xmas!

[Anne the Man]

Also Miles even though I hang out with indefatigable hippies that shit above is hella obnoxious

[coldforge]

Bluc, quit trolling

[Ashley]

I'll take the calendar of Newfoundland scenes if you don't want it. Bonus for depictions of rustic cod fisheries and/or salting sheds.

I'm actually going to regift it to my friend.  Just before I left for christmas he and I were making fun of a calendar he had gotten in the mail, and also looking at  a book of photographs (printed like a story book) from his mother about a trip they took together across Newfoundland.  My grandmother gave me this calendar and spent 15 minutes trashing the calenders she had gotten in the mail from charities, saying things like "if they send me a calendar i like, i send them money.  but if i don't like the calendar i don't send them money.  i really don't like some of them" and criticizing the taste of the man who brought her the calendar.  I really enjoy the similarities between the two conversations.

However, if you want to, you can buy it - http://nlcalendar.com/.  It's not even that they'd be kitchsy Newfoundland scenery, but they're just bad photos.  Some of them are alright / unique, but they're mostly like they've been pulled from someone's flickr account.

[Babar]

Guys, Christmas isn't a Christian holiday, remember?

No, that's Yuletide.

[davy]

Woooo!

[Ashley]

i want to hear all about kids and christmas.

[mixed cats]

I wanted to buy this Crayola crayon melter for my cousin's kids, but then I read a bunch of reviews online that said it wasn't great. So I bought some cheap candy molds and a box of crayons and melted and swirled my own goddamn crayons to give them. It is way more awesome. And I'm kind of jealous because a few of them look really cool.

[clare]

yay you! what an excellent idea. You could make some more for yourself...

[RoyBiggins]

That rules.

[mixed cats]

I'm keeping two of them! I hope the kids are happy with them. Giving them art supplies is more fun than other stuff they could get. Usually I make them more involved things, but I'm just too tired this year!

[davy]

Great xmas times were had at my favorite bar tonight. L's family has arrived in Athens from all over the US and after her parents retired for the night, we took her three siblings out for drinks and darts. Double bonus: the bar was playing CCR when we got there and Michael Stipe even put in an appearance.

[clare]

Erik was just being ushered to bed and he had all kinds of Santa related questions, like "how does he get here?" which was quite a lot of fun :-)

[Greg Nog]

My uncle dressed like Santa for the wee ones and HOLY SHIT my niece was terrified

[Greg Nog]

I played Mexican Train dominoes with my sister and sister in law and drank a lot of high-ABV beer and tried to explain who Lacan is

[Greg Nog]

I made cheese-nutmeg popcorn and brought it to my aunt and uncle's place and my uncle showed me his energy-efficient house-heating system in the basement, motioning toward the wall with his beer, saying, "there's three inches of insulation between the basement wall and the dirt" and I patted his golden retrievers and said "wow"

[Greg Nog]

I got a shitty lantern for Yankee Swap but traded it for a watch my cousin got for free and regifted, then my family talked about my sister was a charter member of the Langdon NH bridge supporters association

[Greg Nog]

turns out tortillas and cream cheese and tabouleh is a really easy appetizer to make roll-ups that everyone loves, also I made some stuffed mushrooms but the real hit was shrimp, everyone hovering around the table eating shrimp like a bunch of raccoons near a crick

[Greg Nog]

Smuttynose Homunculus is a good beer but I think I shall move on to Ouzo, happy Channukah everyone

[Dick]

Christmas eve lunch was shrimp and crab gumbo with lots and lots of file and tony's cajun seasoning, deviled eggs and potato salad and these exquisite little heavily-seasoned toasts.  Thank you East Texas extended family.  Every year there is a themed craft contest, and my wife and I accidentally spent way too much time/money on ours.  But our Robot Santa / Robot Ms. Claus won, defeating the rascals who just paste pictures of their babies on things trolling for cute votes! 

[ellaguru]

Bumpin' davy's Christmas mixes by the tree.

[davy]

Yo yo yo! 

[cold before sunrise]

oh dear lord, what possessed me to suggest i host christmas this year? dad drank too much egg nog and is singing along to tom waits christmas songs (horrible! although i did find out that he got picked up hitchhiking by mr. waits himself, from sacramento to portland, enroute to vancouver in 1978. the backseat was full of piano sheet music and he told pops it was a shame he gave it up, was headed to a show for $25). mum is tipsy and decorating all the cookies i'm supposed to give to friends for gifts with genitalia and my brother is ignoring everybody, i can't even get onto the roof so we can go star watching. another sleeman's honey brown and a dunhill please.

[Good Intentions]

Erik was just being ushered to bed and he had all kinds of Santa related questions, like "how does he get here?" which was quite a lot of fun :-)

My brother and his other half both had their smartphones out last night to check NORAD's Santa Tracker.

[clare]

Yeah, I was way too out of it with being sick this year to organise that. In previous years we've emailled Santa, and watched him on the tracker.

Special bonus for us this year: the bloke texted his cousin in Minneapolis to see if they could Skype with us, and the text in return told us that her mum (bloke's aunt) had just died a few hours earlier.

Can we jsut fast forward to me being well and this all being over please? I'm not enjoying Christmas this year.

[The_Tourist]

i'm sorry to hear that, clare. :\

but merry xmas, internet!