Gremlins and Goblins
Dec. 28th, 2024 08:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingboot'You think we're gremlins!' A 10 year old grin flashed at me over the drone he was trying to put together.
'Not at all,' I supplied, 'gremlins are harmless before midnight.' Of course this only applies if they aren't fed, and Granny was feeding these all the time along with the rest of us. This was a special Xmas, younger fam's first visit to the UK from Oz. The gremlin was a fellow of gentle feeling, perhaps a bit sensitive, particularly to the outrages of his younger sister, who is definitely a goblin princess. My older niece and her fiancee from the States had brought over four or five lightsabres; I'm in love with these. You can choose colours and your own bwarmwarmwarm sounds. Naturally there were jedi training sessions focused on going for other light sabres rather than bodies; the not-quite-gremlin took these seriously but our goblin knew only the frenzy of battle and promptly whomped him in the head. Gremlin made up for this later by flying his drone into her hair, to the despair of her mother who suggested they might have to cut it out.
'Don't you DARE cut my hair!' Came the house-shaking roar/scream chorus. I can't claim the little boy smiled quietly, just that no-one would blame him if he did.
In the end drone and hair were rescued, leaving bemused adults to retire to TV or just sit with dogs on laps and read Christmas goodies, carols playing in the background. I had been given Stephen Fry's Odyssey, a very easy read if you can get past the tone of Fry's narration. There's a self-conscious air about the whole thing, as though he's slightly too aware of some mission to bring Greek mythology to the common man. Behind it all, Fry and I may well be at odds in so much as he trusts to the gentleness of Man rather than gods and I believe that Man is at least as vicious as any immortal created or believed in. Fry's no Homer but it's a clear genial rendition.
This has been a very cosy family Christmas and I enjoyed it, not least the plots of the brothers to get us all meeting up in Sicily at some point. Having said that, I wouldn't trust Gremlin or Goblin within 5 miles of Etna, especially with heads full of Darth Vader. Calming them down is going to take a lot of gelato.
But that's all next year's business. Happy Holidays to all, hope you are getting the fun and rest you need X
'Not at all,' I supplied, 'gremlins are harmless before midnight.' Of course this only applies if they aren't fed, and Granny was feeding these all the time along with the rest of us. This was a special Xmas, younger fam's first visit to the UK from Oz. The gremlin was a fellow of gentle feeling, perhaps a bit sensitive, particularly to the outrages of his younger sister, who is definitely a goblin princess. My older niece and her fiancee from the States had brought over four or five lightsabres; I'm in love with these. You can choose colours and your own bwarmwarmwarm sounds. Naturally there were jedi training sessions focused on going for other light sabres rather than bodies; the not-quite-gremlin took these seriously but our goblin knew only the frenzy of battle and promptly whomped him in the head. Gremlin made up for this later by flying his drone into her hair, to the despair of her mother who suggested they might have to cut it out.
'Don't you DARE cut my hair!' Came the house-shaking roar/scream chorus. I can't claim the little boy smiled quietly, just that no-one would blame him if he did.
In the end drone and hair were rescued, leaving bemused adults to retire to TV or just sit with dogs on laps and read Christmas goodies, carols playing in the background. I had been given Stephen Fry's Odyssey, a very easy read if you can get past the tone of Fry's narration. There's a self-conscious air about the whole thing, as though he's slightly too aware of some mission to bring Greek mythology to the common man. Behind it all, Fry and I may well be at odds in so much as he trusts to the gentleness of Man rather than gods and I believe that Man is at least as vicious as any immortal created or believed in. Fry's no Homer but it's a clear genial rendition.
This has been a very cosy family Christmas and I enjoyed it, not least the plots of the brothers to get us all meeting up in Sicily at some point. Having said that, I wouldn't trust Gremlin or Goblin within 5 miles of Etna, especially with heads full of Darth Vader. Calming them down is going to take a lot of gelato.
But that's all next year's business. Happy Holidays to all, hope you are getting the fun and rest you need X
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Date: 2024-12-28 12:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-12-29 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-12-28 04:55 pm (UTC)Maybe by next summer the goblin princess will have gone through one of those six-month changes younger kids do and have become an angel. One can hope.
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Date: 2024-12-29 07:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-10 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-11 09:17 am (UTC)