kids, angry parents, and a freak snowfall. On top of that John has to deal with Sherlock, who is being even more of a prat than usual. He really shouldn’t have expected anything different.

Bedroom Tales by Junejuly15 (M, 49,950 w. || Friends to Lovers, Through the Years, H/C, Military Kink, First Kiss / Time, Romance, Insecure Sherlock, Voyeurism, Post-TRF, Ficlets, Fluff and Angst, Fix-It Fics) – Bedroom Tales is a collection of John and Sherlock ficlets. They are set at various stages of their relationship and are in no particular order. Some are fluffy, some sexy, some angsty, there is hurt and comfort, romance and love. What unites them is that they all play in a bedroom, but not necessarily the one in 221B.

The Homecoming Series by sussexbound (M, 51,744 w. across 12 stories, WIP || Domestics, PTSD, Love Confessions, Hurt/Comfort, Cuddling, Jealousy, Family Issues, Cuddling) – Sometimes home is all you need. After three years of horror, betrayals, and crushing loss, John and Sherlock find their way back home to one another, and together find new footing in a world that has changed forever.

Guilty Secrets by Ellipsical (E, 55,086 w. || Drumsticks, First Kiss/Time, Love Confession, Self-Sexual-Discovery, Anal, Rimming, Orgasim Denial, Butt Plugs, Cooking, Furniture Sex, Bath Sex, Rimming, Double Penetration, Anal Beads, Dancing, Romance, Tantric Edging) – John has a prostate exam and discovers something surprising about himself. Experimentation follows. Sherlock wants to help. They’re in love. You know the drill.

The Book of Silence by SilentAuror (E, 60,056 w. || S4 Fix It / Post S4, Virgin Sherlock, Rosie / Parentlock, Domesticity, Fluff, Praise Kink, Sex Toys, First Person POV) – As spring blooms in London, John and Sherlock begin to take new cases and cautiously negotiate this new phase of life with John living at Baker Street again. Despite how well it’s all going, John struggles to forgive himself for the way he treated Sherlock following Mary’s death as well as trying to figure out how to finally put his long-time feelings for Sherlock into words. Part 1 of The Book of Silence/Rosa Felicia

31_Days_of_Porn_Challenge_2017 Series by distantstarlight (E, 96,540 w. across 31 stories || Prompt Ficlets, Assorted Kinks, PWP) – A collection in response to the 31 Days of Porn Challenge issued by AtlinMerrik! Thanks for doing that because this has been buttload of fun (that joke never gets old). All stories will be brief stand-alone one-shots.

Mise en Place by azriona (M, 161,004 w. || Restaurant (Kitchen Nightmares) AU || Sherlock is Gordon Ramsay / Celebrity Sherlock, Restauranteur John, Harry Plays Prominent Role, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, Cranky Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Slow Burn) – John Watson had no intentions of taking over the family business, but when he returns from Afghanistan, battered and bruised, and discovers that his sister Harry has run their restaurant into the ground, he doesn’t have much choice. There’s only one thing that can save the Empire from closing for good – the celebrity star of the BBC series Restaurant Reconstructed, Chef Sherlock Holmes. Part 1 of Mise en Place

Unkissed Series by 221b_hound (T to E, 184,168 w. across 46 works || Established Relationship, Ace Sherlock) – Sherlock returned from the dead a year ago. John returned to Baker Street six months ago. They’ve been in a couple since then. or at least, not NOT a couple. For two smart men, they sure can be dumb. Luckily, an art thief tries to drown Sherlock, Sherlock has a fever dream and things are about to change.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #food fics #cooking #Anonymous #fic rec sunday

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wyntertimes-blog · 4 years

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>> Strange times <<The poll winners' party

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It's also unlikely to surprise you to learn that Rupert Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks, Les Hinton and all the usual News UK suspects were there too, getting their fourth and fifth trolleys of booze brought in to the office by the time Blyth Valley announced.

The one thing that might surprise you though is that in among the revellers was... Cate Blanchett.This year's series of Love Island has taken three of the top ten spots in Ofcom's list of most complained-about shows of 2019.

>> Straight shooter <<Randy Andy makes 'em standy

It's been a bruising few weeks for Prince Andrew since his cataclysmic interview with Emily Maitlis – but he's probably brimming over with remorse and humility now, right?

Erm.

Earlier this month, Handsy Andy went on another of his (straightforward) shooting weekends. At breakfast one morning, everyone else in the party was sat quietly reading the papers when Andy came into the room.

As no-one stood up for him when he entered, he bellowed "OH HO HO! LET'S TRY THAT AGAIN, SHALL WE?" Then walked out of the room and re-entered, so that everyone could oblige him.There's a This Morning team WhatsApp group entitled "We Hate Phillip".

>> Big Questions <<Who's asking what this week?

What could have caused the Mail to pull a recent exclusive of theirs about a French masseuse meeting with Prince Andrew at Buckingham Palace back in 2000? The story made the paper's front page at the end of November but, save for a report of the Mail's report in the New York Post, there's no trace of it online now.If you subscribe to Popbitch, chances are your internet search history is something you'd rather was kept private. Protect yourself online (plus bypass digital censorship) by using a VPN. CyberGhost is currently offering Popbitch readers a 79% discount on its 18 month plan, which protects up to seven devices, for just £2.15 a month.

[Find out more here]

>> Westwood ho <<Getting loose with Ivanka

Before she became the accomplished businesswoman and occasional threat to global security that she is today, Ivanka Trump had teenage ambitions of becoming a fashion model.

Thanks to her family connections, she was seen for a number of jobs in the late 90s and became a bit of a favourite of Vivienne Westwood. Westwood's team used to make a point of letting the models pick the music they put on in the studio as a way of helping them to relax and feel comfortable on a shoot.

Ivanka's choice of music, every single time? Jamiroquai. Which she would then sing along to.

Peanut from the Kaiser Chiefs is preparing to run his 100th park run over the Christmas holidays.

>> Bah humbug <<More drama at the BBC

The BBC is going heavy on trailing their version of A Christmas Carol this year, making a big song and dance out of the fact it stars Guy Pearce, is written by Peaky Blinders' Steven Knight and has been exec produced by Tom Hardy. One person who's been a little left out in the cold though is director Nick Murphy.

Poor Nick was so miffed that the BBC didn't invite him to take part in a special Q&A event about the show that he ended up turning up anyway to rage at the head of BBC Drama there. His ire hasn't just been reserved for TV execs either as he's started taking pot shots at Tom Hardy on Twitter too, claiming that the catering department was more involved in production than Hardy.

There may be some lingering resentment there, as Hardy was set to star in A Christmas Carol (as well as produce) until he suddenly decided to bail out. But if you ask us, Nick, you had a lucky escape.

On set at Hardy and Knight's previous BBC1 collab, Taboo, crew members reported that Hardy wasn't shy about staying in character, stark-bollock naked, for much of the time. And we can only imagine what it would have been like trying to direct with the Ghost of Christmas Past's dick and balls wafting all around.

Nick Cave Watch: Everyone's favourite goth dad was spotted at an Elton John concert in Melbourne this week.

>> Picture this <<More corporate creepiness

One of Jeffrey Epstein's former employees claims that Epstein kept a 6ft portrait of his mysterious 'fixer' Ghislaine Maxwell above the pool in his sprawling New Mexico mansion. Not just any old portrait though. One of her naked and "posing provocatively".

He wouldn't be the first icky businessman to have had a life-size nudey portrait of a close associate on their wall though. West Ham's porn-purveying chairman, David Sullivan, was once well known in the football world for having a huge painting hung in his basement office.

Of his now Vice-Chairman at West Ham FC, Dame Karren Brady.Andy Coulson has been advised by friends that having his own name in his new PR firm (Coulson Partners) is enough to stop most major organisations from hiring them. So far it's advice that he (and his ego) seem unwilling to take.

>> Shaky casting <<Merry Christmas everyone!

This year's bleak seasonal murder drama, Responsible Child (based on the real life story of a 14 year-old killer who was tried as an adult and jailed) has been getting rave reviews.

Whether it was the shocking nature of the story, or the impressive performance of the child actor who inhabited the role, we couldn't tell you, but for some reason most of the reviews have failed to mention the most important thing about the production.

The kid who plays the murderer is the grandson of Shakin' Stevens.

This week's Media Masters podcast is a chat with historian and broadcaster David Starkey. His outspoken, unforgiving style and trenchant opinions have earned him a reputation as being "the rudest man in Britain". In this in-depth interview he explains the impact it's had over his career.

[Listen/Download on Media Masters]

>> One love <<The race for Xmas No.1

Now that The X Factor is an utterly spent force, and December streaming is dominated by seasonal classics, the annual race for Christmas No.1 has become a much more unpredictable beast.

Re-releases are subjected to permanent ACR restrictions ('Accelerated Chart Ratio') with streaming, which basically means that old, established classics have to generate twice the number of streams as new tracks in order to compete. (Without this, three of the top four last Friday would have been Mariah Carey, Wham! and The Pogues.)

So who's in the running this year? There's another tedious song about sausage rolls from Ladbaby (hideous; but for a good cause). There's the inevitable Ed Sheeran (this year on Stormzy's record). And of course, there's the now traditional Facebook campaign choice.

Facebook campaigns are a bit of a lost cause but it has to be said: of all the songs that the British public could have picked to champion this year, Jarvis Cocker's "(Cunts Are Still) Running The World", is a pretty good one.

[Join the campaign]

REO Speedwagon's original of Can't Fight This Feeling has been streamed more than Bastille's John Lewis ad cover since its release in mid-November.

>> Electile dysfunction <<Another cock up on the Beeb

On election day, there are very strict rules in the UK which forbid news organisations from discussing politics until polling is closed. Which means that news teams have to ignore the biggest story of the day and compile their news bulletins from whatever innocuous filler they can drum up instead.

As part of their non-political Six O'Clock News broadcast last Thursday, BBC1 chose to air an item about the postal service and people sending tiny items in oversized parcels. Alas, it seems there was a very good reason that the Six O'Clock News hadn't touched that story previously.

One of the parcels that was prominently displayed as part of the pre-watershed segment clearly showed a cock ring.Nominative Determinism of the Week: The Senior doorkeeper of the House of Commons... Phil Howse!

>> 2019: The Annual <<A last little gift from us

That's almost it for another year. We've got a couple of special issues to send out between now and 2020, so we'll be back in your inboxes before the New Year. But if you want to sink your teeth into some more Popbitch material over the Christmas holidays, then download our 2019 annual.

It's totally free, and features some of our favourite stories of the year. Print it off at work! Use it as last-minute wrapping paper! Give a copy to your most corruptible niece or nephew!

[Get it here]

And if you enjoy it – or have enjoyed any of the last 52 weeks of Popbitch – and feel like tossing a few quid into our Santa hat for a Christmas pint then we'd be ever so grateful.

[Donate here]

LAST CHANCE BEFORE XMAS: Anyone who donates £10 or more to this year's fundraiser is eligible to download a special play-at-home edition of the Popbitch Popquiz. We'll email you a digital pack with all the answer sheets, question packs and puzzle pages you need to host your own quiz.

[Donate to Popbitch here]

>> Hmmms <<Cats, dogs, Muppets

Rowan Atkinson deepfaked Dior advert

[Ready to lose your libido?]

The reviews of Cats are restoring our faith and trust in journalism

[Read on Prospect]

Picture of dogs in mid-air, catching frisbees

[Cute: what more do you want?]

Need to stock up on wine before the holidays kick off? Naked Wines is offering Popbitch readers the chance to get a case of six sumptuous bottles, plus free delivery, for just £19.99.

[Get your orders in soon!]

What do you get for the man who has everything?

[Try an annual Wank-Pass]

40 years since the Muppets/John Denver Christmas special

[Watch on YouTube]

A crash course in the 100 most memorable memes of the decade

[Read on BuzzFeed]

The real life, bricks-and-mortar Popbitch Popquiz will return in January. Don't let dry January stop you having any fun. Join us at Smiths of Smithfield for another seven rounds of trivia, music and smut with our host, Tom Webb!

[Tuesday 14th January]

[Tuesday 28th January]

Thanks to: JM, bunkle, CA, JC, Party_B, ST, T, JM, BB, CA, RT, MC, bobbi_fleckmann, EC, intheissynoho, MC, AM

Old Jokes Home

I just smashed my keyboard and I'm so angry.

I lost Ctrl.

Still Bored?

If you've already read this year's annual and fancy revisiting some previous years, the last five years' worth are free to download on the Popbitch site throughout December...

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thedogsled · 5 years

Text

Do you ever just read Christmas movie titles and think how much better the films would be/how much more fun they’d instantly be if they were queer stories? I do. It’s my hobby. In fact it’s probably the only thing that gets me through the holiday period. Christmas films are typically terrible anyway and they’ve made so much trash now that UK freeview has a whole channel that just plays trashy Xmas films round and round, so why not examine this phenomenon with some examples, and share the dubious fun and inspiration of my holiday habit. (Quality of original movies is not under interrogation, mind, and some of these actually sound like fics I’ve read, but I’ll get back to that in a minute...)

Here goes. Imagine your OTP, I guess?

A cynical TV executive accidentally knocks herself out while railing against the disappointments of her life. She wakes up to find herself in another world, where she is married to another woman and they have two children. As she comes to realise she is not dreaming, she must decide which life she wants to live.

This next one is the plot of Bride Wars but I beg you to imagine it rewritten as a crossfandom story with your two OTPs please. The Rainbow Wedding Show Down. Anything you can imagine would be miles better than this movie anyway.

Two lifelong best friends discover their weddings have been scheduled on the same day and at the same venue. Neither is prepared to back down, so a bitter rivalry ensues as years of friendship are cast aside in the struggle to sabotage each other's big day.

I haven’t seen this one, and it’s got Shatner in it, so the version in my imagination is already much better. Also it’s the 6000th retelling of a Christmas Carol to nobody’s surprise ever. WHY? I just imagine the Hallmark execs sitting their writers down and saying “Right, we need at least ten new Christmas Carol based movies this year, we need unique new suggestions, but don’t say ‘except that she has a girlfriend’ or you’re insta-fired.”

A professor is torn between staying in her hometown and marrying the woman she loves or travelling across the country to pursue her dream job. One night, a mysterious coachman offers her a chance to travel three years into the future to see how her decision pans out.

I am 100% sure I’ve read the fic. If not, someone should write it for me anyway.

A New York teacher prepares to bring his new boyfriend, a diplomat from a small European nation, home to meet his parents at Christmas. However, he gets a shock when he learns that said boyfriend is secretly the heir to his country's throne - and his parents do not approve of their relationship.

Oh my god the fluff /suffocates underneath the cotton softness of this prompt. I’d imagine my OTP, but, you know, one of them is afraid of flying...

A single father invites a flight attendant to spend Christmas with him and his daughter after he misses his connection.

*pteradactylBisexual screeching noises* Or maybe this is a polyamory story WE JUST DON’T KNOW.

A woman is thrilled after her boyfriend invites her to his family's lake house for Christmas, but is disappointed when he spends all his time working. She befriends his assistant, but is unaware that she is secretly in love with her until a twist of fate leaves them alone together.

The heterosexualness is genuinely killing me by this point, I’m suffering for all of you. Also I’m changing the gender of this one because all the romance stories are about sad lonely white women. Gee, better wish for a man to come and save you from your miserable empty lives, ladies! HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

A man loses his job, his flat and his boyfriend just before Christmas - all thanks to his mischievous pet dog. A co-worker invites him to come and spend the holiday with him on his farm, and the experience leaves him torn between pursuing a new life in the country or trying to rebuild his old city life.

If you read the next one without heteronormativity goggles on it’s already gay. This one could go so many ways. In the straight version I imagine the boss is a harpy and the designer destroys his existing relationship... /Googles for a second. Oh wait, I’ve seen this one. Yes. That is what happens, to absolutely nobody’s surprise. Nothing’s more Christmassy than this bitch, amirite? It would make an amazing polyamory story, I really wish that was what I’d watched instead.

An aspiring designer impulsively kisses a man she meets in a lift, only to discover he is her boss's boyfriend. She is given the task of decorating his house for a lavish Christmas party, but begins to fall in love with him - while he does not remember their previous encounter.

The next one leaves me in a weird position because I’ve watched the “queer” version already /bitter noises about 2007. The only difference is that this one is actually a romance, because presumably the two of them slowly realize that they do love each other, and that, my friends, is one of my favorite fanfic tropes ever, so...

Sparks fly between a graphic designer and his male counterpart when they agree to a loveless marriage of convenience to help each other out.

Next. I’m just saying if you complicate this plot a little bit with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell it becomes a heartbreaking story of discovery and community coming together instead of just another bland romance with a 6.1 on IMDB.

A war widow and an injured soldier join forces to save the town's military museum with a Christmas fundraiser.

I could go on. This is just two days of programming, mostly on the aforementioned 24 hour Christmas channel. Girl meets boy in suffocating heterosexual repeat. But you know what? As a reader and a writer of fanfiction, it just makes me feel so lucky to be in this community where these stories DO exist, where I can click a button and read a story about a grumpy police detective who bonds with his male partner when they get trapped in a lift together on Christmas day. Cause they ain’t gonna put it on TV.

The severe lack of anything warm wholehearted and queer for any holiday makes me angry, nvm the fact that in these stories only white women experience romance, they’re only ever romanced by white guys, and having a decent job means you’re doomed to loneliness forever. So while you can tear my hideously tropey smushy hurt comfort fanfic from my cold dead hands, at least I have “And there was only one bed” to retreat back to. In the greater scheme of things, tis the season to stab Straight White Christmas in the eye for marginalizing everybody else as well HOHOHO ASSHOLES.

P.S. Fuck you, NBC, for suggesting that Holiday in Handcuffs is a gay movie because it has a gay side character, and fuck you Hallmark Publishing, who a year ago said same sex relationships are fine, and they’d be up for making movies about the content they published, but to this day only straight (white) books have been put on the market. Nice. Well guess what, I have a greetings card for you:

#long post for ts #tis the season #not spn #in defense of fanfiction

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keywestlou · 2 years

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THREE DAYS OF GREAT DINING AT HOME

THREE DAYS OF GREAT DINING AT HOME - http://keywestlou.com/three-days-of-great-dining-at-home/I thought being alone for dinner this Christmas holiday was going to be a downer. Turned out not to be the case. The food has been great. The Pope right on. Old TV movies exceptional. Interesting telephone calls with some I have not been in touch with in ages. The food. So good I should be in solitary for a few more holidays. Christmas Eve found me the chef. The filet mignon, as prepared by Louis, exceptional. Christmas Day Lisa brought me left overs from her dinner the night before. For lunch, I had linguine with a great red sauce and Lisa's home made Xmas cookies. Superior tasting. Dinner last night were Maine lobster tails. Lisa went all out this Christmas. Outstanding! More Xmas cookies. Today's meals yet to come. Sloan my benefactor. She is due to arrive later this morning. Ham (cooked with the bone), potatoes and cobbler. My lunch. Will begin tonight's dinner with the rest of Lisa's linguine. Followed by a shrimp dish specially prepared by Lisa. Tasted a couple cold. Different. Can't wait to heat and try. Plus, Xmas cookies. I suspect I will still have leftovers remaining from Lisa and Sloan to pick on over the next couple of days. Not bad. A frequent Commenter to the blog suggested I cook stone crabs. A special fit to Key West dining. I love stone crabs! My favorite food. I have frequently commented over the years if I had a choice for a last meal, it would be stone crabs. Stone crabs are common to our waters. The season runs 10/15-5/1. They are available to Key Westers all the time. This season because of my COVID enforced incarceration, I have only had them once. Normally, once every 2-3 weeks. The commenter suggested I cook stone crabs for New Year's. No way then or ever. They are so easy to purchase. Cooked, cold and shell skillfully crushed. Stone crabs can also be served warm. I had them, once. Do not recommend it. The flavor is gone. I have enjoyed stone crabs so much over the years that on a few occasions I had frozen stone crabs flown from Key West to Utica. Invited 8-10 "lucky friends" and we pigged out. Came across an interesting proverb this morning: "A merry heart doeth good like medicine." Proverbs 17:22. Cold during the night again. High today will be only be 71. Which means cold. The rest of the week will be in the high 70's. I feel sorry for the tourists when the weather is not the best. They come for sun and fun. They know how to make up for it, however. Pick a bar and remain at it all day into the night. Eat oysters and drink. Before long, you and everyone around you become one happy family. As it is under normal circumstances in Key West. Some COVID updates. Florida achieved new record numbers for thursday and friday last week. The data is based on information forwarded by the State to the CDC. Thursday Florida reported 31,758 new cases, friday 32,850. Florida's one day previous high was 27,614 in August when delta swept the State. Florida's positivity rate rose also in the one week time frame by 13.8 percent. The top 4 counties contributing to the rise included in the #4 position Monroe County. Our County. Up 15.3 percent. Note even higher than the State's increase. The surge is here in Key West. At least for last week. Why was it not reported by local news outlets? I discovered the information on a Google news item which had nationwide coverage. Whatever, we must thank Gov. DeSantis at the very least. He has been trying to keep infection information down. He fears the truth. Though he discouraged vaccinations, it appears he himself might have received even the booster shot. He was interviewed on TV last week and asked twice if he had received a booster shot. Each time he weasled and failed to answer the question. The surge is evident throughout the country. Hospitals are overburdened. Two Maryland hospitals examples of the problem. Each has declared health care a "disaster" due to the rising coronavirus tide. The hospitals are the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health and the Hartford Memorial Hospital. Between the two hospitals, COVID cases are up 458 percent thus far this month alone. One hospital official said, "The demand for our services has outstripped our resources, which includes staffing." He said "burnout" and "moral distress" are fueling the staff shortages. Another administrator said and what I consider an important item in hospital overcrowding, "Between 75-80 percent of patients admitted to the hospital because of COVID-19 infections have been unvaccinated." One of the regular doctors appearing on MSNBC is Vin Gupta. I have watched him for more than a year. His COVID reports clearly stated. He calls them as he sees them. Dr. Gupta has called for hospitals to deny medical assistance and care to anyone who remains unvaccinated against COVID. He said, "Any unvaccinated person requiring medical attention should be last in line.....How do we rank - order that priority? We do it for organs, kidneys, livers, and lungs. We say 'Did you smoke? Did you drink recently?' If you did, you're lower on the list even if you need it. We need to start thinking of that model." Back to Harry Truman again. Harry Truman loved Key West and Key West loves Harry Truman. The President died this day in 1972. One of our greatest Presidents. Key West and the President are closely allied because of Truman's love for Key West. He spent 11 working vacations totaling 175 days in Key West while President. Enjoy your day!

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littlewitchhazels-blog · 6 years

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One More Night Out

I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon of Xmas fics and boy did I have fun scrawling this one out! I must have taken three different approaches to the story, but I decided to go with something fluffy whilst I work on something a little more angsty and ‘serious’ (wink wink nudge nudge ;) look out for that, coming soon). Kind of cheesy and cliche, but that’s just the way I like it! Anyhow, Joyce deserves all the happiness in the world and this is my non-canon way of giving it to her. (Read on AO3)

“Jane shouldn’t have to miss out,” Joyce had reasoned, “and the boys have been desperate to show her all things Christmas, or so I’ve been told.”

“I don’t know, Joyce, the Snow Ball was one night already and—“

“I know, Hop, I know. Just… Think about it?”

That was how Hopper had ended up at the Byers’ front door with El — or Jane, as he should be calling her now — in tow. She was practically buzzing with excitement over the unexpected outing, and the chance to be with her friends again. Yes, she was allowed visits from the party at the cabin (something of which Hopper had begrudgingly agreed to), but there was something special about being allowed to set foot out instead. Twice she’d changed her outfit, going through a good load of the new clothes Joyce had gotten her, before finally settling on something she seemed satisfied with. It was strange but nice to see her acting like a regular teenage girl in spite of… Well, everything.

They hadn’t had time to pick up a proper present for their hosts, partially due to Hopper’s very last minute decision to take up Joyce’s offer, which had frustrated both of them greatly. Jane because she was incredibly insistent on ‘following holiday tradition’ — quite a mouthful for her, but Hopper expected it was a line fed to her by Mike or Will — and Hopper because turning up on Joyce’s doorstep empty-handed on Christmas Eve felt wrong. Joyce had assured them that gifts weren’t necessary, but at least it was something to say ‘thank you’ for the thoughtful invitation. In the end, Hopper settled with a bottle of wine hastily picked up from town hand a quick card cobbled together by Jane with what little art supplies they had.

Hopper squeezed Jane’s hand, “You ready?”

Beaming up at him, Jane nodded vigorously. “Yes!”

He chucked at her boundless enthusiasm and raised a hand to knock soundly on the door. From within, he could hear soft Christmas music intermingling with chatter and scattered footfalls. Following his knock on the door, Hopper could hear a swiftly approaching “I’ll get it, I’ll get it, don’t worry baby; coming, coming!” At the sound of the voice, Jane clutched the presents to her chest tightly and turned her unwavering attention towards the door. Within a matter of moments, the door creaked open and Joyce appeared before them. “Oh, Hop! You came!”

There was nothing particularly special about the way Joyce looked, but that care-free smile that only seemed to widen at the sight of him made her look radiant. Suddenly, all his worries and doubts about coming seemed stupidly inane in retrospect.

“Yeah, I thought about it and… Well, it couldn’t hurt to spend Christmas somewhere other than, you know, the cabin. And El— Jane, she deserves a night out, so here we are.”

Joyce’s gaze quickly fell upon Jane, and Hopper couldn’t help but smile as her eyes lit up at the sight of the young girl. He nudged Jane forward, who quickly ran into Joyce’s outstretched arms. “Merry Christmas, Joyce!”

Joyce laughed and pulled Jane even closer. “Merry Christmas to you too, sweetheart, you looking forward to tomorrow?”

Jane nodded into Joyce’s shoulder before pulling away to offer the merger presents they’d brought for her. “For you, from me and Hopper.”

It took a moment for Joyce to register the gifts, which she took carefully from Jane; her eyes flickering between Jane, Hopper, and the items she held in her hands. “Oh, you didn’t have to—“

“Think of it more as a ‘thank you’,” Hopper supplied, “from us.”

Joyce regarded him for a moment before stepping out of the doorframe and letting them into the house. Hopper had almost forgotten that they were still standing on the porch in the cold, bundled up in scarves and coats. “Well, don’t just stand there. Come in, come in! It’s freezing out there!”

They hurried in, shaking off the snow clinging to their winter clothing before peeling off the layers they’d wrapped themselves in. Hopper had only just helped Jane wriggle her arms out of her slightly-too-large coat before she’d spotted Will across the room and dashed to give him a warm hug. They collided into each other with peals of laughter that swiftly changed to soft words that Hopper couldn’t hear from where he stood. After a moment, Jane nodded enthusiastically and Will began to lead her around the house in what was presumably a tour of Christmas tradition, considering their stops at the tree and all the decorations hung around the house.

Joyce and Hopper weren’t exactly sure when it happened, but Will and Jane had become fast friends in a matter of days, quickly forming an incredibly close bond seemingly from the moment they met properly. It was certainly a strange friendship — built on quiet contemplation and hushed conversation — but it was a strong one at that. Perhaps they’d found something in each other, linking back to their harrowing experiences with the Upside Down, that built the foundations for a bond between them. Whatever it was, Joyce was certainly glad for it.

Hopper hung up his and Jane’s coats and took the chance to look over the living room. Without prior knowledge, he bet that nobody would be able to imagine the mess that had once sprawled across the walls, floor, and halls of the Byers house. Everything had certainly been sufficiently tidied away with everyone’s help following what had happened in November. Sure, the corpse in the fridge and the enraged teen out cold on the living room floor had been something of an unpleasant surprise, but they’d dealt with that too.

“You know, you really didn’t have to get me anything, Hop.” Joyce muttered once Jane was out of earshot.

Hopper shrugged. “I wanted to,” he said plainly, “and besides, Jane wouldn’t let me hear the end of it if I— we didn’t give you something.”

Joyce smiled, turning the handmade card over in one hand. The lopsided handwriting was something of an attempt to teach Jane how to write better in preparation for school, but for as messy as it was Hopper was glad that it was at least readable. “This is very sweet. Thank you.”

They stood awkwardly for a moment, their conversation at a standstill, before Joyce gestured towards the dining room. “Do you want to sit or— we could open the wine, I guess—“

“Yeah, no, that would be— that would be good.”

He followed Joyce as she made her way into the kitchen, rooting through the cupboards for a corkscrew. “Where’s Jonathan tonight?” Hopper asked, hesitantly floating around Joyce as he waited for something to do.

“The Wheelers’, with Nancy, or so he told me. Hey, could to reach that— no, no, not that one… Yes! Thanks.”

Setting the old wine glasses he dug out down on the table, Hopper leaned over to take the bottle from Joyce to free her hands. “Need anything else, Joyce?”

“Hmm? Oh, no, it’s all right.”

Hopper nodded slowly, sliding into one of the chairs as he waited for Joyce to emerge from the cupboards she’d practically crawled into in her search for a corkscrew. Finally, he heard a triumphant exclamation, and Joyce came over brandishing the nifty device victoriously.

Joyce wasted no time opening the bottle and pouring a hearty glass of wine for both her and Hopper. “Cheers, my friend, and a very merry Christmas to you!”

“And a happy, hopefully more normal, new year!”

Dinner had been a success despite Joyce’s warnings that cooking was ‘definitely her strong point’, an overall enjoyable time in spite of Jane’s stubbornness to avoid anything green on her plate. Joyce, however, had managed to goad her into eating her vegetables with promises of Christmas sweets and sugary drinks. As much as Hopper scowls over Jane’s smug grin as she scoops up her well-earned treats, he can’t help but find a sort of merriment in all of it. Must be the Christmas spirit in the air.

Soon enough, Will and Jane retreated further into the house to gorge themselves on candy canes and continue whatever conversations they were having when they came giggling to the dining table. Neither parental figure was able to coax it out of them, so they thought it would be best to just leave it at that. Now alone once more, Joyce had suggested moving to the living room. “It’s more comfortable,” she’d reasoned, before promptly standing up and taking both her and Hopper’s glasses with her.

So, of course, he had no choice but to follow her over. Joyce sunk into the couch with a groan, obviously worn out by a busy day of working, dashing around, and preparing dinner. Hopper took a seat next to her, but was sure to leave a respectable distance between the two of them. He still wasn’t sure exactly about the boundaries between the two of them, but he would rather be overly cautious than overbearing.

Just as they’d settled into their seats, the old Christmas album came to its end and the sound of the looping crackle of the record player coaxed another tired groan from Joyce. “Don’t worry,” Hopper laughed, pushing himself up from the couch, “I’ll do it.”

Joyce mumbled a thanks as she took another sip of wine, watching over the brim of her glass as Hopper sorted through the pile of old records she’d dug out for the festive season and pulled out something from the bottom without looking too closely at the label. It didn’t take long for the silence to be filled with soft-jazzy Christmas tunes. Hopper looked over to her for approval, and came back over once she’d given him a small nod.

He sat back down with a sigh, and they swiftly fell back into their comfortable silence. Joyce closed her eyes and let herself sink even deeper into the couch. With the soft music, warmth of the living room, and the exhaustion of the busy day, she could have almost fallen asleep right then and there. But then, after a few moments, Hopper spoke up. “Joyce, uh, thanks for this. It was… It was nice. I think Jane really enjoyed herself tonight.”

She smiled at him. “Anytime, Hop.”

“I… I had a good time, too. It’s been a while.”

Though he’d left the rest unsaid, Joyce easily picked up on the context. It was easy to read in the stilted words and far-off gaze; telltale signs of when he let his thoughts trail off to darker places, locked away behind hurriedly built walls in his mind. Pursing her lips, Joyce reached over and laid a hand on his arm. “It’s really nice that you came.” She said quietly.

He shrugged. “I nearly didn’t. But look at all the fun I would have missed out on if I hadn’t!”

Joyce laughed, rolling her eyes at the grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth at what he must have thought was the best damn joke in the world. “What,” Joyce challenged, “so sitting around with me isn’t fun?”

“I never said it wasn’t. I’ll be sure to add ‘great company’ to the list, along with food, a glass of wine, and peace and quiet for once!”

She smiled, and was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was still touching his arm. Clearing her throat somewhat awkwardly, Joyce pulled her hand away and laid it purposely on her own knee. As far as she could tell, Hopper didn’t react.

In fact, it almost seemed as if he was going to continue their little conversation before a familiar few notes suddenly played from the sound system and brought on a whole host of old memories to Joyce’s mind. She must’ve had quite the reaction, considering the laugh that it coaxed from Hopper.

“Oh!” Joyce exclaimed, bringing a hand to her face, “I haven’t heard this song in years!”

As if one cue, Hopper put down his glass of wine on the table beside him and stood up from the couch offering her a hand. “How ‘bout it, Joyce, for old times sake?”

She gave a breathy laugh. Maybe Hopper’d had one too many glasses of wine tonight if he was suddenly asking her to dance. “Really, Hop?”

He shrugged, swaying ever so slight to the music. “Why not? We never slow danced back then, so why not start now?”

A smile began to pull at the corners of Joyce’s lips. It was funny to bring up the old days, seeing as how nostalgia ran rampant with each and every little thing she and Hopper did together — chatting, confiding, smoking, laughing, smiling, and generally being close once again. Just over a year ago, this whole situation would have been unheard of, but here they were. “Joyce,” Hopper said, bringing her back to reality again, “that wasn’t exactly a ‘no’…”

She regarded him for a moment. On one hand, it was a difficult proposition to take up, considering the pain that still lingered in her heart after what had happened to… To Bob. Just to think that two months ago, they’d been doing the exact same thing whilst the boys had gone out trick-or-treating. The thought was enough to put a damper on her mood, and the smile that had found itself upon her lips was beginning to falter.

“Joyce?”

She opened her mouth to tell him a polite ‘no’, but something stopped her. As much as Joyce wanted to say ‘no’ — needed to, almost — there was something deep down that seemed to push her towards this strange but not wholly unwelcome situation. A piece of her from twenty or so years ago, laughing and smiling over the smallest matters in life, that swooned over the idea of dancing with Hopper. Biting her lip, she looked up at him and saw that concerned furrow of his brow at her hesitation. She knew if she said no, Hopper wouldn’t push her into it. There was every opportunity to step away, and yet…

“I guess,” she said slowly, “we could do… One dance.”

Joyce hadn’t even finished answering by the time Hopper had pulled her to her feet, barely giving her enough time to put down the glass of wine she’d been sipping at throughout the night. Laughter escaped her lips as she almost collided with Hopper before she stiffly straightened herself up.

Pushing herself up on her tiptoes, Joyce reached up to place a hand on Hopper’s shoulder; all the while, Hopper just looked down with an amused glint in his eyes but said nothing. A wise choice. “I’ll try not to step on your toes.” She whispered.

Hopper laughed. “Don’t worry, Joyce, I think I’m far more out of practice than you are.”

“We’ll see about that, Hop,” Joyce chided, “we’ll see.”

Jane and Will peered out the crack of the door, watching with intrigue as Joyce and Hopper swayed to the music playing from the record player — some old song that Will didn’t know the name to; Jane thought it sounded pretty. Will had told her that his mom and Hopper liked to talk and smoke together, but his face right now seemed… Weird. Not confused, not angry, not upset, just weird. Jane was going to have to find a word for it when she got home, or ask Mike about it later.

At first, when they’d heard Joyce’s laughter floating down the hall, Will had gone very still. And when Joyce had laughed again — this time, intermingling with a deeper but softer chuckle that no doubt belong to Hopper — Will had stood up and peered out of the door to the hallway, then he went completely quiet and still.

She’d shuffled her way over and squeezed by Will’s side to catch a glimpse of the sight that had made him go confusingly quiet. “Are Mom and Hopper… Dancing?” Will asked, almost as if he was thinking of the question but had accidentally said it aloud.

“Is that bad?” Jane asked, immediately taking Will’s confused and intrigued tone as something to be worried about.

“Huh? Oh, no,” he laughed, “nothing’s wrong.”

Looking back and forth between Will’s face and the two adults dancing together in the living room, Jane tried to piece together the situation with what little words and understanding she had of everything. “So… Is it good?”

After a moment of pondering, a small smile broke out on Will’s face as he watched him mom laughing and smiling freely (for real, not just to make him feel better) for the first time in weeks. “Yeah, it’s… It’s really good.”

Jane nodded in agreement. “I think so, too.”

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#ems-writes #jopper #joyce byers #jim hopper #joyce x hopper #stranger things #stranger things fanfic #jane hopper #eleven #will byers #happy holidays yall!!#this is what you get when i listen to old xmas albums #and think about stranger things #also i just wanted all of them to be happy #also also im feeling festive #had some mulled wine #wore some xmas sweaters #wrapped some presents #it was great

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steampunkfan · 7 years

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How I Sold $58,000 Last Year Selling Just Gift Cards for the Day Spa

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Robert Norberciak, Marketing Director at the Scottsdale, Arizona day spa, Mozaik Skin & Body, and one of the founders at Service Business Hustlers.

People love shopping local. Even more so, people love buying gifts that are local. They want to treat their friends to amazing experiences at local businesses.

With my day spa, I don’t sell anything online except for gift cards. I don’t try to compete with e-commerce stores. I simply focus on the one thing that no one else does in my market well. I focus on making it easy for my customers to buy gift cards.

I had the joy on Mother’s Day to watch a family go into my competitor. They asked if they sold gift cards. The lady was like “No”.

They came over to my spa and walked out with $300 in gift cards that they bought for their mother. Guess who got the new customer?

Each year, I sell close to ~$23,000 of gift cards just online. We sell another $25-35k in-store.

I’m going to break down for you my exact strategy on how I am selling so many gift cards through my website and in-store.

Stop Offering Just Plain Dollar Amounts

If someone is going through the trouble of buying a gift card from a local business — they don’t want to go the easy route and buy them just a gift card. They want to buy them something special. In fact, I have attached a log of all my recent gift card purchases.

Where you see “-”, the customer selected a dollar amount. In fact, 19 out of my last 26 purchases of gift cards have been for packages. People love treating someone to something unique. It’s a win-win for everyone.

The person buying feels like they are treating someone to something special. When the recipient gets the gift card, they enjoy it a lot. They feel someone really put an effort into the purchase.

Do you know what the cool part about selling an experience is?

When that new customer comes with that gift card — they get a full experience from your place. If you give them an award-winning experience, then they’ll love your place forever.

For example, a restaurant might want to do a “3-Course Meal for $49”. You can use John Taffer’s method of identifying that it’s a gift card. You put down a “blue napkin”. The whole staff know it’s a gift card. You go above and beyond to deliver an amazing experience. The food is delivered fast.

Gary Vee and John Taffer talking about retention:

youtube

At the end of the meal, the manager comes over and makes sure everything went great and offers a special on their next visit with a coupon.

Using Pricing Anchors

While most of the time, our customers want to buy packages as gift cards, some still want to buy just a dollar amount. We use two types of pages for our Gift Card Checkouts. The first is the specific package they want to buy. The second is a generic page that we can use to sell generic dollar amounts (in our case $75, $150 and $300).

The prices you pick influence the actual dollar amount the customer is going to buy. If you put prices up $5, $10 and $15 — most customers won’t ask, “Do you sell a $50 gift card?”

Then again, if you sell every gift card from $5 to $500, in $5 increments, the customer is going to have a choice overload and probably pick something towards the bottom.

Pricing Experiments You Might Not Know But Can Learn From

There’s an excellent article on the effect of a pricing anchor. When we created our pricing choices for our gift card, we choose one really high card value and two that are closer to each other. The result is that the majority of our purchases are the middle pricing option.

Make It Easy to Buy Gift Cards

Include a Link in Your Header

Customers are not going to search your entire site to see if you sell gift cards. They want to know right off the bat. Just like you might have links to jobs and careers, you should have a Gift Card link to at least one type of gift card right off the bat.

Go Above And Beyond With Your Links

When you come to our site, you will notice every service menu item has a second link right after “Book Now”. The second link is “Buy as a Gift”.

We make it super easy for the customer to select the package they want to treat someone to. Not only that, but they also are constantly reminded that we sell gift certificates.

Test Your Platform

When picking a platform for your gift cards, it’s absolutely imperative that you test the purchasing path yourself.

When we used our Appointment Reservation system to process our gift cards, we didn’t sell many gift cards. While their platform is amazing at managing reservations, it wasn’t designed for the details around selling gift cards.

It’s a two-page checkout though that includes every possible option to purchase the gift card directly through their page. The complexity of it reduces the overall purchases.

Make It Simple for Your Customer to Buy

Last year, when we did our full website rebuild, we had a custom platform built and implemented into our system to create a super smooth and easy checkout system. Since then, we have sold an additional $15,000 in gift cards compared year over year.

Gift Card Season is 101 Days Away — Here’s Your Action Plan

In the first two weeks of May, I sold almost $4,000 in gift cards for Mother’s Day. The scary thing is, that’s still only 25% of the volume that you are going to do during December!

60–100 Days Out

Start Crafting Packages and Offers

Right now, you need to start preparing your business on which packages you are going to sell. As we have already talked about, people love treating people to experiences. That also means they are willing to spend a little more to get a little more.

We sell robes at the spa. Do you know that 90% of our robe sales are tied to our three major holidays? It’s because we increase our prices and include them in our packages.

This past Mother’s Day, we took our already popular two-hour package, added a robe in and increased the price accordingly. There was no problem selling these increased value packages. In fact, 90% of all the robes we sell are for our three major holidays.

Knock-’em-dead offers

If you are running out of ideas on what are popular packages, start using tools like Groupon and LivingSocial. While you do not want to copy their prices, you can use them as a research tool to discover what packages are hot and trending.

During Black Friday, we would do various types of promotions —

“Buy 3, Get 1 Free”

“25% Off If You Buy Over $100 in Products”

A lot of these people were already asking if they could buy them as gifts.

Black Friday -> Christmas transition

One of the biggest things about selling gift cards well is capturing that transition. For the two weeks leading up to Black Friday, you want to strategically plan ads that fit that shopping day.

Once Black Friday is done, you want to immediately transition into promoting your Christmas Specials. This is why it’s very imperative to have a well laid-out plan, so you can make the transition smoothly.

Pro tip: Depending on how deep you discounted and the popularity of the gift cards, you may want to consider doing an “Extended Promotion — Gift Card Sale!”.

60 Days Out — Start Planting Seeds and Distribution

Build Dedicated Pages for Your Offers With Simple Checkout

Every successful campaign requires a dedicated page for each offer. You want to sell the feeling of that package. You want to make the page easy and simple. We use a one-page and Stripe for our system.

You are going to use the landing page for all your promotional material online. For all your Facebook promotions, your newsletters, etc.

There are many articles on how to do single-product checkout. Ours is a form with a Stripe gateway behind it. We capture the most important information: To, From, Design, Note, the Package. We let Stripe handle the processing, and we send the gift through the emails.

You can also look at some pre-built solutions as well.

Email campaigns and social media

Last year, the very first email I got about Christmas from Groupon was on September 17th.

On my Facebook feed, I have already started to see “Days till Xmas” countdowns.

The sooner and earlier you start to plant seeds into your customer that you will have gift certificates, gift baskets and packages available, the better.

Here are some of the emails that I have sent with success:

2016 Holiday Gift Guide (11/15)

The Insider’s Secret Black Friday Spa Specials (10/31)

Running out of time for a gift? Grab yours today online. (12/21)

Overall, I will send roughly eight to 12 emails between October and November to all my customers to promote the gift cards that I sell.

In-store flyers and A-frame

If you run any type of brick and mortar, you absolutely need to promote that you sell gift cards anywhere and everywhere you can. Do not hold back. Within our spa, we distribute flyers. We leave our upcoming promotions flyer out right by the magazine.

We use flyer stands and have them at checkout, in the bathrooms and by the product.

We create a beautiful A-frame that goes out in front our store. We decorate it with festive colored balloon so it catches the eye.

We even update our window cling to show that we sell gift cards!

The more seeds you plant into your customers, the more likely they will come back and buy. Think about Black Friday. No one wakes up and goes, “Hey, today I am going to buy this!”. No, they already know what they are going to buy seven-plus days out.

AdWords

People still use Google to find gifts. They will type in things on where to buy them gifts, what to buy people, and so on. This campaign doesn’t need to be very elaborate because quite frankly, if you are in the local space, it’s easy to beat your competition.

Target keywords Like: “Portland Day Spa Gifts,” “Portland Massage Gift Card”.

“Portland Spa Packages & Gift Cards Available. Buy Online, Instantly Available.”

You will then send them to that pre-built landing page you have already designed for an easy online purchase. Guess what your competition isn’t doing? They are taking shortcuts and hoping the customer figures it out.

Last Two Weeks

Make sure your receptionists, front desk, staff and your whole entire team is ready to push gift cards.

Every time someone is checking out — “Were you interested in any of our Gift Card Packages?”

If your staff hear people are saying keywords like they have family in town, or that they are visiting — “Hey, I’m not sure you know, but we do have some really cool gift cards available during the Holidays.”

Help your customers out — don’t let them try to figure it out themselves. If someone needs help buying a gift card, just simply walk them through it. All too often, I see businesses be like, “Yup just go online and buy it”. Out of the hundred times I hear that, maybe two will buy it actually.

Final Pro Tip

Optimize your website, your social profiles like Facebook and Yelp to include the fact you sell gift cards. We don’t rank for any of main categories #1, but we do for gift cards. Guess what happens when someone in my city is looking for gift cards? They come to me.

You can join me and four other service business founders who generate over $3 million a year, where we share information like this daily. Come join us: Facebook Group Service Business Hustlers.

via Preneur Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/2vl1dWp

#Preneur Marketing Blog

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topicprinter · 7 years

Link

How I Sold $58,000 Last Year Selling just Gift Cards for the Day SpaPeople love shopping local. Even more so, people love buying gifts that are local. They want to treat their friends to amazing experiences at local businesses.With my day spa, I don’t sell anything online except for Gift Cards. I don’t try to compete with eCommerce stores. I simply focus on the one thing that no one else does in my market well. I focus on making it easy for my customers to buy gift cards.I had the joy on Mother’s Day to watch a family go into my competitor. They asked if they sold gift cards. The lady was like “No”.They came over to my spa and walked out with $300 in gift cards that they bought for their mother. Guess who got the new customer?Each year, I sell close to ~$23,000 of Gift Cards just Online. We sold another $25,000 in-store.https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*O5avpnrL4eQfF-zwuMEIBw.pnghttps://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*EMW9Tlvbzr-AwdDkhV7O_w.pngI’m going to break down for you, my exact strategy on how I am selling so many gift cards through my website and in-store.Stop Offering Just Plain Dollar AmountsIf someone is going through the trouble of buying a gift card from a local business — they don’t want to go the easy route and buy them just a gift card. They want to buy them something special. In fact, I have attached a log of all my recent Gift Card Purchases.https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*UWN1xB1rXL_yYtgdmVsQVQ.pngWhere you see “-”, the customer selected a dollar amount. In fact, 19 out of my last 26 purchases of gift cards have been for packages. People love treating someone to something unique. It’s a win-win for everyone.The person buying feels like they are treating someone to something special. When the recipient gets the gift card, they enjoy it a lot. They feel someone really put an effort into the purchase.Do you know what the cool part about selling an experience is?When that new customer comes with that gift card — they get a full experience from your place. If you give them an award winning experience, then they’ll love your place forever.For example, a Restaurant might want to do a “3 Course Meal for $49”. You can use Jon Taffer’s method of identifying that it’s a gift card. You put down a “blue napkin”. The whole staff know it’s a gift card. You go above and beyond to deliver an amazing experience. The food is delivered fast.Gary V & John Tapper Talking about RetentionAt the end of the meal, the manager comes over and makes sure everything went great & offers a special on their next visit with a coupon.Using Pricing AnchorsWhile most of the time, our customers want to buy packages as gift cards, some still want to buy just a dollar amount. We use two types of pages for our Gift Card Checkouts. The first is the specific package they want to buy. The second is a generic page that we can use to sell generic dollar amounts (in our case $75, $150, $300)The prices you pick influence the actual dollar amount the customer is going to buy. If you put prices up $5, $10, $15 — most customers won’t ask “Do you sell a $50 gift card?”Then again, if you sell every gift card from $5 to $500, in $5 increments, the customer is going to have a choice overload, and probably pick something towards the bottom.Pricing Experiments You Might Not Know, But Can Learn FromThere’s an excellent article on the effect of a pricing anchor. When we created our pricing choices for our gift card, we choose one really high card value & two that are closer to each other. The result is that the majority of our purchases are the middle pricing option.Make it Easy to Buy Gift CardsInclude a Link in Your HeaderCustomers are not going to search your entire site to see if you sell gift cards. They want to know right off the bat. Just like you might have links to jobs & careers, you should have a Gift Card link to at least one type of gift card right off the bat.Go Above & Beyond with Your LinksWhen you come to our site, you will notice every service menu item has a second link right after “Book Now”. The second link is “Buy as a Gift”.We make it super easy for the customer to select the package they want to treat someone to. Not only that, but they also are constantly reminder that we sell gift certificates.Test Your PlatformWhen picking a platform for your gift cards, it’s absolutely imperative that you test the purchasing path yourself.When we used our Appointment Reservation system to process our gift cards, we didn’t sell many gift cards. While their platform is amazing at managing reservations, it wasn’t designed for the details around selling Gift Cards.It’s a two page checkout though, that includes every possible option to purchase the gift card directly through their page. The complexity of it reduces the overall purchases.Last year, when we did our full website rebuild, we had a custom platform built and implemented into our system to create a super smooth & easy checkout system. Since then, we have sold an additional $15,000 in gift cards compared year over year.Make it Simple for Your Customer to BuyGift Card Season is 101 Days Away — Here’s Your Action Plan.In the first two weeks of May, I sold almost $4,000 in Gift Cards for Mother’s Day. The scary thing is, that’s still only 25% of the volume that you are going to do during December!60–100 Days OutStart Crafting Packages & OffersRight now, you need to start preparing your business on which packages you are going to sell. As we have already talked about, people love treating people to experiences. That also means they are willing to spend a little more to get a little more.We sell Robes at the spa. Do you know that 90% of our Robe Sales are tied to our 3 Major Holidays? It’s because we increase our prices and include them in our packages.This past Mother’s Day, we took our already popular two-hour package, added a robe in and increased the price accordingly. There was no problem selling these increased value packages. In fact, 90% of all the robes we sell are for our three major holidays.Knock Em Dead OffersIf you are running out of ideas on what are popular packages, start using tools like Groupon & LivingSocial. While you do not want to copy their prices, you can use them as a research tool to discover what packages are hot & trending.During Black Friday, we would do various types of promotions —Buy 3, Get 1 Free.25% off if you buy over $100 in Products.A lot of these people were already asking if they could buy them as gifts.Black Friday -> Christmas TransitionOne of the biggest things about selling gift cards well, is capturing that transition. For the two weeks leading up to Black Friday, you want to strategically plan ads that fit that shopping day.Once BF is done, you want to immediately transition into promoting your Christmas Specials. This is why it’s very imperative to have a well laid out plan, so you can make the transition smoothly.Pro Tip: Depending on how deep you discounted and the popularity of the gift cards, you may want to consider doing an “Extended Promotion — Gift Card Sale!”60 Days Out — Start Planting Seeds & DistributionBuild Dedicated Pages for Your Offers w/ Simple CheckoutEvery successful campaign requires a dedicated page for each offer. You want to sell the feeling of that package. You want to make the page easy & simple. We use a one page + stripe for our system.You are going to use the landing page for all your promotional material online. For all your FB promotions, your newsletters, etc.There are many articles on how to do single product check out. Ours is a form w/ a Stripe gateway behind it. We capture the most important information:To, From, Design, Note, the Package. We let Stripe handle the processing, and we send the gift through the emails.You can also look at some prebuilt solutions as well.Email Campaigns & Social MediaLast year, the very first email I got about Christmas from Groupon was on September 17th.On my Facebook Feed, I have already started to see “Days till Xmas” countdowns.The sooner and earlier you start to plant seeds into your customer that you will have gift certificates, gift baskets, and packages available the better.Here are some of the emails that I have sent with success:2016 Holiday Gift Guide (11/15)The Insider’s Secret Black Friday Spa Specials (10/31)Running out of time for a Gift? Grab yours today online. (12/21)Overall, I will send roughly 8–12 emails between Oct & November to all my customers to promote the gift cards that I sell.In-Store Flyers & A-FrameIf you run any type of Brick & Mortar, you absolutely need to promote that you sell gift cards Anywhere & Everywhere you can. Do not hold back. Within our spa, we distribute flyers. We leave our upcoming promotions flyer out right by the magazine.We use flyer stands and have them at check out, in the bathrooms, and by the product.We create a beautiful A-Frame that goes out in front our store. We decorate it with festive colored ballon so it catches the eye.We even update our Window Cling to show that we sell gift cards!The more seeds you plant into your customers, the more likely they will come back and buy. Think about Black Friday. No one wakes up and goes “Hey today I am going to buy this!”. No, they already know what they are going to buy 7+ days out.AdWordsPeople still use Google to find Gifts. They will type in things on where to buy them gifts, what to buy people, and so on. This campaign doesn’t need to be very elaborate because quite frankly if you are in the local space, it’s easy to beat your competition.Target Keywords Like: Portland Day Spa Gifts, Portland Massage Gift Card,Portland Spa Packages & Gift Cards Available. Buy Online, Instantly Available.You will then send them to that pre-built landing page you have already designed for an easy online purchase. Guess what your competition isn’t doing? They are taking shortcuts and hoping the customer figures it out.Last Two WeeksMake sure your receptionists, front desk, staff and your whole entire team is ready to push gift cards.Every time someone is checking out — “Were you interested in any of our Gift Card Packages?”If your staff hear people are saying keywords like they have family in town, or that they are visiting — “Hey, I’m not sure you know but we do have some really cool gift cards available during the Holidays”Help Your Customers Out — Don’t let them try to figure it out themselves. If someone needs help buying a gift card, just simply walk them through it. All too often, I see businesses be like, “Yup just go online and buy it”. Out of the 100 times I hear that, maybe 2 will buy it actually.Final Pro TipOptimize your website, your social profiles like Facebook & Yelp to include the fact you sell Gift Cards. We don’t rank for any of main categories #1, but we do for Gift Cards. Guess what happens when someone in my city is looking for gift cards? They come to me.There is also a full copy of this article with formatting at Blog Post. We also have a discussion going on at about more of these techniques at the FB Group Service Business Hustlers

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

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lovehaswonangelnumbers · 5 years

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New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/soulstice-full-moon-cancer-wisdom-compassion/

SOULSTICE ~ FULL MOON CANCER: Wisdom & Compassion

By Agent Dakini – Laura Boomer-Trent

The interplay of Wisdom & Compassion

Rarely do our closest celestial ‘Lights’, the Sun and Moon, partner-up at such a climactic point of the year, the December Full Moon Solstice. As such, this Full Cancer Moon truly marks a yuletide to shine and sparkle. Taking selfies with twinkling fairy lights meant to illuminate the Xmas tree may be fun, but to let the world know how bright you really are, be brave: let your inner-light glow naturally.

The Solstice Full Moon in Cancer tenders family gatherings in a cosy Christmas hideaway, somewhere with people you feel relaxed and safe enough to drop your guard to scintillate and shine. As the Full Moon rises, the season’s also change into winter in the north, summer in the south. And the Solstice Sun now comes to a wondrous ‘stand still’ for three days rising and setting in the same place before again shifting emphasis of light, for nights to become shorter in the north, longer in the south. So we, too, tend to wind down for a few days to catch up with thoughts and loved ones, before light returns (in the north) Dec 24th-25th.

Sol’s celestial revolution marks Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Changing season Friday 21stDecember, @22:23 (GMT) (already Saturn’s day in Asia and Aus), Spirit Sun moves sign. By leaving optimistic Jupiter and communicative Mercury in charge of the Archer and forward-thinking ideals, at this Full Moon Cardinal Earth Solar Fire Festival, Sun makes a grand entrance into the business-like sphere of the ambitious Capricorn Sea-Goat, sign of concretisation and control.Within eighteen hours of such Solstice fanfare, @17:48 UT, on Saturday the 22nd December (Sunday in Asia & Aus), the Moon actually culminates to Full. The fruits of whatever was set into intention December 7th may be visible. If not, don’t worry; the ripples of good intention are still out there in the noosphere. And settle comfortably with the Moon at home in Cancer: content and radiant in the reflection of the cosmic ‘Light of Intelligence’, our Sun. This is a mega-astrological wheel-turning moment, a bit like Sun and Moon partying like its 1999, which is exactly when we last bathed under similar Solstice Full Moonbeams. But without millennial madness! Whoo-hoo! Happy Solstice Full Moon!

Be aware that as Sun and Full Moon radiate along the cardinal axis of 0 degrees Cancer and Capricorn, a mighty powerful initiation also takes place within the individual heart-mind. Through this inner-planetary dance, Sun and Moon encourage compassion and wisdom to weave in and around the shamanic spiritual warrior’s soul and psyche. With an emotionally triple-charged Cancer Moon aligning to a crystallising Capricorn Sun, which is conjunct Time Lord Saturn, the celestial spotlight fixes upon the karmic connections we have and share with our soul family. All beings may be One under a Solstice Sun, enjoying love light and heat; but at this very special Full Moon during Sol’s standstill, it is quality time with families, friends, and the connections we care to nourish with our commitment, that also give added strength and cheer to a new Solar year and the birth of Sun’s ‘New Light King’.☆

Other heavenly influences directly associated with this stunning Solstice Full Moon include a major challenge coming from a stellium in the late degrees of Pisces: with Hygeia, Chiron and Mars, squaring-up to Sun and Moon. These three are the shamanic healing warriors, ever at the ready and banded together now to be quickly able to apply the spiritual and psychological (even physical (if called for)) band-aid, as together Chiron, Mars and Hygeia can cut to the quick and generate the love-wisdom that heals (collective) wounded emotions. So you see, it’s not just because it Christmas that forgiveness and compassion can emanate strongly now, but healing personal emotions or family feelings is well-starred.☆

Remaining (fairly) responsible over this Full Moon (while Luna is opposite Saturn, which is in a wide conjunct with Pluto) – just when everyone else just wants to let their hair down and forget all worries and woes, it could be one of those bizarre times when being disciplined is deeply satisfying and restorative.

While Sun and Moon connect to sobering Saturn, they are, in actual fact, in tighter (and more helpful) aspects to the wacky wild-card wizard, Uranus, planetary awakener and astral overseer: with a Trine and Sextile to Sun and Moon respectively. Sun is trine Uranus Rx in Aries, and now slowing to go forward 7th January (just a day after the Solar Eclipse!).This kind of connection between Uranus and Sun and Moon can activate the third eye. It can also make us more aware and sensitive to the current collective chaos.

Most recently, Uranus has been at ‘the bends’, and in hard square to the North and South Nodes, Rahu and Ketu, Dragons’ Head, Dragon’s Tail. The unpredictable Uranian revolutionary team spirit exploded into action all over the place! But with the change now of nodal axis, from Leo – Aquarius into Cancer-Capricorn, the influence of the nodal contacts widens: i.e. Solstice points, Cancer – Capricorn, are often defining moments for many, both personally and professionally.

Currently, the North Node, Dragon’s head, Rahu is conjunct ‘First Magnitude’ ‘Fixed Star’, Procyon in Ursa Minor; this is an indication of rapid success with short-lived opportunities, a couple of weeks or three – so maybe good to make the most of whatever comes your way – quickly – no dilly dally for soul family healing.☆ On the upside, Jupiter remains at home in Sagittarius for the next year; and is currently with communicative, but detriment Mercury, also questing and quizzing in Sagittarius. But Jupiter has all the luck, charm and blarney of the Irish, which is especially advantageous. Both Jupiter and Mercury are now conjunct a Fixed Red Star, Antares, suggesting success comes by being totally on point, however – plus a knack for good timing.☆

Also in the Full Cancer Moon horoscope there are also no less than four planets in rulership, including Luna herself, along with Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. All planets are in the astrological domains that amplify their better qualities. The Moon in Cancer, for instance, makes us more caring; a Sagittarian Jupiter opens the mind for exploration, understanding the bigger picture, to see how lucky we are; Saturn in Capricorn recognizes our discipline and accomplishment; and Neptune still in Pisces (until 2026) accenting our connection to the oceans and our emotions. ☆

And Love Goddess Venus in Scorpio is now free from her retrograde shadow, and ascends the heavens as the leading planet in the ‘Locomotive’ pattern of planets. With her intense kind of love, the Scorpio Venus leads stars signs, Scorpio, Sag, Capricorn, with Vesta in Aquarius, and the Shamanic Spiritual Warriors in Pisces pulling up the rear in both the Solstice and Full Moon charts. It’s like having someone who transformed their own demons steering planets through a time tunnel towards eclipse season, and a New Capricorn Moon Solar Eclipse, January 6th. There will 6 celestial significators in Earthy Capricorn. It could be a geophysical shaky start to 2019.

The following Full 0* Moon on the 21st is also a Super Moon**, with high (emotional) tides. Beware mood swings and weather!There’s no denying it, for a supposedly stabilising Earth Dog year, with its Mars and Venus retrogrades, 2018 has had its share of rattles and rolls. Events and situations around the world, and in our personal lives as well, have witnessed shocking and profound loses; be it people, species, rights, privacy, job or financial status, certain things, some of which were long fought for, and we thought would always be around are slipping away.Collective feelings are currently so strong they plunge deeply to merge with an oceanic ‘Soul Family’.

Within this soul group ripples an innate mystical undercurrent of understanding, tolerance and kindness, which flow in and out of all our stories. Maybe we will all tap into some of that innate goodness in 2019, which will come into focus with the year of the Earth Boar (starting Feb 4th), that generally proposes a tranquil home and inner-life, while we each work diligently towards achievable personal goals.With that I wish you all a very happy Solstice Full Moon and Happy Holidays! Until next year and the Super Moon Lunar Eclipse 21st January, Happy New Year too! Sending LOVE-Light on the Full Moon beams!

From Agent Dakini aka Laura Boomer-Trent*Five Full Moons in a row are at 0 degrees of the sign: this Cancer Moon is the second in the series. **Term coined by Richard Nolle in the 70’s for the Moon at Perigee Syzygy, i.e. the Full Moon is closest to Earth.

*****

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mulliganisms · 6 years

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I saw 3 sips then I had a bells

Nothing beats the old fashioned pub especially an Irish one but they are now virtually extinct. We should share pictures of property developers jangling their keys outside of closed boozers on Facebook to shame them. Liverpool Rd N1 mid 70s, one such pub open on a Christmas night -the key to a great holiday for Himself. Himself has to get out Christmas night- his sire, Aulfella was always rearing up, undoing the hard work of Mam. Aulfella was capable of loving or hating anything at any given, depending on his temper. He hid his good moods in the same place as his money - under the carpet in the front room, reaching for them both when he was on his way to Da pub or da club.

Your best guess as to the name of a pub where the Provisional IRA paper An Phoblacht was sold openly, tricolours decorated the wall and the jukebox featured anti -internment hit The Men Behind The Wire? The Crown of course ( I always add upside down as a nod to the Celtic FC halftime favourite Irish Soldier Laddie) For Himself the test of a decent Irish bar is the Guinness - you can tell a decent pint when you can see mark of each sip on the side of the glass. I offer three swallows for you this season - let’s start with a huge, thirsty gulp.

Liverpool Rd N1 mid 70s, a proper Irish pub The Crown. Himself is there with his first proper girlfriend - Dixie. They are deep into their relationship having met across a crowded home and wear department in Tesco Chapel Market. I’m Not In Love played, his hands on her waist and...breathe (exhale loudly. A glance down at the gap left between the skin of her back and the waistband of the Wranglers reveals a possible future of bliss - the white bra strap shining in the UV light. ..a reverie...were these the hips that turned a thousand faces and burnt red these cheeks of Islington? A small cry escapes her lips - Sorry love - those plastic sandals are harder to manoeuvre than the Green Flash I normally wear for dancing.

Mam was of a somewhat sunnier frame of mind - where she hid when depression struck we never did find out though Himself and Dabrudders found most of her hiding places. In earlier years, Accomodation was an old store of some kind affectionately known as the shop. Upstairs one bedroom,with two bunk beds and a cot a sitting room with a pull down bed and a stereogram. Downstairs a shop floor with building gear covered in dust sheets, a kitchen with coal fired stove leading out to a yard. The toilet was reached by a run through a coal cellar sometimes fast, sometimes slow ,,, record time on return from a camping trip in Youghal which included The Return of Dracula one night (rather lax enforcement of X certificate in Ireland) and waking next morning to discover the tent had been pitched beside a slaughterhouse - sheep skulls stretched out in greater numbers as the tide retreated from the stony atlantic shore.

In the cupboard in this dungeon was where the Christmas presents were hid - and played with/ sometimes ruined long before the day. Mam commented on the odd angle of the crossbar on the subbuteo goals - a few years later we could’ve blamed the Tartan army saying it was a souvenir set of Wembley 77. Himself just used a Swan vesta and Mam’s hairnet to repair it (the onion bag not being to scale).

The shop went as part of slum clearance, as did most of the other condemned buildings. Himself and his moved into the renovated Victorian terrace - into the nineteen seventies - bathrooms and central heating , into the peak of Equality in the UK. The new neighbours’ eldest worked part time at Tesco Chapel Market and through this network Himself impressed enough at interview to collar a role packing cheese and butter then progressing to staffing the Deli counter in a double act with younger brother Seamus. Union membership guaranteed good wages which rose in line with inflation of which there was plenty .

Time honoured courting process was in place from the first time he saw the poppers on the nylon housecoat struggling to contain the developing curves. His cotton overall hid his embarrassment but not his intention - all boys schools did not prepare you well for this. Even the Drama teacher the fifth form swooned over paled in comparison. And then their story started - a word in his shell like -not a letter in the Hardy/ Shakespeare/ Tolstoy mould but a hand gesture to approach a friend - not like today. Sexting was Chelsea’s cup winning manager, Mobiles were Airfix planes on string and pawn featured in a passage from Christy Brown’s Down All My Days which Aulfella could recite by heart - the good suit went in Monday and was redeemed for Sunday mass. Himself was onto a sure thing - if he asked her to dance at the Xmas social she’d say yes.

Consider the obstacles there: asking - the potential for rejection greater than the selection of the Park football sides where every choice was carefully considered to produce a finely calibrated balance. Fourth best defender gone would you select the second best header without the guarantee you’d land a crosser from the top five? Dancing here did not mean a hustle a bump or even the ska shuffle all of which he could handle. No The Smiley’s People double agent meant a slow dance. So he watched the couples, the elder siblings the pairings of someone’s mate and someone’s sister. Some still together celebrating their second grandchild…

It worked, Nature took over they “got off”, “pulled” and then they were “going out”. This did not mean going out that much as funds were somewhat limited, opportunities even moreso. There was a date culminating in a faint prompted by a Sissy Spacek bloodbath scene. The Odeon Holloway Rd witnessed many a coitus interruptus in its years and this apology laden nursing scene in the foyer echoed many of the experiences Himself and Herself played out. Himself caught the climax of the film a few years later at college ; ditto the coitus although that was more to do with a Malt Liquor (Breaker, Colt 45 ) for 10p promotion - and Carrie herself could not have levitated his head off the pillow the next morning.

No, going out meant staying in with the occasional foray for a coke float at Wimpy with unattached girlfriends (never my mates) including Margaret. Sitting indoors then in a council maisonette. The sitting room was long with the auditorium seats pointed at the shrine - the rented colour set delivering nightly delights. On the sofas, the Elder sister and Geezer fiancee (saving for wedding so not going out) on the armchairs Graham and Ivy the parents, Between them our would be lovers. Telly and smoking that was the evening - Whan the Bert Comes In, Carry On something and Rich Man Poor Man. .When the folks went dahn ve Legion the vinyl came out - Atlantic Crossing with its slow side and fast side and David Essex’s concept album All the Fun of the Fair. Himself had just begun to achieve some minor plateaued competence on the Hofner Guitar Aulfella had bought from a Showband mate (typically flamboyant gesture and much loved) so this obviously was the equivalent of a masters in Musicology allowing him to pontificate and evaluate all music ever created or about to be - for Heads like him and his best mate Pat most music was judged and unless suitably complex, the black cap came out. Himself kept these opinions to hisself or there would be no goodbye fumble in the porch, no warm lips, no ambition destroyed by parental knock, no warmth enough to see him the ten minute walk home.

But in the Crown buoyed by a half pint the opinions flowed as freely as the song. Xmas evening found them with unattached friend Margaret and her extended family of Lydons as in John. The patrons rotated the singing some better than others but all applauded/ gently ribbed then it came to John himself. He starts doing white Christmas, HImself joins in forcing JL to go faster,make more of a mess of the melody, savour the lyric, thrash it - invent punk This bit might be somewhat exaggerated in memory, especially as JL was not even there.

That’s the first sip now the second and the third, happy ending.

That Pub, When the comedian Himself returned to The Crown years later it had become Waxys Dargle - a theme Irish bar, Shane Mcgowan’s local, etc. Singing would get you barred. There were no old men in suits and ties. Now it is a block of flats. Himself remembered the Goldsmiths Tavern in New Cross - put up a sign no hats / no guinness - code for No Blacks no Dogs no Irish I guess. That sign always conjured up an image of Phil Lynott trudging from door to door whispering to the Jack Russell nestling beneath his Afghan coat - dont worry me darling their women go mad for me. One year, Himself and da family minus one acted in chorus and decamped to The George in Essex Rd where with the families of Dabrudder’s Sunday football side they created a kind of mad talent show where audience and performers became one - a communion as Boal would call it. Twas grand - it’s now a gastropub where three organic cherries on the slot machine means a village in Cambodia gets a new goat. the pub quiz includes questions based on the budapest metro map of 1959 and it offers 65 different ales in flavours like panetonne and panfried liver but only one mode of atmosphere - tedious. Gentrification as effective a migration prompt as Potato blight.

Gentrifiers

Chorus - Making your town cool - house price house price house price school - repeat ad nauseam

We think buy to let’s an absolute disgrace/ glad we bought 5 at the old stamp duty rate

Here’s to our genius - or was it / our parents stumping up the dough for the deposit

Agents call this place Shoreditich Lite/ I call it prosecco - bubbly bland and white

So pass the craft ale pass the tapenade / if someone mentions brexit pass the hand grenade

Otag kebab’s been skewered by souvlaki food carts/ I loathe graffiti but our kids study street art

Pie and mash, licquor, winkles and wallies are all rebooted as cuisine a la cockney

Fiver for a loaf of bread a petition vs. greggs / Costa flipping coffee costa flipping arm and leg

Can’t buy malt vinegar to put upon your plate just condiment fundamentalists of balsamic state

Riding Monday then flute, Latin Greek / by Tuesday we’re into the rhythm of the week

Lance flunked the grammar despite all the tutors So Granny pays the fees at st mediocres

Everywhere the skips and signs shout out: we’re cooling up your town - time to get out

Repeat chorus and fade

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stella42n17332-blog · 6 years

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celebration Has The Answer To Everything.

Ways to Get People To Like event.

Troviamoci al tramonto, che festa si farà!": è pace di crescere, ma si può ancora festeggiare il compleanno tra amiche con l'ultimo pigiama party, restando un po' bambini e divertendosi senza pensieri. The pre-prom event on June 2 in Philly included a live Arabian camel, a rented Lamborghini, Array Wanderer and also Rolls Royce, three tons of sand, as well as 3 days all using customized created dress costing $1,500 each as well as Giuseppe Zanotti, Versace as well as Yves Saint Laurent shoes at $1,000 to $1,400 per pair. When it comes to talking regarding significant organization teams, New York is more compared to most likely the most preferred city. Given that John Deere has an unique color scheme, embellishing for the party wont be hard in any way. It will certainly be his very first pajama party birthday party and I was questioning ways to make it great as well as enjoyable! Start looking for a private party city costumes; http://fitnessflickor.pw/vikt-forlust-av-underhall-ar-olika-for-att-banta/, hall Houston TX, the moment the visitor list is prepared. Kid love to assemble problems so why not have young celebration guests reassemble Art Deco art from the 20s. Many people really love putting inflatable palm trees because they are very simple to locate and also will illuminate your event. Event Favors make your party challenging for visitor to neglect, in addition to making it a lot fun for the youngsters that are going to that they remain to go crazy about it for weeks and weeks, making your daughter one incredibly popular lady for a while. Celebration ... Gail Leino offers info on amusing at the holidays with a Halloween party bash She has totally free Halloween party games, activities, pumpkin stencils, hand-made costume suggestions, totally free celebration invitations, favors, decorations and also party supplies. You could likewise find more styles in a number of the very first communion celebration products websites. This year guarantees to be no various from years past on Halloween in Austin, and some of the tasks used by the City of Austin sound almost as much enjoyable as Sixth Road, or potentially extra enjoyable. Yet if your bride is a traditional lady not wishing to obtain drunk on her bachelorette night, after that resort to more controlled entertainments, such as organizing the pamper event" in a high-end MEDSPA or taking the visitors to a stylish supper with a cocktail party. If the celebration is organized for a girl, she can be adorned with her initial communion jewelery, whereas when it comes to young boys, they could use a cool black match with a tie or a bow. Just what makes a Xmas party various from other celebration is the celebration- details foods as well as gorgeous decorations.

10 Keys Regarding party That Has actually Never ever Been Disclosed For The Past 50 Years.

If you do not seem like taking everyone to andquot; wrong cityandquot; you can still make use of the Las Vegas style anywhere you want to, as well as turn your event into a large experience for your visitors without making them removal from the city you remain in. Including casino games as well as decors will make your day extra and also extremely shocking enjoyable for you as well as everyone you invite. Everyone can appreciate all the fun of bowling, and also there is plenty of area for every person on the celebration listing at the bowling alley. It will also protect against any kind of plates and glass breaking ... you do not want any kind of busted glass at a children celebration.

7 Prep works You Must Make Before Using event.

What generally happens is that the tired adult hosts placed the celebration visitors before the TELEVISION for a few hours prior to lights out. Be certain to introduce them to others who will chat to them if any of the people at your party appear to be especially shy. The next action is the waiting duration while your celebration invites are being printed for you. Instead of seeing the game at home sitting on your own, you can welcome all your friends or ideal sporting activities fan good friends over and also have a party. Four Katyusha rockets banged into the north seaside city of Naharia Thursday morning, one of them landing directly on a senior citizens' center. While a location could be costly, it shifts the responsibility to others as well as lets the host enjoy the event a lot more. Rather than the seasonal pizza at birthday celebrations, you can get creative with your celebration food concepts. Most often people invest hrs or even days looking for the most cost effective celebration materials for their celebration. Almost every small city and in major globally municipal places, at least one pizzeria could be located that accommodates both locals and also visitors. High-end buses are furnished with dancing area, smoke machines, strobe lights, nightclub lights as well as stripper posts, if you want to make your party remarkable. There are tons of music concepts available depending upon just what type of event you are having. Party prefers have quite a history dating back to exactly what is thought is about sixteenth century Europe, although distributing supports can not be traced back precisely.

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peppajapig-blog · 7 years

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A Little ones Storage room Coordinator Will Help Keep Their Area Clean - peppa pig portugues brasil toy Woodwork Ideas Is Likely To Make a fantastic Gift Idea - Peppa pig em Portugues Brasil toys Wood working Plans Can Certainly Make a Great Gift Idea

play doh kids toys Woodworking Programs Can Make a fantastic Present Idea

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Inflatable peppa kids toys

The course of "inflatable peppa pig completo toy" designed to incorporate little more than beachfront balls and swimming pool area floats, however nowadays it includes a huge variety of play doh toys toy which might be made more difficult than in the past. You've no doubt witnessed young children (and men and women!) enjoy in leap households and have an enjoyable time. The flooring surfaces and walls are soft, and falling straight down doesn't hurt. And today's young children usually need to have further inspiration to make physical engage in a typical a part of their lifestyle, so inflatable peppa pig kids toy are perfect by doing so, too.

Currently there are good inside inflatable jumper Peppa Pig games that are perfect for maintaining toddlers interested on the stormy morning. Round "bounce-o-lenes" that will easily fit into a playroom are around for less than $100 and definately will maintain two young kids. There are some scaled-down inflatable peppa pig toys toy leap houses and inflatable peppa toys that include glides which can go indoors.

But for much larger or even for several kids, the inflatable peppa pig portugues brasil toy adequate enough to accommodate options are too large to look in the house. Outdoor area blow up peppa kids toy may be a great deal more sophisticated, however.

Blow up play doh toys toy could cost up to and including few 1000 money if you want to purchase the versions used by rental businesses. But a majority of come in the $200 to $500 selection and perform fine for the common loved ones.

The Fortress Blow up Jump Household with Slide by Bounceland prices about $250 and also has a 9' x 12' "footprint." It provides a smooth participate in place surrounded by netting, along with an get out of glide. It has acquired very good testimonials on play doh toys toys assessment web sites.

On the higher-conclude part of blow up youngsters Peppa Pig em Portugues toy will be the KidWise Clubhouse Inflatable Leap Household by KidWise. It costs nearly $650 and its "footprint is 16 by 16 foot. It might support around 400 pounds. of youngsters given that each individual can be purchased in at within 100 pounds. It includes two outside slides and one inside slide and plenty of crawl-thru and hurdle training attributes.

Inflatable jumper peppa pig toy are exceedingly well-liked today, and there are lots of models that may go in the average family's back yard or playroom.

A Kids Dresser Coordinator Will Help Continue to keep Their Area Neat

Youngsters are by natural means rather messy and intensely lively that they never proper care simply how much cluttering they generate. As a result, moms and dads experience a terrific obstacle in arranging their bed rooms. Through the help of kids wardrobe managers, your young ones peppa pig play doh kids toy, clothes, textbooks and other belongings can be nicely organized and easy to re-prepare. You no longer should reduce your kids to take pleasure from this period of these day-to-day lives into participating in because shelving and organizing is just not that a good deal of job at all.

These units are simply made from a running shoe rack, pig toys rack, hangers for thoroughly clean garments, cabinets his books, laundry washing basket for his unclean outfits, as well as other extra issues that she or he may on a regular basis use.

Transforming your child's existing storage room would show to be an intelligent move, because it can make his sleeping quarters clutter no cost and pave more space for her or him to enjoy.

How does one start getting your children storage room organizer completed? Very first, you must review your child's safe-keeping prerequisite. A kid who owns quite a few play doh kids toys toys wants extra space for Peppa Pig English Episodes toys shelves and extra shelving when a youngster who has additional apparel need more holding place to fill.

Ascertain his beloved Peppa pig em Portugues Brasil toys or tops in order to retailer them in more readily available shelving or parts of your kids cabinet organizer. Then independent them from those hardly ever used. One stockings, tattered clothing, cracked dolls or autos must be disposed to build added storage for further of his / her other things.

Educating your young child on the way to build little ones storage room organizers and its particular worth could help you save from consistent repair of his closet. As he is aware that planning his play doh kids toys toys in their cabinet might help him find more place, you would be shocked to view him voluntarily performing the maintenance for you!

What choices are available to your young children closet planners? You can buy him a full fixed, a package that you may afterwards equally assistance into installing or people that have individual elements. There are lots of designs and designs available as long as you have a very fixed look at and plan of the child's specific requires, allocated plenty of location for your job and time so you can the two build up not merely a structured dresser and also a more beneficial bonding and relationship.

Our website gives facts about room cabinet coordinators, current wardrobe closets and various other varieties of sleeping quarters dresser managers. Allow us to offer all of your storage information. By Naomi Smith

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