It’s the last Monday before Christmas, and I am officially done with the shopping and posting side of things. If that’s not a reason to celebrate, I don’t know what is. How are you all doing? Of course, there’s still baking to do, but I’m not getting fussed about that. A few dozen eggless cookies, thanks to the fantastic, marvellous, now former cook at Jessica’s daycare center, Ken, plus GiGi’s sugar plum recipe. Jessica loves to cook, and since these are recipes mostly to entertain her, I’m not going mental on quantities or amount of mess that ends up around the kitchen.

I still can’t believe that Christmas is on Thursday; this year has just flown by. There are so many things to celebrate, including the health of my family and  our impending second child next March, but here and now I want to thank you all – I really rely on MT for laughs, rant space and a lot of support. Excuse the sappiness, or chalk it up to the pregg-o hormones, but there you go. I’m very thankful to this space and to the friends I’ve made here.

Anyway, a little bit of news to entertain you all. Australia the movie is getting decidedly mixed reviews, and most of Australia isn’t the slightest bit pleased with Our Nicole (Kidman) – a sentiment she apparently now returns and we benighted Australian residents will not be receiving a Christmas visit from Mother and Child. But Baz Lurhmann presses on, announcing that he’s bought the rights to The Great Gatsby.

However Luhrmann is keen to move on to his next project after officially acquiring the rights to pre-Depression novel The Great Gatsby, by American author F Scott Fitzgerald.

He sees it as a timely wake-up call as the economy comes crashing down.

"If you want to show a mirror to people that says, 'You've been drunk on money', they're not going to want to see it,'' he said.

"But if you reflected that mirror on another time they'd be willing to.

"People will need an explanation of where we are and where we've been, and The Great Gatsby can provide that explanation.''

Luhrmann he was going to get to work on the film quickly to take advantage of the times.

I love F Scott Fitzgerald and am quite keen to see what Baz will do with the story – I’m hoping for a Red Curtains treatment. I thought the 70s movie was a bit of a disappointment, frankly. Mia Farrow was a good Daisy, and Robert Redford and Sam Waterston should have worked, but somehow, it just felt flat to me.

And finally, the global economy may be sinking faster than Australia at the box office, but one bright spark remains. Apparently, the manufacturer of the shoe that journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi hurled at Bush is reporting a massive surge in orders for that shoe model.

Their deployment as a makeshift missile robbed President George Bush of his dignity and landed their owner in jail. But the world's most notorious pair of shoes have yielded an unexpected bonanza for a Turkish shoemaker.

Ramazan Baydan, owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company, has been swamped with orders from across the world, after insisting that his company produced the black leather shoes which the Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi threw at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad last Sunday.

Baydan has recruited an extra 100 staff to meet orders for 300,000 pairs of Model 271 - more than four times the shoe's normal annual sale - following an outpouring of support for Zaidi's act, which was intended as a protest, but led to his arrest by Iraqi security forces.

Orders have come mainly from the US and Britain, and from neighbouring Muslim countries, he said.

Peace on earth and a little extra profit for those that deserve it for all. Merry Christmas to you all.