.
.
By request. Merry Xmas to our readers on the other side of the International Date Line, particularly those below the equator who are bemused by all this chatter about ‘snow’ and ‘shortest days’.
And speaking of chatter, how many of y’all are ready to throttle one or more of your Loved Ones already?
Steeplejack
Antipodeans.
SiubhanDuinne
I hate to start the comments with a spellcheck, but it’s Antipodeans, not Antepodeans. Unless you’re making some very complicated wordplay on the fact that their Christmas is before ours, or something.
Politically Lost
I think Juicers will appreciate this.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/24/michelle-obama-twas-the-night-before-christmas_n_2360332.html
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
I’m still sick. Worn out and run down from two weeks of jet hopping latitudes and longitudes. I’m crashed on the couch and I’m not getting up until the coughing is over.
But Merry Christmas, everyone ;-)
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Well, I’m stuck at the office until the powers that be let us go early, as they supposedly do every year. I’m looking forward to wanting to throttle someone – the smart money is on either my father-in-law, who shares a birthday with someone tomorrow and frequently confuses himself with that someone, or my stepmother-in-law (his wife) who likes to season the holiday meal with subtle digs about alcohol use, saturated fat, religion, and my failure to provide her with an adequate number of grandchildren. Cheers!
Steeplejack
Some sort-of-friends invited me to a dinner party tonight but haven’t told me where they live.
I was at their place once in a crowd about two years ago (not even sure it’s the same place), but I’m not sure that constitutes enough to assume I know where to go. (And I don’t.)
Anyway, it feels like one of those “don’t really mean it” invitations that’s worse than not being invited. I don’t think it rises to the level of a throttling–you need real family issues for that–but it is contributing to a Scrooge-like mood.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Just in time for Christmas it’s started gently snowing here. It looks pretty outside.
I’m not a Christian but it’s hard to resist the more lovely aspects of the season. Like this Michael Praetorius carol.
PeakVT
Anyone lose their keys in the Big Muddy? Now’s a good time to go look for them.
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: Me too. Home in bed coughing while my better half is out enjoying the festivities. Hope we both feel better tomorrow.
And Merry Christmas to all.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes):
Fluids, cough drops and time. Good luck to you as well.
ruemara
wrapped in a blanket, having passed the morning fatigue parade from meds, anticipating the afternoon med ingesting in about another hour. hacked up some clotted blood and have decided that unless there is something so major that I need to be taken out of my place, I will not go to the ER on Christmas Eve. I got 2 christmas cards! And a gift, plus am making serious progress in finishing my christmas animation before nightfall. It is funny to tweak bones just before a tired wave, and hit render so you can maximize your timeout.
Mike E
It’s just me and Miss E, we’re housesitting/pet-amusing while her mom visits a sibling out West. I just dry rubbed a boston butt to get ready for some hickory smoked bbq tomorrow, grilled romaine hearts, hot cocoa, cookies, dvds and some peace & quiet…if the two cats and the beagle-mix allow this.
Buon Natale e felice Anno Nuovo!
Rosie Outlook
As of about a half hour ago, NORAD had Santa just leaving Cape Town and heading for Chad.
We have dense fog hereabouts. I’m dreaming of a gray Christmas…
For Christmas someone gave me What’s Going Around. I would indeed like to throttle that person. I’m going back to bed. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Opie_jeanne
I think everyone at our party tonight is a liberal so no one to strangle over politics, but religion or the lack thereof may come up, so there is a glimmer of conflict.
Rosie Outlook
P.S. goodness, Ruemara, I did not know you were THAT sick! I hope you truly recover, soonest.
Shadows mom
Making second batch of fudge in two days. First batch was a hit. Picked up last of groceries, making chili for tonight’s dinner. No relatives visiting and husband working so should be pretty peaceful here.
Yutsano
Well I just got Internet access after two days. Found out my parents forgot to pay the bill. Couple this with the fact that my least favourite brother decided to show up out of nowhere and I’m trying to buck up as best I can. At least now I can check the roads home Wednesday.
Calming Influence
Christmas for the C. Influence clan this year is blessedly sparse: myself, the lovely spouse Ms. Radical Influence, and sister-in-law Subversive Whispers. Tree trimming tonight with a choice between mulled wine, Gibsons/Martinis, or White Russians. Stockings and gifts xmas morn with Mimosas and scones. No snow, but 45 degrees and drizzle (the PNW forecast from November ’til March.)
Peace and happiness to the Cole clan, all fellow Juicers, and all their wonderful critters.
Viva BrisVegas
Merry Christmas to all.
It’s shaping up to be a fine Xmas day. Sunny with a top temp around 30.
The morning has already provided some excitement. I almost trod on a 6 foot brown snake down at the chook yard a little while ago. Needless to say I beat a hasty and undignified retreat.
The chooks will just have to hungry this morning. I’ll make it up to them later.
jeffreyw
We’re staying home this year. They have issued a blizzard watch for us tomorrow. And what’s up with the Weather Channel naming winter storms now? Eunice? And now they’ve bought Weather Underground. The bastards. n Stay offa my lawn you fuckers.
Litlebritdifrnt
Spent the day pre-baking, making all the dough for the breakfast that I plan on delivering to my neighbors in the morning (wife was laid off earlier in the year so this Christmas is tough for them). I am going to deliver two baskets of fresh home baked Cinnamon Rolls, Banana Nut Muffins, Donuts and a loaf of Cinnamon Raisin Bread first thing in the morning. Also made a second batch of Cinnamon Roll dough for DH’s breakfast in the morning. DH and I are having a spiral sliced black forest ham with all the fixings for dinner tomorrow. I have stockings for the puppy and the cats as well as a cute Santa outfit for Ms. Flossy. Yes I will be posting pictures. Most importantly DH FINALLY got the memo (literally I wrote it down in memo form), and as far as I can tell he has spent most of today shopping for things for my greenhouse, additional shelves, lighting, a heater etc., and NO JEWELRY! Yay!
Lojasmo
Sprout just opened his gifts (I work overnights, and will be sleeping when he wakes tomorrow) and proceeded to grouse about most of them. We had to have the “the only thing you should say when opening a gift is “thank you” talk”
I’m forgoing christmas next year.
Redshift
Well, since you asked…
I’ve been ready to throttle my brother-in-law for most of the year. He’s local, but he’s been almost no help with moving his parents into assisted living (and occasionally negative help, like when he pushed us all to hire a financial adviser who his wife had used before, who delayed things by a couple of months and proceeded to give us plainly inaccurate numbers either through malice or incompetence, and tried to steer us toward financial arrangements that would have meant ongoing commissions for her.) Seriously, this is a guy who has a full-time job, but when we were packing up the house, did nothing without being assigned a specific task, and when each one was finished, would sit down and do nothing until someone gave him another. Since the parents moved and still need extra help, he apparently believes that his longstanding pattern of visiting for an hour once a week is perfectly sufficient.
This has left nearly all the work of helping the parents, getting their house ready to sell, and managing their finances to Ms. Redshift (with help from me), who has early-onset arthritis and fibromyalgia. Her mother’s dementia has unfortunately progressed quite a lot since they moved.
He and his wife volunteered to have Christmas dinner at their place, which, while it’s local, is still about forty minutes each way. So we get to pick up the parents, determine if their mom is in good enough shape to make the trip, and if we do go, forty minutes each way to a not-very-familiar house plus dinner is probably longer than she can keep it together on a good day, so the trip back is likely to be extra special in any case. Since neither he nor his wife cook, apparently, or are willing to make an attempt, he ordered a Christmas dinner. And then complained about how expensive it was.
In the spirit of the season, I guess the one nice thing I can say about him is that though he’s useless and selfish and thoughtless, at least he’s not mean.
Sorry for the Christmas Eve rant. Thanks for listening.
gogol's wife
Neither of us feels too well, but it’s probably not bad enough to stay home tomorrow, although it’s supposed to be freezing rain. We only have to drive 10 minutes, but still. Dinner with dear friends, none of whom we will want to throttle. But all this illness is kind of putting a damper on the season.
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
@jeffreyw: thread needs more puppeh/kitteh to cheer up the shut ins. . .
Walker
Wife and I are in Boston spending Christmas with my family. While traditional fare is happening at my sister’s tomorrow, it was going to be unfair to ask her to make room for Wigilia as well (my wife is Polish and will not accept Christmas without Wigilia, now matter where we are).
So we found an extended stay motel with a conference suite that had a large table and a kitchen (and for cheap, as the business clientelle who usually frequent these places are not here). We are finishing up now; it worked out quite well.
The Dangerman
@La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes):
Yo, Boss, we want a picture Tunch in a Santa Hat!
jeffreyw
@La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes): Rest easy, Homer is keeping an eye on things.
Mustang Bobby
I’m watching the George C. Scott version of “A Christmas Carol” and how a job creator turns into a socialist overnight. Has the Tea Party heard of this commie pinko claptrap?
I’m spending Christmas without family since they all live in places where they get snow and I gave that up for Lent.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Merry Christmas. I am nursing my wife of three decades through her recovery from open heart surgery. Her recovery is going well. Today she told me that she wants me gone, out of her life.
I will do as she asks as soon as I finish all of the many things necessary to help her recover.
How human a thing for her to toss aside thirty plus years of marriage with all of the good and the bad times that it encompassed.
Please don’t commiserate and please don’t share your advice. I must have earned this somehow. I write this in the best Balloon Juice spirit to enable you, my friends, to say to yourselves “At least I’m not as fucked up as he is.”
greenergood
Help me out BJers – just bought a cooked (i.e. red, probably defrosting) Maine lobster at the grocery store (here, in Scotland, where lobsters are abundant but all shipped to Spain – hence frozen Maine lobster, grrr), because it was marked down (otherwise totally unaffordable), but my partner’s never eaten lobster, so would like to introduce him to this luxury without poisoning him and thus putting him off lobster forever. Anyone have any suggestions what to do with this crustacean? Do I heat it (ot will we die of salmonella or something?) or serve cold? Sorry, luxury-food insecurity crisis … Oh, and happy holidays to all! XX, GG
Suffern ACE
I’m happy to have found that someone posted my favorite christmas album as a kid (long out of print) to YouTube. Because it had frosty on it, I grew up thinking they album was all christmas standards. Then I scratched the album and it turns out that the songs weren’t covered by anyone. So I’m feeling all eight years old at the moment.
http://youtu.be/Akvat_qa7ss
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
@jeffreyw: Squeee! Homer to the rescue!
Mustang Bobby
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Well, okay then.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Just called the sort-of-friends to give them my regrets on dinner tonight. Didn’t give a reason, because I didn’t trust myself not to let my irritation get the best of me. Then one of them said, “Well, we’d love to see you, and we’re here if you can make it.” I don’t know where here is! Serenity now.
And when I got off the phone I realized they never told me what time either. For all I know, I interrupted the actual dinner. Heh.
Well, back to Scrooge mode. I think there is champagne in my future this evening. That, and I will try to dissipate the Scrooginess by giving a former coworker a ride home from her late closing at Barnes & Noble.
Merry Christmas to all Juicers, loved ones and pets!
feebog
Just me and the Mrs. for dinner, ham and lima bean soup and cornbread. After that, we are driving over to my son’s house to exchange gifts. Tomorrow, sleep in, and then dinner at a friend’s house. Normally we are the ones cooking Christmas dinner, but the house is in remodeling hell; bedroom furniture in the living room, one small half bath, and sleeping in the den. So, no way to have anyone over, we can barely move around ourselves.
A very Merry Christmas to all the BJ community. This is my go to place for sanity and chuckles year round. If you are going out tonight or tomorrow, safe travels.
JoyfulA
@Walker: Yes, I remember the 12-course meatless Christmas Eve dinner with my in-laws. It’s quite strange to a Pennsylvania Dutchman with very different traditions.
Comrade Mary
Kitteh pictures much appreciated, folks.
Sad news: Jack Klugman has died.
Ruckus
This is my favorite xmas song. Someone linked it in a post the other day and I have listened to it about 8-10 times in the last couple of days.
Being the third oldest of the kids in my parents families can kind of suck at xmas. All the parents are gone, many for a decade or more. In my direct family dad, 11 yrs ago, sister and best friend almost 5 yrs ago, mom 10 months ago. I have spent many holidays by myself but as I grow older I find them harder to deal with. On the plus side I don’t have to buy presents that I can’t afford anyway. I think I’ll go for a walk.
ruemara
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: You deserve this. *hug* I can’t speak to anything else and much support to you and even her.
jeffreyw
Improving circulation.
Off Colfax
Came back from doing some last minute grocery hunting, and what do I find but that my stepmother and stepsister had gleefully trimmed all of the wonderous fat away from my traditional Xmas Eve Pot Roast and tossed the gluey flavor-of-all-flavor presents from FSM straight into the garbage disposal. Also, too: they browned it by tossing it into fryer-deep oil for half an hour. No salt. No pepper. No garlic cloves pressed into the fat fold. No prep at all.
My recipe: ruined before it could even begin. A long and illustrious life, cut short by the cruel and uncaring nature of stepfamily.
I’m so despondent that I’m just going to drink the extra bottle of Newkie Brown that should have gone onto the pot roast. At least I have good taste in beer, even if nobody else has good taste in anything else.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
Oh God, it’s 26 degrees at the moment – Australian type weather – and we had this weird fog a couple of days ago blocking the Cook Strait. I’m suffering from dehydration here, and not the good kind involving alcohol.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
I know you said you didn’t want advice but I will give it to you anyway. Major heart surgery can really, really screw a person up mentally. It is a “I should be dead” type of thought that goes through the mind. It varies as to how people deal with it. In my husband’s case he suddenly realized what a total asshole he had been to me on occasion, getting all bent out of shape for the stupidest little thing. After the surgery he got so laid back about things it was unreal. Give her time.
Josie
My oldest son and his wife will join me and my youngest son (living with me temporarily) for a dinner of pork stew and cornbread, after which we will open gifts. Then, tomorrow, I get to fly to Houston, courtesy of my middle son and his wife, for my first vacation in two years. Five days of going to the movies (The Hobbit and Les Miserables), the Museum of Natural History and the zoo. I am so looking forward to it. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Yutsano
@greenergood: Definitely cook it. In fact, split open the tail and broil it with some garlic butter. It should be fantastic, just go until the edges start to darken or you’ll overcook it.
PeakVT
@Redshift: Hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow. But you should stock up on intoxicants just in case.
Rosie Outlook
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Dear sir, I know you don’t want advice but I want to share knowledge. Heart surgery can lead to radical personality changes. After hers, my mother turned into a raging bitch, quite unlike her normal self. She was so horrid she’d probably have been kicked off the National Review cruise. And for some reason, many doctors forget to tell the family about this. So ask your wife’s doctor about this.
She may return to her normal self (my mother did) but she may not, so prepare for the worst and pray for the best. God bless you, sir.
Jay C
Since we aren’t having the Loved Ones (and does that phrase remind anyone else of the Evelyn Waugh book, and the wonderful film of it?) til tomorrow, so kith & kin remain unthrottled as of now…
@greenergood:
The basic rule of buying lobsters as anything but live, is, course, “don’t”, but if you have got some pre-cooked ones; the best suggestion (IMHO) is to:
1) make sure they are completely defrosted in cool conditions (fridge).
2) Remove the meat from the shell and rinse thoroughly in cold water & pat dry.
3) use lobster meat in some sort of salad: dress with mayo/mustard/pesto, etc. – lightly, to let flavor (hopefully present) of lobster come through.
4) post results on Balloon Juice.
good luck
Sgaile-beairt
….glenn beck thinks, that Child-proofed Ipads for toddlers, cause school shootings….
https://twitter.com/glennbeck/status/280876630023475200/photo/1/large
WereBear
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Sorry, this is BJ, and advice is what you get.
If your first thought wasn’t, “I’m surprised it took this long,” speak to the doctor about this sudden situation. There’s something about the heart-lung machine that can whack people out, but it usually clears up with time and recovery.
General Stuck
Santa can kiss my ass!!
Litlebritdifrnt
@Rosie Outlook:
What you said, a complete personality change is what I experienced with my DH. His has stuck however and he is now the nicest man I could ever imagine.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
Good news for my family — my dad was released from the hospital for Christmas. I have a feeling he’ll be back in there on the 26th, but it’s good to have him here.
katie5
Had to escape for a couple of hours after hearing my mum and sister conspire to sneak a bucket of chicken into Xmas dinner tomorrow. This after they asked us to do the cooking (and they know we’re vegetarians).
BTW, if you liked the song, Tim Minchin’s best is his ode to suburban environmentalism, Canvas Bags http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvnYIxv_364
robotswillstealyourjobs
The Leader of the Civilizing Forces grudgingly comes out for Gay Marriage:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/20/inside-politics-gingrich-evolves-on-gay-marriage/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS
“The momentum is clearly now in the direction in finding some way to accommodate and deal with reality. And the reality is going to be that in a number of American states — and it will be more after 2014 — gay relationships will be legal, period.”
How many seconds until his Newtiness is declared a RINO?
jeffreyw
@greenergood: Mmm… lobster chowder
greenergood
@Yutsano: Thanks, Yutsano! Looking forward to surprising partner with 1st evah lobster – wish it could’ve been a live one, but no chance here. Garlic and butter at the ready!! Happy Xmas!
cathyx
@efgoldman: I’ve successfully copy and pasted my in moderation comment in a new comment. Try it.
katie5
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: Beautiful carol. Not a Christian either, although coincidentally in greater Detroit at the moment. My favorite carol is Panis Angelicus
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
I’m glad to hear that. I hope he improves!
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
That’s very good news, Mnem. Hope all of you have a good day together.
greenergood
@Jay C: Hi Jay C, going with Yutsano’s suggestion cause it’s winter; if I stumble across another lobstah near warmer times, will follow your suggestion. The crazy thing is that there are lots of lobsters here in Scotland, but not available in fish markets. They’re all exported to places like Spain (I’ve seen PILES of lobsters in Barcelona, of all places.) All part of the European Union stuff – don’t get me started. To eat a Scottish lobster here in Scotland, you need to be very wealthy, which I’m not. Hence the bewilderment of what to do with a pre-cooked one when you get hold of it. Never mind – there’s more to life than lobster. Hope you have a good holiday season, or at least not a bad one.
Jay C
@greenergood:
Like I said: good luck: just remember that cooked lobster can dry out if you don’t watch it carefully under the grill. Use lots of butter.
And the weird export market factors for the local stuff doesn’t sound too strange knowing how EU regs can work. Not that it’s limited to Europe: I used to live in Denver, CO and a local market prided itself on having fresh live Maine lobsters as a mainstay of their seafood dept. Of course, at the prices they charged, they must have flown in first-class; but they were live…
Maude
@Steeplejack:
Wise decision to stay home. I hate that kind of thing.
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Ah, crap.
Maude
@ruemara:
I have Blender. I haven’t done much with it lately. Except make hair.
I used to get armatures to dance a bit.
Merry Christmas and stay rested.
I have the plague like a lot of people. It doesn’t go away. I had a lie down this afternoon and I went out like a light.
I don’t have to do anything tomorrow and I am glad.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
Good to hear that. I hope he continues to improve.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@katie5:
Meh. I always advise vegetarians and other people with restricted diets to bring one dish they know they can eat, so I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it unless you think they’re going to try and force you to eat it.
Old Dan and Little Ann
Wrong thread.
DaveInOz
Merry Christmas from Melbourne. It’s 1pm on Christmas Day, a very pleasant 22 degrees C and it’s time to start on the alcohol. Think I’ll start with a nice cold Mallee Bull String Ale
Higgs Boson's Mate
Here’s the sequel. My dear wife dialed 911. I understandably enjoyed the attention of our local PD in the aftermath. One of the more enthusiastic officers threatened to throw me in the can if they received another call.
I had to stifle myself in the interest of maintaining my wife’s recovery. I’ve been in the can. It’s quiet and the trustees wash your clothes.
Nellie in NZ
Thank you kindly for the good wishes – it is hot and humid down here in the center of the North Island. Tongariro volcano is steaming away. We had a nice Christmas Day hike, the lake beaches are full of revelers, and we’re headed over to the neighbor’s for dessert (and probably wine glasses that always seem to have room for another splash to be added). And thus we come to the close of another Christmas that never feels like Christmas to this expat.
PeakVT
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: That’s terrible. Some Juicers have a possible explanation for your wife’s behavior, so please search on your nym in this thread.
Birthmarker
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: this is from the wiki article linked above:
Postperfusion syndrome has attracted some public notoriety following the coronary bypasses of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Dick Cheney. The National Enquirer speculated that Clinton experienced permanent debilitating brain damage; using the NEJM article[3] discussed above to provide credibility to the claim.
Best of luck to you. Sometimes life brings great difficulties…
Mnemosyne
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Wow, that’s worse than I thought. Can you get hold of your insurance company over the holiday and find out if you can have her transferred to a rehab facility where she can get the nursing care she needs for the rest of her recovery? If she still needs constant care and yet is calling 911 on you, she needs to go somewhere where she can be monitored because it’s obviously untenable for you to move out and leave her alone or with a hired nurse.
Royston Vasey
Merry Christmas BJers!
Christmas Day is almost over for us here in Wellington, New Zealand. And what a day!
29c (84f) Phew! Hottest Xmas Day (for Wellington) in about 80 years.
Nice. We had a great barbie with the family.
Enjoy your day!
Debbie(Aussie)
Had a great day with my family. All but my youngest bro who lives in London with USian wife. Boxing Day will be spent with hubby’s family, most of his seven brothers and sisters.
Hope all BJ’s have a super chrissie day, spent with those you care about most.
PS: very hot here in Ipswich SE Qld, 34c
JugOPunch
Tim Minchin release a studio version this year. All proceeds from the sale of this song during the month of December will go to the National Autistic Society.
Link here ===> http://www.timminchin.com/2012/11/30/white-wine-in-the-sun-2012-now-available-on-itunes/
Jay in Oregon
Aside from the gun control conversation that keeps popping up at my parents’ house, my dad—who is not Christian BTW, at least the last time I checked—has bought the “War on Christmas” line lock, stock and barrel.
As we’re driving to and from friends’ houses, he comments on the quality and effort of each person’s attempt to decorate their houses for the holiday season.
I haven’t pointed out yet that the first people to forbid celebrating Christmas were the Puritans…
Suezboo
From the Southern Hemisphere :
Thanks for the good wishes.I wish you all a peaceful and happy day.
We have just finished a heat wave here in the Cape Town area and it was a mighty pleasant day. Had cold meats and salad by myself and phoned a few friends and family.