Come on, Le Grovers, you thought I’d forgotten? I’ve never missed a Christmas message... I just have to be more creative about how I get there, especially after ducking out for a week before the big day.
Today, it was taking on all the cooking for 7. Sounds like a weak number. But I’m out here trying to recreate English magic for folk that needed to ask how the English do it because they do this Noche Buena thing where the whole Christmas thing takes place the night before?
Did that whole last paragraph sound like I’m culturally ignorant?
Anyway... so I gave the Spanish a bit of English culture in the shape of a giant Yorkshire pudding.
Uncultured? Tell that to them. The mother-in-law was calling her Spanish girl friends to tell them about 1) a man cooking 2) El Yorkshiro pudding.
I am culture right now in Miami.
Progressive like it was 2016.
The future, some say.
Anyway, enough of the personal nonsense.
If we’re talking about the purely capitalistic intentions of Christmas, I didn’t want any of it. I wanted Arsenal spiritual fulfillment. I wanted us to be at the top of the league, top of the Champions League, in a semi-final of a League Cup, and I wanted to feel unrattled during a time of year I usually feel like I’m having an Arsenal-related meltdown.
Santa delivered on the thing we’ve wanted for a very long time... we’re competing at the highest level, and the season so far has all the hallmarks of a very good season. Maybe even a great one?
So, I hope you’re feeling good on that front. I also hope that if you’re not feeling great about anything right now, you have good people around you. 2026 is going to be a good one for all of us... I can feel it in my bones.
So right now, know that I’m raising a cup of warm white wine to The Arsenal, to all of you reading, and I’m keeping them crossed for a very nice 2026.
Thanks for sticking with the site this year. Thanks for listening to the podcast. Thanks for coming to the show. Thanks for dropping a comment, e-mail, or a DM.
Finally, if you’re a member, check out the AOP LIVE CHRISTMAS SHOW 2025 that I dropped last night (there’s a little Xmas deal if you want to join).
Catch you tomorrow!
Pedro x
THE AOP CHRISTMAS PARTY 2025 | MEMBERS SPECIAL
Listen, we know you couldn’t all be there for this one, and we appreciate that flying in from Australia, Nigeria, Sweden, or India would be a BIG ask... so we had it recorded so you could throw this on instead of watching something with the family.