Christmas has been very perceptible in the malls in recent weeks. The jingly carols, as always, have driven us slightly crazy.

Otherwise, until today, our only nod to the festive season had been a very nice Christmas cake from Marks & Spencer's.

But this afternoon, my to-do list finally exhausted, we did the kinds of things you need to do at Christmas:

1. Over-indulged on incredibly rich chocolate and peanut pie;

2. Shared a bottle of pomegranate juice, whose glowing red colour epitomized Christmas;

3. Visited a fascinating exhibition, which reminded us how many other festivals we have missed this year, owing to lack of time...;



4. And went to see The Hobbit (3). Seeing Peter Jackson's movies was a feature of three Christmases in NZ, and one in Malaysia. So it was good to revive the tradition. I thought it was great. The best of the three, in fact. Lots of fighting, yes, but well done, with plenty of changes of focus and pace. A powerful contest between good and evil. And a battle of characters, as dwarves, humans, and elves work out whether they want to fight evil, or want to fight each other. Enjoyed it.