Happy Holidays my dear comrades. ;-) It's December first. . .better get that Christmas list out and start shopping! :-) What are you all doing for the holidays? (I'm trying not to say Christmas because I don't want to offend anyone that dosen't celebrate Christmas ;-) ) I'm doing the usual, shopping, baking, church, traveling and be warmly welcomed by family and warmly welcoming family, talking to relatives I haven't even met on the phone...ect. Just wanted to wish you all Happy Holidays and hopefully get a nice Christmas conversation going. :-)

Thank you.. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday of their choice..

Hi Maria ! Well, I started yesterday, I went & got the cutest cards EVER ! At a great 40 % off at a department store here in Ohio called Kauffman's, now I have to address 'em. Plus the little personel message, *sigh*. Still, I love the holidays. The decorations, the carols on the radio, every year I tell my husband I want to get an artificial tree so I can leave it up all year long & just change the decorations per the holiday ! Eggs for Easter, witches for Halloween, etc.

Hey Lauren! :) Sounds like a good idea. . .maybe our family should start doing that instead. We have a fake tree that we just store it in the apartment of our house all year long and don't take it apart, because we're to lazy to put it together and take it apart every year, so we just bring it out to the living room, lights and all. :)

Well, we had the Great Tree Debate again, but I know we're gonna get a real tree. Gary just hates the mess of a real tree. At least, thank God, we don't have cats anymore. We used to have to tie the trees to the wall cuz my daughters cats, Dixie & Dakota, decided it would be fun to climb the tree. Then the dog drinks the water ( sloppily ) so my treeskirt is always wet, except where the presents keep it dry ! We have all the unbreakable ornaments on the bottom 1/3 of the tree for a reason, Storm !

Wow, and I thought we had it bad with the ornaments.

I had a different idea for cards... take pictures, print them with Kodak (they're 15 cents each), and mail to your friends (with writing, like a postcard...) It's cheap, easy, and very personalized.

That sounds good too, James, just don't clue my husband in ! I go on a Hunt every year for The Perfect Card, it has be pretty or religious or special in some way w/an equally special saying. It's been so bad in the past I made my hubbt trek over 3 counties to find enough of the "right cards". Last year I ordered 'em off the 'Net. But this year, I got lucky.

Every year I make my own cards, all are original with special messages inside, which I better get moving on, ususally i have all that done.. havent even started yet.. =(

Hey. . .I should do that :), make my own cards, I spend enough money on presents alone, cards are just another thing I have to buy.

only 20 minutes to go before I can open the next door on the Cadbury's chocolate advent calendar....

Get to your Cadbury's yet ? Yummm

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for your continued friendship and may life be good to you in 2006. I hope that in 2006, you will take time for your artistic endeavors and to share your talents with others.
Kim Candelaria-Bramlett

Thanks Kim, you too. :)

Hmm, very nice sentiment Kim.

And I, too, make my own cards. Having spent many an hour scouring the card displays, I finally decided that I could tell it my way and much better.

Maria ... a very thoughtful and considerate start of a post. And this is what I have found to work in avoiding any awkwardness, with regards to personal traditions and practice ... Happy Holidays!!

Thank you Les, was trying my hardest not to offend anyone because well. . . . . .thats how our wold is today. . . . . .people get easily offended. Just because Santa Clause is on the Coca Cola can and then they try and sue the company. :)

*ponders why Coca Cola thinks they invented Santa*

American corporations believe they are gods.. They invented everything.. Didn't you know that..

oh yes....incidentally, HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

*ponders who owns the rights to Santa's image*

Well, I suppose lawyers are entitled to earn a living as well. Sooo ...

Happy Holidays to all ambulance chasers everywhere!
(p.s. Kidding, kidding. No offense intended to the legal eagles.)

Coca Cola thinks they own Santa? I'm confuzzled. . . . .no one truly owns the rights to Santa's image. :)

Well, wasn't it Clement Clarke Moore who really defined our modern concept of Santa Claus ? With his "Twas The Night Before Christmas " ?

So, using Santa's image is good news for them, they don't pay royalties to Santa's family....

The question is....do they pay royalties to C.C.Moore's descendants ?

THAT'S worth pondering

Again, a very topical thought.

If Paris Hilton can make claims to the line, "That's hot." And the Donald, "Your Fired."

Then, I want to lay claims to ... "No more Oyster Dressin' for me ... I'm full (of it)."

well, sure, you can .. so long as you're not waiting by the phone for the royalty checks to roll in (*he says, mixing his metaphors)

because .. NOBODY .. ever gets enough Oyster dressing

Since my culinary talents are best exhibited by my clear ice cubes (there is a small trick, that I cannot disclose), I will accept (my, how magnanimous of me) your statement as the gospel.

Care to share? You will find me at the 'little people's' table playing with my food.

I know the trick for making clear ice cubes .. you have to open the door and stir them every 5 minutes with a plastic swizzlestick (part #634) from the New Haven Plastic SwizzleStick Corporation dipped in sassafras butter .. the problem, is that doing this delays the freeze by hours and jacks your electricity bill by so much that you have to sell each cube for fifty bucks

unless ... you know something I don't

Umm....wow, thanks, now I know how to make clear icecubes. . .and make money off of them. *Calls up New Haven*

Grrrrrrr.. Ice cubes are for water dishes..

And ?? .. what have you against water dishes ..??

oh ... I get it .. you live in a COLD region ... YOU have never had water, only ice ... YOU are jealous of the rest of us that have so much water we give it to our dogs, even .. we pour it on our plants .. we allow the neighborhood kids to run thru the sprinkler .. we even neglect to turn off the hose when water the lawn .. and it runs down the street .. into the drain .. to the creek .. and ... out to sea

you DO know what the sea is .. hmmm?

Point # 1). You Les, & you Keith, are respectfully, both quite full of it....

Oyster Dressing, that is, ....what else ?

Point # 2). Everyone knows that clear ice cubes are made with Vodka.....get it right

Oh yes.. I saw the ocean once.. From 1968 to 2001..

Do you mean Quadrant 1968 to 2001 ?? ..

oh .. that's the part that shows up on Perry Como's christmas video ... It's really quite something in person .. provided you find a section of beach without dead bodies .. as they have a tendancy to ruin everybody's appetite

That's the one.. Usually I only found dog things on the beach.. Not sure why they were left behind, but who knows..

it's usually because they threw them out to sea .. expecting their 'ankle-biter' dog to gallop valiantly into the surf like in the movies ... only to find that they really didn't love the dog enough, after all, to swim after it when the undertow takes it ...

I jest I jest ... the pet stores sprinkle dog toys as a way of drumming up future business

;o)

Well, toys were one of the things I found.. I don't think they were supposed to have the dogs there.. There were those funny jeeps, too..

Nice bold smiley face....got it right didja ?

Rather toothy grins..

Ratz, and here I was looking in quadrant 1967 and found Bing Crosby's place ... and you just know that that was, let's saying ... enlightening.

White Christmas? How about black and blue?

Ok, ok ... that was bad of me. Uhm ... Happy Holidays everyone??

Of course, why not ?

Happy Holidays back atcha !

I can be as PC as the next guy......

Geez .. shouldn't we save all this back slapping for the ACTUAL holidays .. nobody has ever widened the scope to include MY birthday before .. and it makes me nervous .. I'm feeling like the baby Geezes

Do you want us to start a birthday thread ?!

We can.....I know I'm going to regret this.....what's a Geezes ?

Hehehehe.. Poor beby red nose..

Yes .. You ARE going to regret this ... I might post your birthday present early if you promise to be good

Good thing I just had a birthday.. Hehehehe.. I'm old enough alresdy..

OOHHHHH......threats !

D'oh !! Geeze....I get it !! *smacks forehead * This really is my week for being dense ! And slow....

To quote the indomitable Mae West

" When I'm good, I'm good "
" But when I'm bad, I'm better "

P.S, Happy Belated Birthday Ann !

Lol, woooo, this thread has gotten bigger :) Happy Belated B-day as well Ann!

Is there any relation to birthdates (sure, astrological signs, we can extend this to that) and certain innate abilities, creativity ... hmm, possibly genius and just being an all around swell person?

Cause you know the Sagitarians on this site have been exhibiting signs of the above and then some, and I was wondering ... looking out my window with a cup of Earl Grey; hot, and no milk or sugar ... thinking as I read through the recent posts that, perhaps ... perhaps ... I should wait to see if the temperature would exceed the freezing point and subsequently melt the accumulation of snow that was sneering back at me through the window.

That ever happen to you?

What signs have Sagittarians been exhibiting ?

Are we exhibitionists ? Is there a club ? Can I join ? No one told me !

wait....* re-reads post * do I need Earl Gray first ?

Bummer....I'm always the last to know.....

Well .. This Sagittarian has been exhibiting signs of noticing that you trailed off, there, and didn't finish what you were noticing they were exhibiting signs of

;o)

I take it all back, what the heck are you guys putting into that houka? And don't tell me it's Scotch Pine needles either ;) .

I don't understand your references to my post, care to elaborate and put yourselves back in good stead with the intelligentsia?

See ... it just goes to show you that Sagittarians ARE easy-going like the books say .. and, of course, all those creative attributes you were alluding to before Lauren interupted and made you lose your train of thought

BAD LAUREN !!

I'm funnin' with y'all. December third here :) .

So, I, too, am a proud card-carrying member of the Caedesaggitarians Club :) .

Wait a minute !! In my defense...wait, let me see...

OH ! Mybad ! It would've helped if I would've read ALL of Les's comments, instead of jumping around in my usual ENTHUSIASTHIC Sagittarian way

Sorry, Les, Keith is right, I was bad.

No way ! No wonder your so brilliant ! I knew it all along !!
Happy Belated Birthday Les !! Sorry I missed it.

We're planning an uprising .. d'ya git teh memo?

'Just to be clear' ... anyone that did not notice the edit in my post, please take one step forward and bonk your head on your monitor ... helps clearout the cobwebs ;) .

(Can you say way, way too much cross-referencing on the threads today? I knew that you could. On my part, that is ... to be, you know ... clear.)

Thanks Les, now I have a headache

* wanders off in search of Aleeve *

Saggy Hairy Arses Unite !

Thanks, was worth the wait and lol :) .

Patience; another one of Saggitarians'ss'ss'ss ... many attributes and virtues.

(Sadly, proper punctuation is not, as we were patiently waiting out that half -hour minimum time period for digestion after a full lunch, before heading back in, when it was introduced into the gene pool [pretty sure I got a comma splice or two in there.].)

Well okay, but don't forget to wipe off your monitor before you go

Happy Belated Birthday Les !!

*cheers wildly*

Ahh, caught it the first time round and it is even better the second time ... thank you. And for that I have saved you a few of those candles that were placed in the thickest of thick parts of the icing. Makes for a nice light snack ;) .

Lol, now I have experienced a visual and that is of (<---- methinks this is that proper punkchewashun stuff, but, I could be wrong and that it is, in fact, me taking free literary license ... or that this is the worst case of comma splice yet in my writing career), an individual cracking open their brown bag lunch and revealing icing ladened candles for the 'goodies' part of their lunch.