The Laboratory

Traditionally the penultimate day of the Calendar is a clearout of all the things we wanted to put in but didn't have room for. So here, in no particular order: The classic Henry nativity, born anew for 2025 What kind of monster would put a giant guacamole dip on top of a record player. Everything about this is wrong. And yet ... yum. Woke Christmas decorations. Farage would ban these. Last chance to buy the must-have Christmas gifts for the kitchen. Yes, £600.

A late arrival, but not the fault of the sender! I just found my father's second contribution in an old Whatsapp message! The Biscuit Factory is an art gallery in Newcastle and this year they had an exhibition "Gingerbread Street" of gingerbread houses.

One of the highlights of the year was a trip to Tokyo to do some work with Casio on calculator design. I may have mentioned it, sorry if I went on about it too much! I only had one day of shopping so tried to visit all the best stores: Muji, Uniqlo, Atoya 12-floor stationery shop, Daiso, Don Quijote, BIC Camera and of course Family Mart. That last one is a "konbini" or convenience store, but offering so much more than a Costcutter in the UK. In particular the must-have item (which of course I bought) is the Family Mart-branded socks. These even got a whole article on the BBC . Over 30 million pairs have been sold, and people will fill up suitcases with them to take home as gifts. Japanese konbini make life a bit easier, with services such as Wi-Fi, bill payments, ticket reservations, ATMs, and scanners/printers, all in one place. The most famous are 7-Eleven, Lawson, and of course Family Mart. There are hundreds in each Tokyo neighbourhood, often 3 in a row. The top foods to ...

Then and now. Twelve years ago we watched our first Princess Estelle video, she's the granddaughter of the King of Sweden and 2nd in line to the throne. But back then she was just 18 months old, and starring with her parents Victoria and Daniel in a Christmas video from Kungahuset (the Swedish Royal Court). Now in 2025, she is 13, her brother Oscar is 9, and here is this year's video - but there's a new baby in town ... Princess Ines! Another video just dropped! https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CxLgqdKf2/

We don't really have a tradition of gingerbread houses, but some people can get very competitive. In the new Netflix Christmas movie "A Merry Little Ex-mas" we see Alicia Silverstone (Cher from Clueless) as best friends with Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Clarissa Explains It All) and separating from her husband (looks a bit like Gerard Butler, not famous). Standout acting from her two kids, and two gay dads. ANYWAY, she is the town handywoman, fixing pipes, electrical items, but really trying to make the whole place more sustainable. She also builds amazing gingerbread houses, including a model of her town, Winterlight (yes really): Here are some other great modern gingerbread designs, including London's Trellick Tower. And don't forget to watch the movie!

It's time for some nativity scenes we have spotted around the internet. Though we did see our first real-life one at half term in Vienna, they were just setting up and needed the wise men to take the bin bags out. Here are some stylish and self-explanatory cribs: (thanks to Alan and Gillian who spotted this one)