Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
Happy Christmas |
Post Reply |
Author | |
Guests
Guest Group |
Post Options
Thanks(2)
Posted: December 19 2016 at 6:52pm |
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all! As I sit by my fire and look at all my beautiful Christmas decorations with my son safely home I am grateful to the Lord for all my blessings. I wish for you all the same Peace and Happiness I feel at this time of year.
|
|
Medclinician
V.I.P. Member Valued Member Since 2006 Joined: July 08 2009 Status: Offline Points: 23322 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Merry Christmas to all at AFT and our readers.
Medclinician |
|
"not if but when" the original Medclinician
|
|
jacksdad
Executive Admin Joined: September 08 2007 Location: San Diego Status: Offline Points: 47251 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Happy Christmas, you guys. I love hearing everyone's family traditions. So important to keep them. When I was a kid, Christmas had a big, month long build up and lasted well into January. As well as a tree, we always went completely over the
top with the indoor decorations, and family and friends came over to
help each year (with Mum passing out the obligatory sherry). When
we were done, the living room hung with tinsel, paper chains and decorations.
It went all around the tops of the walls, across the ceiling from corner
to corner - just about everything got decorated. That's something else
we do now as well, even though my wife wasn't the biggest fan of tinsel at
first. Winning her over slowly
Some time during the night, Santa brought your presents in a sack and left them at the bottom of your bed. My brother and I could open them as soon as we realized they were there, which meant Christmas Day started in the early hours of the morning some years. Stockings (that were actually long socks) would hang on the fireplace with fruit, nuts, small toys, etc in them, and more presents would be under the tree - typically the larger ones that wouldn't fit in the sack. We'd sit around, and like KiwiMum's family, we'd read the label and open each one in turn while everyone watched. Then we'd play with our presents (wearing our new snazzy sweaters) while we waited for dinner. I remember that "Jason and the Argonauts" was guaranteed to be on TV every Christmas morning when I was growing up. And we still enjoyed watching it every year. Dinner would be roast turkey (back before I went veggie, anyway), with sage and onion stuffing. My Mum would make mashed potato and swede (rutabaga) to go with the roast veggies (potatoes, parsnips, carrots, etc) and Brussels spouts. The meal was always superb, and my Dad always tracked down a bottle of Blue Nun Liebfraumilch to go with it. We'd open Christmas crackers with each other around the table, and even us kids got a glass of wine (to go with the sherry my other had been slipping us all morning. Shhh...). We'd finish up with Christmas pudding and cream, then fight to stay awake as we sat in front of the TV and topped off with homemade mince pies and jam tarts. After we got married, we did Christmas the way my wife's family did and waited until lunchtime to open presents over at their place. It didn't feel right , and a couple of years after our son was born I told her that I wanted to try it the way I remembered it. That year, my son woke to find a sack of presents on his bed, sleigh tracks in the front lawn with half eaten carrots scattered around, and an empty glass and cookie crumbs in the house. It was a huge success, and it's been that way ever since. Anyway, back to tidying up so we can start decorating this place |
|
"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary. |
|
Technophobe
Assistant Admin Joined: January 16 2014 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 88450 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
We fold/flatten each link lengthwise still connected. It forms a big letter L as the links are at right angles to one another. I started putting it in a box unfolded but it was too rough on the precious chain.
|
|
How do you tell if a politician is lying?
His lips or pen are moving. |
|
KiwiMum
Chief Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29670 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Techno I love the sound of your paper chain. Do you dismantle it (as in undo all the links) every year, or do you just put the whole thing in a box? It's a lovely idea.
|
|
Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
|
|
hachiban08
Senior Moderator Joined: December 06 2007 Location: California, USA Status: Offline Points: 15627 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
I've been doing things for Christmas with my guy already. He has to move back home to Idaho for a while so we've been making the most of it while he's still here in California. Went to festival of lights, last night, and I showed him the present that I made for him *a golden snitch from Harry Potter, he's a bigger fan than I am lol* then next week is my birthday, and I'm hopefully heading down to home for a few days during Christmas.
|
|
Be prepared! It may be time....^_^v
|
|
CRS, DrPH
Expert Level Adviser Joined: January 20 2014 Location: Arizona Status: Offline Points: 26660 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Well said! My wife and I shall do as much as we can to avoid the world, staying indoors (Chicago is headed to negative zero temps), eating copiously, and doing a lot of nothing!
|
|
CRS, DrPH
|
|
Technophobe
Assistant Admin Joined: January 16 2014 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 88450 |
Post Options
Thanks(2)
|
That sounds like heaven KiwiMum.
Though my children are adults now, we still do stockings (Santa presents). Though the fat man at the north pole is long dissproven, I still believe in him in spirit! So the stockings are opened in the morning. Big important personal presents are opened later, but not with anything like your family's restraint: I and mine are too much like big kids. We will be having turkey with a goose spatchcocked over it. Probably gravad lax for starters and certainly Christmas pud. for afters with brandy cream. Back in the 90s, I and my then boyfriend, started a strange custom of our own which Hubby and I adopted. Here it is common for children put up paper chains which they make afresh each year. In my family the adults do it, but with the same chain year after year. Then everyone who stays, or visits, over the whole 12 days of Christmas, signs and dates a link. It is a ba****d to take down and fold up, but so worth it! Sometimes friends and family move away, or even die, but there is a tiny bit of them forever visiting at Christmas. That tatty paper chain is worth more than gold. Anyway: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! |
|
How do you tell if a politician is lying?
His lips or pen are moving. |
|
KiwiMum
Chief Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29670 |
Post Options
Thanks(1)
|
I hope it's not too early to start a Happy Christmas thread. The members on here are from all over the world and we all do things differently but are still connected through common interest and friendship and I'd like to wish you all a very happy Christmas.
Our Christmas will be hot, since we are in summer and can range from a cool 20 degs C to a scorching 38 degs C (65 F - 100F). In my family we have a very relaxed Christmas day. We get up at 6 and the children open their stockings. Thankfully Father Christmas uses lots of sellotape when he wraps the presents and so they take time to get into. We eat croissants for breakfast, feed all our animals, milk the cows, do our jobs. We have lunch early at about 12. This year we're having a whole salmon with salads, trifle and Christmas pudding. After lunch, when all the washing up is done, we go into the sitting room where our tree is, open some champagne and then we open our presents under the tree. We do this one by one. One person selects a gift for someone else, reads out the labels, hands over the gift and we all watch the person open it. Then the next person does it and so it goes on. It takes about 2 hours this way, and there aren't that many presents but we each get to enjoy every gift. Then generally we snooze a bit, maybe have a swim, play outside, and just generally relax. We watch the Queen's speech, and maybe a movie in the evening, but mainly we just hang out together. We don't dress up. Shorts and tee shirts are the order of the day, although I have a nice spangly top I'll wear with my shorts this year. Happy Christmas everyone.
|
|
Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
|
|
Post Reply | |
Tweet
|
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You can vote in polls in this forum |