Fatherhood² | Henry's Blog » christmas

Fatherhood²: A Christmas Message from Henry’s Blog

Henry Elliss — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:10:15 +0000

As we come hurtling towards the end of 2012, full of Christmas cheer and festive spirit, I wanted to take a moment to thank all the people that regularly read my blog – and those of you who have contributed guest blog posts to it in the past 12 months.

As well as marking the end of the year, this time also marks the end of my first year as a “Daddy Blogger”, so I’m very pleased to have made it this far. If you follow me online, you’ll know I’ve been blogging for a lot longer than a year – both on the Tamar blog and various other projects. But my decision to ‘rebrand’ myself as a more niche type of blogger on my own blog has been a good one (in my opinion) and I’m pleased with what I’ve achieved in 2011.

As well as over 100 blog posts, I’ve had 18 lovely guest posts from both friends and strangers alike. I’ve had at least one of my posts published in a book but more importantly I’ve made a host of new friends in the wider “daddy blogger” community. It’s been a good year.

Looking ahead to 2012, I’m planning for a lot more of the same. If you’d like to write a guest post for the blog, I always welcome contributions – drop me an email or tweet me. I’m also hoping it’s going to be the year when I finally get around to having my own book published – as well as of course being a year full of lots more fatherhood fun and games.

Anyway, I’ll save you the soppy “Thank you” messages to friends and family – if you’ve read this blog or supported me this year, you’ll doubtless already know that I love you all.

All that remains is for me to wish you all a…

Happy Christmas!

…and a wonderful New Year – here’s to a great 2012!

Fatherhood²: I Want to Believe, I WANT to Believe…

Henry Elliss — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:09:59 +0000

I should probably start this post with a disclaimer – a sort of “Spoiler Alert” for those of a sensitive disposition: If you have somehow stumbled upon this blog post and you are under the age of 10, please don’t read any further. It’s for your own good, trust me.

(You might laugh, but I don’t THINK my blog will have gotten on to any school-based blacklists yet, and I know how much kids are encouraged to use computers at school these days – spoiling a young child’s Christmas is the last thing I want to do, after all!)

Right, now that I’ve got that out of the way… Let me ask you a question:

How old were you when you first suspected that Father Christmas wasn’t quite as real as you’d been lead to believe?

Slightly embarrassingly, I think I was a lot older than I probably should have been – around 8 or 9, if memory serves. I suspect most people clock-on a lot earlier, but hey – it hasn’t done me any harm (has it?)

The reason I’m so curious should be fairly obvious – the Elliss household is currently deep in the midst of Christmas preparations, and this weekend included not 1 but 2 separate encounters with the big man himself. Robert, who is 3, still very firmly believes in Father Christmas.

I say “still” – this is actually the first Christmas we’ve had where Robert is even old enough to understand what’s going on to any extent. But that doesn’t stop people asking me “Does Robert still believe in Father Christmas?” (to which I usually reply “Er, yes. He’s 3″).

So whilst I’m not too worried about the magic of Christmas being spoiled this year, the fact that he’s now at pre-school – where the influence of his peers is bound to start having an effect – I’m getting slightly nervous about when the truth WILL be revealed to him. And then we’ve got the next issue – namely, his little brother. When Robert does finally click, will he reveal all to Freddie?

I’m amazed I didn’t realise a lot sooner – as well as my school-friends who probably tried to convince me of “the truth about Santa” at school, I’m also the third child in our family – my brother is 6 years older, my sister 3. So I suspect they deserve a big “thank you” from my childhood self, for not spoiling the magic of Christmas for me. Hopefully we’re bringing Robert up well enough that he’ll do his brother the same courtesy.

Of course, I might well be pushing my luck in the mean time – I’m not even going to tell you how many times I’ve trotted out the old “Unless you do as you’re told, I’m going to write a letter to Father Christmas telling him you don’t want any presents” trick… Hopefully he won’t call my bluff – surely the stakes are too high? Otherwise, I might have to follow my own rule (most regularly used with bedtime story cancellation) and actually cancel Christmas one year. And I don’t think THAT would go down too well…!

So, how old were YOU when you heard the big revelation?

Fatherhood²: It’s Political Correctness Gone MAD!

Henry Elliss — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:22:58 +0000

I was originally planning to post a video with this piece, but modern life appears to have put a dampner on those plans – something I had previously thought was just a joke fuelled by Daily Mail readers turned out to be true: You really can’t put pictures of other people’s children on the internet anymore.

Yesterday was an exciting day for my wife and I – Robert’s class at pre-school were doing a small Christmas “show” for the parents, singing Christmassy songs and wearing little Christmas hats they had made. Needless to say, we were VERY excited about this – as it seems other parents were too, as the room was packed.

Like every other parent there, I was armed with a camera and/or smartphone to take some photos of my little angel, and maybe even a few video clips. But the headmistress quickly put an end to that plan, as she announced the following right at the start of the show:

We *do* allow you to take photos and record videos of this performance, but we don’t want them to end up on the internet. So please, feel free to take photos but don’t go and email them to people – they are just for your own private enjoyment.

Aside from the obvious loopholes that I immediately found in her statement, and the slightly odd nature of the final line, I suddenly started thinking how amazing it is that people are still worried about their children’s photos ending up on the internet. In the days of Facebook, YouTube and all the other ways of sharing our content, I think I had assumed that people were now much more relaxed about the possibility of a picture of their child ending up online – it turns out I was wrong.

Well, I SAY I was wrong – there’s nothing to say that every single parent in the room wasn’t thinking the same thing as me, and that the school just adopted this policy because it’s the “done thing” these days. But I wasn’t going to argue the point, obviously, and will try to respect the wishes of the school.

It does make me wonder how precious you really need to BE with photos of children though – is a picture of video of a child singing “Santa got stuck in the chimney” REALLY that appealing to the weirdos of the world?! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting people should be posting the more “intimate” pictures of their kids online – especially on unsecured or free-to-see sites like YouTube. But a child in a school uniform singing? Really?

Perhaps I’m being niaive – I guess it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, you can only really speak for your own family after all. But it does make me wonder whether we haven’t all taken this privacy thing a LITTLE bit too far…

(P.S. I realise I have included a small photo at the top of this post, but it’s so small that you can’t ACTUALLY identify anybody in it, so I assume I’m safe with it. Don’t try to click it though, it doesn’t get bigger!)

Fatherhood²: 10 Presents Your Husband, Brother or Dad will LOVE this Christmas

Henry Elliss — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:30:34 +0000

As a father who often struggles with buying presents for people, I’m a big fan of the concept of wishlists – my Amazon one has served me very well over the years, and our wedding wishlist produced presents we’re still using now. But what do you do if you need to buy for somebody who hasn’t got a wishlist, or who refuses to tell you what they want?

My next step is usually those “Gifts for…” lists on sites like Not on the Highstreet or IWOOT – but they’re usually full of a LOT of filler and not much killer.

So, I decided to take the initiative and ask some fellow dads, brothers and sons what they REALLY want for Christmas, in order to compile a list of suggestions which I’m pretty sure EVERYONE will find something they want on. So whether you’re a dad looking to fill up your own wishlist, or a child looking to surprise your dad with a gift they’ll love, I present to you 15 suggestions for presents that the father in your life is bound to love…

(And they’re not ALL gadgets or iPads, either!)

1. USB Cassette Player (£50)

Still got a bunch of old cassette tapes lying around, but can’t bare to part with them in case they one day enjoy a revival? Then convert them to MP3 so you can play them anywhere you like! Or better still, just use it as a cassette player and play your tapes through the computer speakers, all the while insisting that the sound quality is much better than these “new fangled devises”…

2. Teroforma Whisky Stones (£18)

I’m reliably informed by drinkers of “real” drinks like Whisky and Cognac that the addition of ice is a big no-no, due to the watering-down that inevitably results when the ice melts. So these Whisky stones are apparently the answer – you freeze them in the freezer before dunking them in your drink, thus keeping it cold without losing the flavour. Magic!

3. Autoloader Screwdriver (£20)

As somebody who owns at least 6 or 7 screwdrivers in various formats (traditional, bendy, multi-head, electronic to name but a few) I can see the appeal of the Autoloader straight away. In a nutshell, it’s got the flexibility of a multi-head screwdriver without the worry about dropping the screw-heads down the back of the cupboard, or worse still, in to the corner of the garage with all the cobwebs in, never to be seen again.

4. Sonos Play:3 (£250)

This one was suggested to me by my friend Dave, and ever since I saw it I have coveted it. Put simply, it’s three speakers in one box – ideal for the budding home cinema fan without a lot of room in their home!

5. Custom-build Nike Trainers (£65+)

Want to look cool with all the kids “on the street” but without the worry of having to be seen in a shoe-shop? Now you can create your own, customised Nikes online – so you can be JUST different enough, but safe in the knowledge that people will know how cool you are…

6. BookBook for iPhone (£50)

Not only will the BookBook iPhone cover make you look all KINDS of hip-n-cool with it’s leather finish and fake-book design, it also doubles as a wallet for all those pesky credit cards – with the only obvious disadvantage being that if you lose your iPhone, you’ve also lost all your money. But let’s focus on the positive – this looks really cool!

7. The Laurel & Hardy Collection (£42)

This one’s a sure-fire winner – not only do you get the joy of 21 DVDs to watch, it also looks like it should cost at LEAST £200 – so the gift-giver gets to look much more generous than they really are! What dad doesn’t love a bit of Laurel & Hardy? If there’s one out there, I don’t want to meet him…

8. LEGO Architecture Models (£50+)

If you, like me, still LOVE the joy of owning/building/collecting LEGO models, but feel too embarrassed to ask for the LEGO police station for Christmas, help is at hand. Thanks to these beautiful LEGO architecture models, you can ask for LEGO with your head held high, under the guise that you’re simply buying it because you’re an architecture lover. BINGO!

9. LEGO Storage Bricks (£18+)

Another big winner in our household, these have allowed me to fill our living room with LEGO under the guise of wanting more storage for my children’s tool – with the added advantage that they look REALLY cool, especially when stacked together in a big pile…

10. Isotoner SmarTouch Gloves (£15)

Amazingly, I had no idea these existed until yesterday – and indeed I suspect a lot of others are just as clueless, as I heard Chris Evans lamenting a lack of them just the other day. Simply put, they allow you to use your iPhone or Smart Phone, even if you want to keep your hands warm. Simple, yet effective.

3 More Christmas Spirit-filled Movies

Henry Elliss — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:56:49 +0000

Almost the moment I hit “publish” on my post last week – “4 Movies to Get you in the Christmas Spirit” – I remembered a number of films I’d missed. Not to mention all the people that responded to this and told me other films I should have included. So I thought I’d do another post with some of the others that I missed:

Die Hard 2 (1990)

It might be a random choice to get you in the Christmas “spirit”, but Die Harder (as I believe it was subtitled) stands out against other action movies for it’s brilliant Christmas-time setting – what’s better than Bruce Willis in his wife-beater fighting baddies? Him doing it at Christmas in an airport, that’s what!

Stars: Bruce Willis, Dennis Franz, Bonnie Bedelia and a bunch of people I haven’t heard of since…

Fun Fact: The Russian title for “Die Hard” in all of the four movies is, “A Hard Nut to Crack”.

Favourite Quote: Maclane (Willis) “Oh man, I can’t fucking believe this. Another basement, another elevator. How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?”

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

Obviously this isn’t entirely a Christmas movie alone, since it’s set over the course of an entire year – but that obviously means it’s bookended with some great Christmas action. This is another movie that’ll probably see me being accused of having rubbish taste in films, but what the hell – I’m a big feel-good fan, and this (and the sequel) has that in spades.

Stars: Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Sally Philips, Celia Imrie

Fun Fact: Both leading actors’ names, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant, are mentioned in the book. The first on “Tuesday 24 October” and the second on “Wednesday 16 August”.

Favourite Quote: Bridget (Zellweger) “You once said you liked me just as I am and I just wanted to say likewise. I mean there are stupid things your mum buys you, tonight’s another… classic. You’re haughty, and you always say the wrong thing in every situation and I seriously believe that you should rethink the length of your sideburns. But, you’re a nice man and I like you. If you wanted to pop by some time that might be nice… more than nice.”

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Not only one of my favourite movies to watch in what the Americans call “the Holiday season”, this is also a great film to watch when you want your fill of New York landscapes. As somebody who got married in New York, I can never get enough of a bit of Empire State on celluloid, making up slightly for the fact that I don’t live there. The Christmas scenes in the film, and not to mention the wonderful New Year’s Eve set-piece, really get me in the mood for cold nights surrounded by loved-ones, not forgetting copious amounts of alcohol and food :)

Stars: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher

Fun Fact: The orgasm scene was filmed at Katz’s Deli, an actual restaurant on New York’s E. Houston Street. The table at which the scene was filmed now has a plaque on it that reads, “Congratulations! You’re sitting where Harry met Sally.”

Favourite Quote: Harry (Crystal) “I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

4 Movies to get you in the Christmas spirit

Henry Elliss — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:01:56 +0000

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Easily my favourite film to get me in to the Christmas spirit – which is odd, because it’s actually a movie set around American Thanksgiving. But since I’m not American, I call that a Christmas movie :) One of John Candy’s finest performances, and Steve Martin is his usual comedic best in this heart-warming and hilarious movie about a hapless businessman trying to get across the country to see his family for Thanksgiving.

Stars: Steve Martin and John Candy, basically.

Fun fact: No transportation company wanted to appear inept or deficient in any way, so crews had to rent twenty miles of train track and refurbish old railroad cars, construct a set that looked like an airline terminal, design a rent-a-car company logo and uniforms, and rent 250 cars for the infamous Rent-a-Car sequence!

Favourite quote: Del (Candy) “You know I had a feeling that when we parted ways. We would somehow wind up back together again. I’ve never seen a guy get picked up by his testicles before. Lucky thing for you that cop passed by when he did. Otherwise, you’d be lifting up your schnutz to tie you shoes. I’m sorry. That’s terrible. Do you have any idea how glad I am I didn’t kill you?”

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

One of the all-time classics, and a great movie to warm your cockles to in the run up to Christmas. Follow the story of George Bailey (the marvelous James Stewart) as he experiences one of the most compelling rollercoaster life-stories, leading up to an ill-fated Christmas Eve where he considers ending it all – before being told the story of how life would be different by a fallen angel named Clarence.

Stars: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Faylen and Ward Bond

Fun fact: Two of Sesame Street’s Muppets, Bert and Ernie, share their names with the film’s cop and cab driver, respectively, but it’s believed to be just a coincidenc

Favourite quote: George (Stewart) “I’m shakin’ the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I’m gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum. Then, I’m comin’ back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I’m gonna build things. I’m gonna build airfields, I’m gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I’m gonna build bridges a mile long…”

Love Actually (2003)

I know it’s cheesy to have a Richard Curtis film on the list, and I’m sure some of my more movie-snobbish friends will tell me I’m a fool, but I love a bit of Love, Actually in the run-up to Christmas. From Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson’s breaking-down marriage to Martin Freeman and Joanna Page and their porn-stand-in first meeting, I don’t think there is a single character or story in this film that I don’t love. The soundtrack is brilliant too!

Stars: Loads, including Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Martin Freeman, Joanna Page, Bill Nighy, Liam Neeson, Kris Marshall…

Fun fact: When David arrives at No. 10 Downing Street, his tie changes 11 times between shots when meeting Natalie. Apparently, Hugh Grant had changed his tie after a post-lunch nap and no one noticed at first. They decided to “play with it” and went all out and changed the tie 11 times just for the heck of it.

Favourite quote: Jamie (Colin Firth) – in portugese “Beautiful Aurelia, I’ve come here with a view of asking you to marriage me. I know I seems an insane person – because I hardly knows you – but sometimes things are so transparency, they don’t need evidential proof. And I will inhabit here, or you can inhabit with me in England.”

The Snowman (1982)

Probably not technically classed as a “movie” (though I’m not sure what you’d call it if it’s not?) but this has got to be a main-stay on everybody’s Christmas viewing list. I think I could count on one hand the number of Christmases where I *haven’t* watched the Snowman, and with a son of my own now, it’s definitely staying on the festive line-up. The only tiny thing I’d say slightly spoils an otherwise brilliant viewing experience is the bizarre and frankly completely odd opening scene with David Bowie…! It was only added when the film was released by PBS in the states, and it really jars with the overall feel of it.

Stars: A snowman and a little boy.

Fun fact: The little boy’s name is James!

Favourite quote: Aside from the aforementioned Bowie intro, not a single word is spoken in this wonderful film, so this is a bit null and void really!