Merry Christmas Four Houses!

[Oscar Flynn G7]

:3 Just a little hello from France where I'm spending my Christmas eating great food and generally being incredibly relaxed, to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and, of course, a happy new year. (:

Although I'm not really a festive person (I tend to feel the urge to burn tacky Christmas decorations when I see them covering someone's house...) I hope you enjoy your celebrations if you are celebrating, and have an optimistic start to 2009!

Feel free to share with us your plans for Christmas and new years too; I plan on getting pleasantly tipsy with my sisters and a bunch of French/Dutch people I don't know who, my dad will tell me, are actually my relations. XD It should be pretty good.

[Ariane Chan]

*huggles* Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too, Astrid, and to everyone here. :D Astrid, I hope you're having a wonderful time in France. :D Thanks for popping in to say hi! I hope to see you back soon and have a wonderful Christmas from me.

I can't believe another year has passed and it's this time of celebration again. I really love Christmas, even though it burns a massive hole in my pocket and is generally very busy and stressful. This has probably been the worst Christmas for me in my last seventeen years, admittedly, but that's mainly due to overworking and the upcoming exams in January. I won't let it affect me over the next few days; I will spend time with my family in front of the telly and just relax. ^^

I've never been a big believer behind the real traditions of Christmas... Still, I really think it is an important time of year not to think about yourself, but others. Not everyone on this planet is as lucky as I am and I think Christmas brings that home. Sometimes I can be cyncial - it is true that Christmas is always overcommercialised - but I don't think slating Christmas will help bring back the Christmas spirit. I think the best way is to carry on believing in it. I believe it is a fantastic time of year when everyone should be happy and peaceful. I may not be Christian or carry Christian beliefs, but I think Christmas is important to remember other people, not just yourself.

Looking out of my bedroom window right now, I really wish it was snowing, or will snow tomorrow, lol. *sigh* England (or maybe it's just my part of Manchester) is always devoid of snow this time of year.

But anyway, again, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I'll be thinking of everyone tomorrow and hope each and every single person across the planet - as many people as possible anyway - will be smiling too.

[Celia Richmond]

Hello, 4Houses!
I would also like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope 2009's a good year for everyone...it should be an interesting year, at any rate! I completely see what Viv means about not believing that this year's passed already! I mean, usually the lead up to Christmas seems to take aaaaages, but this year it's come around really quickly, it seems!

And yeah, this Christmas has been...stressful! I can't really say it's been my worst xmas (given the one 2 years ago...which I don't wanna go into), but juggling interview preparation, school work, Christmas things and other stuff has been quite stressful...more so than it should've been. Luckily my interviews are over (and didn't go too badly, I think), Christmas is...well, all but over, but nothing else needs to be done, which just leaves school. As Viv has mentioned, we have exams in January to prepare for...ones that we can't really afford to mess up at all (I'd rather not resit given my hectic summer timetable as it is!).

And yeah, Christmas should be a special time of year to spend with family and friends. It's all too easy to be selfish at this time of year...but as Viv said, remembering other people, those less fortunate than us, is important. By all means enjoy yourselves, as I'm sure many of you will, but remember those who maybe don't have family to visit, maybe don't have presents under the tree (if they have a tree at all, that is).

Anyway, as Viv says, it's not snowing here in Manchester. In fact, it's all dark and dull outside (depressing, when it's not even 5pm yet! In the summer it'd still be light for another 4/5 hours yet, ah well). I guess there's always a glimmer of hope for tomorrow!

So, have a nice Christmas everyone, and all the best for 2009 .

[Ivy Tunstall]

Happy Christmas everyone!

Hmm well my family started Christmas Day arguing this year - yey. I'd gone to bed but it kept me awake and then I had to comfort my mum so it was after half past two when I managed to get to sleep so um... I'm quite tired. But it's a bright and sunny morning (wait... afternoon now!) and my gran has arrived. So all is good.

I enjoyed the carol singing we did, Viv - I'm really pleased with the amount we raised and it got me more into the Christmas spirit than anything else.

I've been on Four Houses for just a little while and I think that the people on it are very special! So I hope that you all have a good year ahead of them and will have a great day today.