So It's Christmas day and my presents are so mundane I feel like crying. Here's some vouchers. Ta. Some socks. Really? Socks? Ta. Cool. Sigh.

Fortunately I had ordered a Talons/Trouble books double pack from MIE earlier in December. It had been confiscated by my significant other when it arrived and wrapped as a present for me. Thank God. Made my day. Two gorgeously presented LPs and more CDRs, lyric sheets, inserts and hand assembled inners than you can shake a yule log at.

Then the music. Shit. I mean I'd heard 'Endless Pool' MP3s before but listening to the record on headphones during the post Christmas Lunch snooze was something else. That record could be made for that feeling of stasis and contentment and yet dislocation. Amazing.

And 'Songs for Babes' is the perfect 'I saw the girl I loved for years at school at Midnight Mass' record. End of.

Thanks MIE, you saved Christmas.