Friday, December 31, 2021

So Long, Farewell!

I've certainly had enough of 2021. It wasn't any better than 2020; in fact, it was worse. Let's hope 2022 sees an end to COVID (although I wouldn't count on it) and more harmonious relations among our warring factions friends south of the border (I wouldn't count on that either).

I'm not a happy camper at the moment. Neither of the two games I play daily on my iPad are working. Due to recent updates, one does not work at all and the other crashes after 1-2 minutes of play. Tech support ranges from sympathetic (we're working on it) to silent (developers are on holiday). I'm having to fill in my game time with things like housework and reading one of the many unread books in our library. The puppy is delighted with all the attention he gets from me, so it's not all bad.

Our New Year's Eve celebration will be cheese fondue with bread and ham cubes and lightly-steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Then we'll watch some National Lampoon movies I recorded last week, and toast the new year with prosecco.

See you all next year for a very special brunch.

From Hermione's Heart

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Recap: Spanko Brunch 2.0 for December 26



Did you give or receive spanking-themed gifts or holiday spankings?

Roz: My answer is rather boring I'm afraid. No spanking related gifts and no spanking this year.

Anon 1: No spanking gifts. But we will follow through with our spanking tradition of my getting 12 strokes of the switch today. We have a small stand of bamboo in the backyard and I'll walk out naked and cut a long thin flexible green shoot and bring it to HOH for her to lay the 12 evenly spaced raised purple welts on my bare posteriors that will leave me unable to sit for the rest of the year. 

Jack: Prior to going to my mother-in-law for Christmas dinner, was reminded to behave, no arguments, (my mother-in-law is outspoken), and just for a reminder and to ensure I behave was given a spanking, bare bottom, hand only. My wife in the past has spanked me at her mother's, which her mother agrees totally. So I work hard to be on my best behavior.

KDPierre: No. No time for any of that, and little privacy with a holiday house full of kids returned for Christmas. Even though it is not a huge issue, we are at a point where a little more privacy helps us get in the mood. And my leg is still wrapped from surgery and not fully healed. But it's OK, since I'm not really in the right frame of mind for any of that anyway. Maybe in a week or so?

Anon 2: 100% vanilla flavored this year...unfortunately!

Rosco: Yes. Irene bought a few things - some light bondage stuff and one of those ridiculous schoolgirl outfits in XL. In our role play, I’m often caught peeking in the girls’ gym or up skirts and part of my punishment is to be dressed as a girl before being spanked. It’s both a turn on for me but also makes me feel really silly, especially when she makes me twirl and look at myself in the mirror.

I haven’t worn it yet. Houseguests leave Tuesday. I’m expecting to be thoroughly thrashed and deliciously humiliated.

Jeanie: I was determined not to feel down this holiday, so prepared a regimen of self-care. After I returned home from an early afternoon Christmas dinner with a few vanilla friends, I lit candles and drew a hot bubble bath. I shaved the areas of my body that needed it to feel fully feminine. I have a large Tupperware spatula that really stings when applied to a wet bottom. I alternated giving myself the hardest sets of spanks I could manage with self-pleasure. I have a flock of different sized rubber duckies. I used one fore and aft until I felt sated. I kept reheating the water & stayed in there until I was getting "prune-y." Then I toweled-off and went to my boudoir, also candle-lit. On my big bed, I alternated between the use of two vibrators and the trusty hairbrush for doses of pleasure and motivational sessions of pain. I slept really soundly for a change. I don't know whether it was the heat of the bath or the intensity of the hairbrush or everything combined, but I'm vividly bruised and sore today. I'm sipping a glass of wine right now and I bet before this day is done I will have revisited the employment of those vibes and a paddle or belt or two.

Wasn't there a Woodstock-era song with the lyric, "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with"? That's my attitude at present.
 
Prefectdt: Sorry, no spanking related gifts or activities this year. But that is no different from any other Christmas for me.

A.J.: Don't want to see spanking related gifts anywhere. Too private and I'm hand give and take only, so no need for any related "gifts".

Only thing I dreamed (only) about was getting a birthday spanking in mid-December. I know someone I can ask but don't know what to tell her if she asks how old I am. What number do you think should I throw out? (Hermione!!! Anther brunch question?)
 
Bonnie: It's not exactly a gift, but Randy replaced the cuffs on our spanking bench. We had to test them, of course, and the new ones are definitely more comfortable!
 
 Barrel: Oh, I only wish, but nope. Travel to see/care for family this year resulted in a non-Christmas for the two of us. Our desire and resolve will prevail…next year…which is only 5 days away!!!
 
Wendel: No spanking related gifts this year. We did do “spanking under the mistletoe” and our back seats glowed like Rudolph’s nose.
 
Merry Christmas to all. 
 
Ronnie: No spanking related gifts and no spankings but I'm sure once we have the house to ourselves I'll get one:)

Fondles: BIKSS and spankings are pretty much the last things on my mind at Christmastime. For two years now I've had to deal with the Christmas Eve dinner from hell at the sister's house. (Covid restrictions have made it impossible for me to host like I usually do - since her family is the largest, we all go there instead cos there's a limit on how many people can visit etc etc.)

The only way I recover from the nightmare is to host a small group of my nearest and dearest girlfriends the weekend after - usually to decompress and for everyone to grumble about all the horrible obligatory dinners / lunches with family we'd rather not spend time with. 
 
Mark: No spanking gifts unfortunately. We have the kids home and so I had no expectations of any spanking, however a couple of days before Christmas my wife ordered me to the bedroom and told me to bend over (with the kids immediately upstairs). She gave me a couple of very sharp cracks with the new paddle and warned that there is more coming.
 
Enzo: No activities pre- or day of Christmas. It was an extra quiet holiday. I did however gift myself some new wooden instruments - a brush, a bath brush, and a small paddle. Looking forward to using them soon.

Hermione: Besides some lovely jewelry, Ron gave me something he had lovingly hand crafted - a switch! It's a long, straight branch that he found in the yard, trimmed and sprayed with polyurethane, with a loop on the end for hanging it up. Since Christmas fell on our regularly-scheduled spanking day, and COVID kept the family away, Ron had the opportunity to try it out. Boy, does that thing sting! But luckily I had one of the presents my neighbour gave me. In a bag filled with face and hand creams and scented soap was a tube of pain relief cream. How thoughtful of her.

Happy holidays, everyone!

From Hermione's Heart

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Spanko Brunch 2.0 #415

The carols have been sung, the crackers have been pulled, and the turkey leftovers are in the fridge. It's time to relax and discuss this year's festivities.

Did you get any spanking-themed presents this year? Was spanking a part of your celebration, or did it take a back seat to other obligations? 

When you get a chance, please leave your response as a comment. Once everyone has had a chance to speak I will publish an edited summary of our conversation.


From Hermione's Heart

Saturday, December 25, 2021

Merry Christmas

From our home to yours...










Enjoy today with friends, family and Facebook, but you are all welcome to join me for a Boxing Day brunch.

From Hermione's Heart

Friday, December 24, 2021

Christmas Memories IV

It's Christmas Eve. All through my childhood we opened prsents on Christmas Eve, so the day itself was never very special. This ties in nicely with the no Santa upbringing, and my mother always said she was too anxious to wait until morning for her presents. When I got married, the habit continued, because it was a European tradition that his family carried on. Then when Ron and I got together, we celebrated on Christmas Eve with our mothers because he had to go to his ex's house bright and early to watch his son open presents. It wasn't until son was grown up that the two of us actually had a real Christmas morning together.

 











From Hermione's Heart

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Christmas Memories III

Music has always been a big part of Christmas for me. I don't mean the secular stuff that you hear in the mall or the supermarket. I mean the English cathedral traditional kind. I love to sing the familiar carols as well as the seldom heard but musically delightful anthems. Ron often torments me by putting on Burl Ives' "Holly Jolly Christmas". Thanks to covid I won't be joining in the singing of any of my favourites, but Youtube has English men and boys' choirs aplenty for me to enjoy.

 












From Hermione's Heart

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Christmas Memories II

Lights are a big part of the Christmas decorations I have had throughout my life. My grandmother had sets of electric candles in all the front windows of her home, and I now have similar sets in our street-facing windows. When I was small, the lights on the tree were quite large, and there were also some very special ones that were bubbling glass tubes. Our lights are tiny now, and blue - my favourite.

Outside we have a lighted sleigh and one reindeer, as well as white lights around two cedars and blue ones framing the bay window. There's also a laser projector that makes green snowflakes dance on the outside of our house.

I love lights, but I don't think I'd appreciate living next door to this house, even though I'm a big Queen fan.




From Hermione's Heart