So Happy Christmas. I love you baby.
It's beautiful! Thank you Catchfire, and peace.
I could have been someone!!!
I remember singing this song standing on top of a Bar in Putney where I used to work/live for a brief while.
[quote=N.R.KISSED]
I could have been someone!!!
[/quote]
Ive got a feelin this year's for me and you...
I really enjoyed that Catchfire, thanks!
I also want to say that I have met N.R.KISSED a couple of times, and he is someone.
This is a tagline. It has nothing to do with the comments posted above. Just a tagline...really. Please disregard.
Thanks for that, Catchfire.
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I built my dreams around you.
Peace, everyone. And love.
I also want to say that I have met N.R.KISSED a couple of times, and he is someone.
Oh, I thought he was like me. A forum bot.
I've met you, Papal Bull. So you're someone too!
Merry Christmas! I had a nice Christmas Eve with the German side of my family (which celebrates on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day). So my son opened most of his presents tonight, although he'll open his stocking tomorrow morning. (He doesn't believe in Santa anymore, but it seemed to me that it would be a nice way to have a fun Christmas morning.) And we had a big roladen meal with homemade potato dumplings from scratch, which my Oma taught my mother and I how to make this afternoon.
Then we're off to the other side of the family to do the same thing over again there tomorrow afternoon! I'll also be getting two Christmas dinners because my mother is cooking a turkey for noon tomorrow (Germans have big meals at midday), and then my father's wife is cooking turkey for supper at their place for the evening.
Everyone's off to bed now, and I'm about to go too, just thought I'd check in and say Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it! :)
Peace, Joy and Prosperity to one and all
Hey what's that clatter.......
Did you just spring from your bed to see what was the matter?? ;)
Alright, it's 12:02, and our stockings are hung by the chimney with care, which means I should get to bed. I'm spending the night at my parent's place for the first time in a few months. It's very strange, but somehow comforting! Best wishes to everyone!
Christmas services in Boom Boom town are finally over. I heard a noise just a short while ago, and woke up to find some gifts unddr the tree. And the beer gone. Hope Santa doesn't get nabbed for drunk driving. 
Merry Christams to eveyone.
I think that drunken Santa showed up here Boom Boom., I smell stale cigars and wood chips and the place is a mess.
Well, really, Rudolph does the driving, so I wouldn't worry about that too much, Boom Boom. ;)
I'm the first one awake here. My son doesn't know he has a stocking to open this morning (he opened all his gifts last night) so that's probably why he hasn't bounded down the stairs at some ungodly hour this morning. Actually, I think my Oma is moving around upstairs now too, so I'm not the only one up now.
No tree or stockings this year for me, although I did open one present my parents mailed me. It was a navy blue sweater vest. Some things never change.
Still, me and the SO made eggs benedictine, coffee and orange juice and it was delicious. We will now spend the rest of the day cooking and drinking wine, possibly with a short walk somewhere in the middle.
Eggs benedictine? Is that different from eggs benedict? I love eggs benedict - actually, I like florentine. :)
Oh, sorry. Benedict. I drifted into fake French for some reason. Anyway, with or without the 'tine' they were delicious. Florentine equally so.
I'm awake again. And wondering what to cook for breakfast. I'll probably go for one scrambled egg, toast with bakeapple jam (got a big jar of the stuff as a gift last night!) and maybe a snausage or two, and lots of coffee. Have to bulk up this morning because I have a lot of snow shovelling ahead of me today. We got hammered with the freakin' white stuff overnight.
*sigh*
I positively hate winter. 
ps: this thread is one of the reasons I can never leave babble for very long - I love you gals and guys!
All us guys and gals love you too, Boom Boom.
We had heavy rain overnight but it's now sunny and warm -- almost +10 -- in Halifax. There are just odd little patches of snow around but mostly bare ground.
We all had stockings this morning (our son is 14) and some good presents. My son gave me a silver square medallion (necklace) which he had engraved with "Sharon" on one side and "Mom" on the other. It's quite funky and attractive. (I mention it because it's nice when a 14-year-old boy has a little sentimentality and knows his mother's taste in jewellery. 
)
We just finished with our stockings and gifts. There are four of us in my immediate family (Mom, Dad, sister and I) so we each drew names. For the name we drew, we filled their stocking, and then for the other two family members we bought a gift for under the tree with a strict $20.00 limit. It was great on the wallet, and also reinforces the fact that the holidays don't have to be about buying, buying, buying, but more about gathering for a great meal and enjoying one another's company.
I'm sure that's a lot easier said than done for families with small children, but it's great to be at an age where gift exchanging like that is not quite as stressful as it could be.
For this Christmas I got two pairs of gorgeous hand knit heavy socks from some of the seniors here - perfect for winter wear! And a nice batch of homemade fudge! And a jar of wonderful bakeapple jam, perfect and healthy on toast.
I'm cooking a chicken for tonight. I wanted to get a turkey, but neither store here remembered to order cranberry sauce. I can't eat turkey with cranberries - it just doesn't seem right. I'll add some carrots from my garden that I kept in the freezer.
This is a nice community on Quebec's Lower North Shore - about 90 people altogether, goes up to about 110 when folks come back to visit over Christmas. If we could eliminate winter altogether (not likely!) it'd be about perfect. My summer garden produces more than I could ever consume, so I give away most of it. I also do the painting at the church for no charge, and folks seem to appreciate it. Here, one good turn deserves another. 
We are shortly sitting down to a feast of a family favourite, ruby ribs, made with chili and mango chutney...yummmm. I think there is a special Riesling and a bad ass chocolate truffle cheesecake chilling. This year we hung Bags of Glad, where we all dropped in notes/poems/drawings expressing our gratitude of each other. Reading out the messages in our Glad Bags was touching and often hilarious. The partner is always able to pen some heart wilting poetry when he sets his mind to it. We did do stockings as the two sweet girls love this tradition -- where else might one stuff some jelly belly's and fair trade chocolate?
Warm wishes for all you fine babblers!
Well it's been a quiet day. Just the two of us. We decided not to make the 6 hour trek to the Aunts house this year because of the weather. Though I do miss the typical lots of people around day I am also kind of liking this quiet thing as well.
I JUST got the turkey in. Since I wasn't expecting to be doing dinner this year I got the turkey two days ago and stuck it in the fridge. Though it's small and should have been thawed, it wasn't. So cold water baths it was. It doesn't matter though because we're the only ones eating so dinner can be late without anyone griping. :) I'm also making some of our other favorite dishes and salad. Everything is actually done now except the potatoes so I guess it's time to just sit back and relax for a few hours.
I got a lot of the usual stuff, a new hat, socks underwear and my yearly lounge pants. My husband gave me a small antique spice cabinet. It's all handmade and handpainted and absolutely beautiful. Between the two of us we got at least a drawerful of candy and chocolate. I don't know what happened this year. It's nuts. Hilariously though we both ended up with three new toothbrushes each. Looks like we're going to need them.
Want to wish everyone all the best and a good rest of the day.
My family is engrossed in a competitive game of Cranium, which just had me acting out David Suzuki. Certainly not what I expected to be doing this Christmas!
Looked after the "gang of three" yesterday afternoon - daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law - with dinner here...a rib roast so they didn't have to face bird two days in a row. Presents opened on Christmas Eve in Dutch fashion, a tradition much favoured by a 7-year-old who gets a second go the next morning. Then off to a neighbour's offering of drinks, which, like Neighbourhood Watch, is really more a chance to find out what the Joneses are into these days.
Christmas dinner was spent with the 7-year-old's Oma in her long-term-care residence, which featured many Santa hats and much hugging of some of humanity's finest specimens. Got to drink two glasses of wine and somehow found room for a second serving of turkey dinner. Arrived home and within minutes was visited by a neighbour who had time to join me in a drink and catchup on doings. A machinist, he arrived in Canada with his wife from Poland, 25 years ago and plans to retire at 60 to a little acreage in the Annapolis. There will be a big garden and much self-sufficiency. He realizes the industrial life is not conducive to long life. But has had to change workplaces lately as The Three get smaller. We exchanged gifts of wine...and he plans to save the Monti Garbi I gave him until a convenient sunny day next Spring, when we will again catch up.
Another neighbour came knocking at 6 p.m. to plead for a rain date on our planned drinks. I was more than obliging, and after naming a time for Boxing Day, collapsed for two hours. It was a different Christmas day for me, one which I just had to share with the good folks of babble.
May all our good will find expression in the new Enlightenment out there in '09.
Communist Christmas:
LOL !!!! That's hilarious.
We are all equally important someones.
I went over to my Aunt's house for lunch with my family and hers. We had an organic turkey :), purple carrots, and lit the pudding on fire afterwards :). I got the best gifts ever from my older cousin- Bitch magazine's compilation in book form and a book about feminism, vegetarianism and cruelty to animals. My kitty Maria got a ton of junk food some of which she inhaled tgis morning and a toy she's been chasing somewhat as well.
New year, new link: And This year's for me an' you...
Happy Christmas my arse I pray God it's our last 
(Best Christmas song ever!)
The world is a sadder place without Kirsty MacColl.
Indeed.
She did something very difficult and remarkable with her life: carved out an identity of her own after being born in the shadow of a very famous and imposing parent. Her music had humor, originality, passion, and a deep sense of justice. If you want to honor Kirsty's memory, you can donate to two charities she supported:
Casa Alianza Mexico, which provides care and rehabilitation for homeless children and others at risk in Mexico
http://www.casa-alianza.org.uk/
and Cuba Music Solidarity, which Kirsty had supported enthusiastically.
email: [email protected]
The Justice For Kirsty campaign has now suspended operations, and has passed on the remaining unspent donations it received to those two groups.
My favorite part of the video is the end, where, after the horrible slagging the couple gave each other, they end up waltzing. Their's something very, VERY Irish in that.
Merry Christmas to those who do Christmas. Well, merry belated Christmas. :) I'm back in the country, but I'm still on vacation from moderating babble for another week. Just wanted to say hi and merry merry. :)
Merry Merry, Michelle! Hope you had a great trip!
Welcome back, Michelle. Where did you go? How was it where you were?
The world is a sadder place without Kirsty MacColl.
LTJ - The first time I heard of Kirsty McColl was on CKUA, a public supported radio station in Alberta, during a fund raising campaign. This song is always requested during fund raising campaigns (when user requests take precedence over all else).
I then bought this song from iTunes for $0.99, converted it to an MP3, and added it to my online jukebox, which nobody ever uses except for me.
In These Shoes? was one of the last songs she recorded before she was killed snorkeling after being hit by a speed boat owned by Slim Carlos, who is one of the world's richest men, being the owner of the largest cell phone network monopolies in latin america.
It is an interesting story but nothing as good as the songs and music from Kirsty.
You need a web browser with windows media player (only IE) or Apple Quicktime (any other browser) for this link to work properly, and because the server (my 10 year old desktop in Holland) is rather limited in horsepower, you may have to be patient or you may cause it to crash. But very few people read Babble, so I am betting a bottle of beer it will work for you.
Merry xmas everybody, and a happy new year.
Support our troops, bring them home NOW! Sorry, I digress.
I was in Cuba, Ken, and it for a few days it was like spring in Toronto, but we got a couple of hot beach days too. All in all, a great time, although radiorahim is covered in bites on his legs. I have them too, but he got them way, way worse - so now I'm looking for that old thread where Tommy_Paine posted a cure for itching. :)
Thanks for the link about Kristy McColl, Diogenes. I'll check it out.
I'll be doing Christmas today with the little one when he arrives, and then we'll all be going to Picton and Trenton to do Christmas with the extended family. I'm really looking forward to it - I love Christmas with my family. :)
I'm really looking forward to it - I love Christmas with my family. :)
Merry Chistmas, Michelle!
Welcome back Michelle. It wasn't the same without you. Actually I'm on moderating vacation myself this week, (I know, no one noticed) though I've still been doing commercial spam patrol and one or two other sundry things.
Christmas has been a blur in the oldgoat household as we've had our bathroom totally gutted from the studs and floor joists out, all the iron plumbing replaced, and suddenly discovered all the knob and tube wiring had to be replaced. It all started with a small leak in the kitchen ceiling. My house is full of huge holes, we have partial power, the various trades didn't get along, and today we fired the electrician. His boss is taking over the work and offered us a financial break to help make up for the damage he did. ...and then there's whats left of my various lines of credit not to mention my VISA card.
I'm curious - it just occurred to me to ask: when you fly to Cuba and back from Canada, do you fly through US airspace?
oldgoat - eek! Some Christmas you've had! Sorry to hear it's been such a mess.
Boom Boom, strangely enough, yes we did fly over US airspace. I didn't think we would be. I'd heard (and assumed) that you fly off the US coast to get there. I didn't think flights to Cuba go over the US, since the US demands passenger lists for all planes that go over US airspace. I mean, I don't really care much - just because the Americans are blockading Cuba doesn't mean that I or my country has to - as a Canadian citizen, I haven't done anything wrong.
My understanding is that they have a very narrow "corridor" for flights between Canada and Cuba. Other times I've been down there (mostly flying on Cubana Airlines), the flight path is from Toronto to New York and then fly off the coast of the US in international airspace then over the Bahamas and on to Cuba
This time (on Air Canada) we flew from Toronto down to around Washington, DC and then out over the ocean.
Hmm...I thought I heard the pilot on the way down mention several states we'd be flying over when he mentioned the flight path. But I might be mistaken - not having flown in 20 years, I was too busy bouncing in my seat in anticipation of take-off to concentrate much on what anyone was saying. :D What a rush that was! Or perhaps the several states I heard him say were the ones you'd have to fly over on the way to DC, I don't know.
Edited to add: I just checked the flight path - it was New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and then over the ocean the rest of the way.
Thanks for the info. 
Merry Be-lated Christmas to everyone. It has been a whirlwind of a week for me. My first Christmas with kids in quite awhile since we went to visit my partners child on Christmas Day and then ended up bringing him back for the week. I like having kids around the house, it changes the pace of life.
Though on our way up to visit his son we had a hilarious venture around Toronto looking for a place open for breakfast - we finally found one in the Stockyards.
I'm watching The Town that Christmas Forgot (2010). So far, so good.
Thanks for bumping this, Boom Boom. Hugs and all that.
And a warm xmas to all, however you choose to celebrate and Happy New Year
Wow - that movie (The Town That Christmas Forgot) is a bit of a tear-jerker! And the toy store in the movie has a wonderful electric model railway - pretty awesome, really.
Anyone up for watching It's A Wonderful Life?
ETA: just came in from unplugging my outside Christmas lights - wow is it windy!!!
Merry Christmas to all and the best to you and yours in the year ahead. I've managed to convince my family to forgo all the adult gift giving and concentrate on the celebration. (The food has gotten way better and so has the company) Haven't gotten it to fly in the workplace yet. Gawd, do I hate receiving cards.
Sorry to be a Scrooge, this is a cool thread.