The Laboratory

Time for some silly presents that you could buy (as if yesterday's toilet roll wasn't silly enough). 1) for the EXCEL fan in your life, from the silly folks at the Financial Times, a vaguely seasonal mousemat. They have a whole range of merch, mainly mocking people who buy crypto. https://www.redbubble.com/i/mouse-pad/Merry-XMATCH-by-FTAlphaville/166878203.G1FH6 2) ornaments seem to be getting sillier and tackier every year. The Covent Garden shop Choosing Keeping has a representative range including these three kitschy classics. https://choosingkeeping.com/collections/christmas2021-breakfastanddeli 3) another nerdy gift, this time from Mathsgear, who have loads of silly toys that actually show some really important maths. Alongside non-transitive dice and , they have these square coasters, each of which is split into different sized squares. If you put all four together, it makes a super-square! https://mathsgear.co.uk/collections/all/products/squared-square-coasters 4) saving...

This one is for Adam's brother Guy (middle child) and sister Gail (youngest). Yes, of course he's the eldest. Can't you tell?!

This year's must-have tree decoration are these tiny Moomin mugs from Finland. They don't look tiny in the picture but seriously, dolls at a dolls' teaparty would complain that they looked like espresso cups. Every year Arabia (a pottery) and Iittala (a homewares firm) produce a special Moomin collectors cup, and have gone for the ones you see here this year. You can get them from our favourite Scandinavian store, Skandium , which has 4 branches in London. We also got there a tiny penguin decoration (who looks just like Pingu) and a Penguin Donkey . But when we went to Finland last year we visited the Arabia factory and Iittala outlet store and got LOADS of pottery and glassware to give our home a Scandinavian feel!