hark the herald gingers sing pic.twitter.com/6YZmS7VDmR
— cats being weird little guys (@weirdlilguys) December 24, 2023
In some traditions, the central figure of the infant Christ isn’t displayed until this night. *Somebody* is going to be very displeased at being displaced!
voidy holidays!!! pic.twitter.com/rjYdPeHErC
— cats being weird little guys (@weirdlilguys) December 24, 2023
HumboldtBlue
Absolutely fantastic Xmas Eve gathering with friends. I’ll tell you this, the 11-year-old and the nine-year-old made out like BANDITS, and it’s only Xmas Eve!
The smiles, man, the smiles, the excitement, the live performance from the nine-year-old on her keyboard while the 10-year-old warbled and got a quick lesson from Uncle HumboldtBlue on using the diaphragm when she sings, and then I gave up and urged her to work harder on her violin.They both got sacks filled with candy, locally made glass ornaments and $50 gift certificates to Northtown Books which earned the world’s best uncle, ME, repeated hugs and smooches, in between bites of starburst and peanut butter cups.
Poor Rosie the cat, an absolute chunk of handsome boy (he was initially thought to be female and was named Rosie, but the vet soon straightened everyone out, and he is still called Rosie because as everyone knows, Rosie Greer is a boy cat so there) was unceremoniously dumped outside after he jumped on the counter to snare some prime rib.
I must admit my full part in his banishment — and subsequent mewling and Oliver-Twist-large-eyes-at-the-sliding-glass-door, more gifts please? — because I let him in before the food was put away, and he had to watch from outside as gifts were opened and hugs were shared and songs were sung.
Elvis Elfington made nine calls to kids from By God, to San Diego to Humboldt and as always they were a huge hit and have become a staple in the family Xmas traditions in five households.
All in all, another fantastic Xmas Eve, can’t wait for next year.So here’s to you all, Merry Xmas, and let’s have some Xmas dancing to one of the best Christmas carols ever written!
Tony Jay
He Of Little Feet has awakened at exactly the time my alarm is normally set for work and now we are well and truly up and at ‘em.
Merry Christmas, Juicers and Jackals! May all your presents be neatly wrapped.
Mike G
Mary and Joseph: I can’t believe we just had a baby. He’s finally asleep and I’m exhausted.
Little Drummer Boy: Are you motherfuckers ready to rock
Mike G
Wise man 1: I brought gold
Wise man 2: I brought frankincense
Wise man 3: I brought myrrh
Wise man 4: I brought my drawing of a duck fighting a horse
Joseph: Yeah, we probably won’t be mentioning you when telling this story.
HumboldtBlue
@Mike G:
What the hell you talking about? That was drawn by John Cole!
Patricia Kayden
Merry Christmas to all Balloon Juicers and especially to John Cole for starting and maintaining this wonderful blog!! Thanks for keeping us sane.
SectionH
@Mike G: We had a wonderful evening with “the kids” and friends, laughed a lot, but you’re at least tied for the best laugh of the night. I have a friend who HATES “Little Drummer Boy” even more than I do, which I didn’t think was possible, so that really resonated. Merry Christmas and all that. Thanks!
Debbie(Aussie)
Merry Christmas (or alternate holiday) to the amazing jackals of balloon juice❣️
I have just received an invitation to blue sky. DebbieAussie is my handle. I’ve managed to find AlisonRose, through her a couple of others.
Gemina13
A few years ago, I saw this figurine and thought, what a great way to look at the birth of Christ:
Let Mum Rest: Joseph tends to Baby Jesus while Mary sleeps.
I made the Feast of Seven Fishes tonight (as I’ve done for years), and accidentally knocked over the olive oil. It spilled all over the floor, so I had to scrub it twice while also finishing up the scampi, the scallop salad with fennel & blood oranges, the salt cod pie, and the lobster fra diavolo. Thankfully, dinner turned out just fine.
I love Anuna. There are two carols they perform that send me over the moon on Christmas – “Noel Nouvelet,” and “The Wexford Carol.”
https://youtu.be/nR9kTyrkNyY?si=Xj3rJY1w9Llt93Id
https://youtu.be/sDVI_K2TCuY?si=V9yw9aIEzAGb565K
opiejeanne
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and happy everything to everyone.
Christmas Eve is usually the party but it’s been put off until the 26th. Long story, certain people being inconvenient as is their wont. Tomorrow the Jehovah’s witnesses arrive, on Christmas Day. They and their giant dog are spending the night. We have gifts for them, wrapped in bland paper that is definitely not Christmas wrapping and I have to put them somewhere else, rather than under the tree. On the 26th the cleaning ladies are coming at 11am so everyone has to go elsewhere for a couple of hours. Everyone else will show up at 6-ish and there will be babies, little kids, and teenagers enough for everyone to play with. The JWs are leaving right after dinner so their kids don’t have to watch other people unwrap their gifts. I love them but I wish they would allow themselves a little joy and not spend so much time desperately wishing for the world to end.
There will be Christmas crackers and a cheese platter while we wait for everyone to arrive, a standing rib roast and Yorkshire pudding, Brussel sprouts and some other vegetable to show we are responsible adults, deviled eggs, a green salad, tamales, Christmas cookies, an almond tart, and peppermint ice cream, and lots of silliness. The JW kids will help me make the cookies because they’re fascinated by the idea that we have a party to celebrate Christmas. I think it’s like a group of anthropologists observing a pagan tribe, for them.
I still have a gift cut out for my sister, sitting next to my sewing machine, and because Christmas is delayed I have time to put it together, either tomorrow or on the 26th because everyone is arriving at 6-ish.
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and thanks for the late-night thread AL!
JAFD
Best wishes to all of you – jackals, lurkers, relatives and friends, for a happy Christmas* and a healthy, happy, peaceful and prosperous 2024.
*you may substitute the winter solistice festival of your choice
opiejeanne
@Gemina13: That’s a very nice depiction of the Holy Family. I really like the current Pope. I didn’t realize creche scenes were becoming a thing of the past. .
I have a little manger scene that’s on the cabinet in our entryway. A friend’s father sold them as fundraisers for a project at his church. https://flic.kr/p/2pox4zc
HumboldtBlue
@Gemina13:
The Wexford Carol makes one shiver.
David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch
We used to celebrate Christmas.
Then the Dodgers destroyed the meaning of Christmas with their avarice.
That said, we still enjoy the old fashion Christian tradition of gladiators harming each other for the amusement of others (3 NFL games today).
HumboldtBlue
@David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch:
What have the Romans ever done for us?
The Lions: Feed us.
VeniceRiley
Kilo woke feeling poorly, so I had to deny my wife her sleeping in turn l. She’s ace a dog medicine. He’s a bit better now. Scared to heck out of me for a bit.
It’s 930am Christmas morning. Had a coffee and Jack. Tree is on and wife is making traditional dinner this afternoon. She’s purchased Club World Championship Man City kit For presents. They’ve yet to arrive.
Reggie will be the happiest pup on the water meadows today when he gets to play in the mud with doggie friends and his adoring public.
TriassicSands
@opiejeanne:
I was just talking about Jehovah’s Witnesses with someone. Many people I know are really annoyed by them coming to the door and hoping to convert others. I have always respected them for following their beliefs, no matter how much I disagree with them. For years, I would allow them in to speak their piece and listen respectfully, but the last few times Jehovah’s Witnesses have come to my door, I politely turned them away, explaining that I do respect their commitment, but since I am now always older than they are, I have thought about these issues far longer than they have and out of respect for them and their time I won’t invite them in anymore because is would be a complete waste of their time, which would be better spent on someone who might have never heard their message before.
I was touched by your comment about wishing they would allow a little joy into their lives — theirs seems like such a bleak set of beliefs and existence. I doubt if Jesus would have thought much of the extreme commercialization of American Christmas, but quite apart from that, for me, even as a non-believer, Christmas was once a time of family and sharing and thinking about others. I no longer have family close by and miss that part of Christmas (though not in any sense of loneliness) and think that regardless of what it is based on the “spirit of Christmas” can be something that everyone should enjoy. In truth, at this point in my life, actively celebrating would probably not be especially welcome.
And Merry Christmas to you, opieJeanne if you celebrate, and happy something to nearly everyone whatever they believe. My message to Republicans is somewhat different and less festive — Wake up and just stop it!
@HumboldtBlue:
Note to HumboltBlue: I would never even consider denying Rosie her prime rib. How cruel! You will pay, sir, you will pay. Maybe not today; maybe not next year; but someday, in some way this inhumane act will catch up to you. I sincerely hope you survive. You do not deserve to suffer too much for this one cold, thoughtless act.
Denying a cat prime rib on Christmas Eve? Unspeakable. Cats, it turns out, have great memories. Normally, they are remarkably forgiving, but there are transgressions that simply cannot be dismissed.
Good luck, HumboltBlue…
…and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and good times to all.
Roberto el oso
My wife and I picked up tomorrow’s feast (Chinese food) which we’ll be having over at a friend’s house. In the summer she rescued a very young feral female cat who was already pregnant and so she now has 3 kittens and a mom who is still something of a kitten herself. Our friend is hoping that they will be sufficiently well-mannered (ha!) that we can actually eat at a table.
Tonight we plowed through a box of tapas from Spain (chorizo, cheese, peppers stuffed with spider crab, a variety of olives and mushrooms, thinly sliced ham, and bread soaked in garlic and olive oil) while watching King Of Kings (the one with Jeffrey Hunter, and, to my mind, the best version of Salome from all the Passion films).
Our own cats have been happy and sedate until a few minutes ago when they both decided to chase each other up and down the hall while doing that thing that lightfooted kitties do, where they somehow make it sound like they’re wearing wooden clogs
Happy holidays to all!
HumboldtBlue
@Roberto el oso:
How the hell does that happen? You can’t hear them for 13 hours, and then, BAM!
“I’m hungry, and I managed to jump through the window and onto the kitchen chair with a sound of drums.”
TriassicSands
Cats are supernatural. Some even pretend they don’t control the universe.
lowtechcyclist
@Mike G:
Thanks for starting the morning out with a laugh! Like any sane person, I eagerly await the day when “Little Drummer Boy” is evicted from the Christmas season’s repertoire, and its very memory is fired into the sun.
Anyway, good morning to all, and a merry Christmas to all who celebrate the occasion!
satby
It’s early, but already a very Happy Christmas.
Last night we got word that my beloved cousin came through his liver transplant well, and is now in the ICU. Best gift ever.
The weather continues unseasonably warm, so my lack of a furnace isn’t a problem and will be fixed before the cold swoops back in.
I feel very blessed and hope everyone has as happy a Christmas!
OzarkHillbilly
BAH! HUMBUG!
The wife and I headed out for our annual Christmas wandering a day early because it’s going to rain all day today. We went to Pickle Springs Natural Area and…. Wow. I know it’s been at least 30 years since last I visited it but, wow. An absolute geologic wonderland. Kinda hard to believe I’d forgotten so thoroughly. I was busy during those intervening years and I did see some extraordinary mind blowing things but… Still.
If we get a decent snowfall this year, I’m gonna try like hell to make it back there. Hope I survive.
bjacques
Happy Christmas to y’all. Making the usual holiday calls to friends and fam. Unfortunately, Thursday or Friday I got COVID—the new one Pirola that sounds like a Finnish pasta dish. The sewage treatment plants here in NL are full of the stuff. What’s that expression again? Blech. But Ukraine still holding out and DeSantis not will brighten my Taint Week, so it’s still a good year.
EDIT: Congrats to Satby!
HumboldtBlue
I will present this musical defense (hey, you get the public advocate you pay for) of that tedious march because it comes with rhythm and harmony, and it’s pretty damn good.
satby
@bjacques: Thanks, and get well soon! That’s the important thing.
Merry Christmas and best wishes for a very Happy New Year!
Anne Laurie
At our house, that particular noise-performance is known as THUNDERBUNNIES!… (derived from the old phrase ‘alley rabbits’ for felines).
I personally, unscienterrifically, believe it is related to the well-known feline ability, when they don’t want to be moved, to activate powerful internal magnets that glue them to the very core of the planet. Y’know how one scared six-pound cat can glue itself to a slippery clinic floor securely enough that it takes multiple trained adult techs to get the beast up on the exam table?
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Darker drummer.
Anne Laurie
@satby: Congratulations — think you’ve already won this year’s best xmas gift award!
(And of course, sincere hopes the weather continues clement until the furnace is back to proper working condition.)
NotMax
@Anne Laurie
Also too.
:)
NotMax
Anne Laurie
Right up the ol’ alley, Bent Fabric.
;)
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
Sweet Jesus spanking an elf while Yukon Cornelius films it all.
I counter with The Drifters
satby
@Anne Laurie: I and my extended family certainly feel like we did, thanks!
p.a.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate 🎄
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Elevator version.
;)
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
That’s great news! Best wishes for his smooth recovery.
Merry Christmas!
There go two miscreants
Enjoyed the comments about the JWs – where I used to live, they would come around every so often (always a couple of African-American women) but I turned them away politely. Never bothered to learn anything about their beliefs. Very strange!
Happy Christmas to all who celebrate.
Tony Jay
@satby:
Awesome news! What a present.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Will see your doo wop and raise you a Satchmo.
;)
Betty
@Gemina13: In case this happens again, oatmeal works wonders in cleaning up spilled oil. I found out the hard way.
satby
Getting off the ‘net for a bit. Very heartfelt thanks for everyone’s good wishes for my cousin, gratefully appreciated and will be shared with the family.
Everyone have a wonderful day!🎄
Dorothy A. Winsor
We’re at loose ends today. We were supposed to go to our son’s house, but he called yesterday to say his MIL fell and was taken to the ER. My DIL is down in Indiana with her and isn’t sure when she’ll be back.
Gvg
I am strangely cheerful since the family get together is on hold. I mentioned that my 83 year old mother caught Covid and gave it to others in the family last weekend at a birthday party. She tested negative before the party, then positive after. She had a miserable week, and at her age and health we were worried, but she is now recovering. Dad had it worse later and his description makes me really not want it. This version Lundy like the worst case of strep throat ever and he says he had a temp of 102. My sister also got it and she vomited a lot for a few hours. Then had the throat and fever. Now my nephew has tested positive. That’s a surprise. He has an immune system that shrugs off almost everything. We separated him too. But it does mean I was exposed again. I still feel fine though. Family plans are for a brief outdoor meal well apart today just immediate family. Big gathering of extended family postponed.
Mother is calling concerned I will feel depressed at being alone. I am not though. We are all surviving. Covid is not killing like it did before. And I know it’s just one of those things and temporary. That’s logic. Emotionally, it just is not disturbing me, and I can’t really say why but I am glad. I do know things could be worse.
Manyakitty
@Debbie(Aussie): hi Debbie, followed you back! (I’m also Manyakitty on there, for anyone I missed)
Manyakitty
@satby: best wishes for speedy healing to your cousin ❤️
Happy happy, merry merry, all!
Manyakitty
@Dorothy A. Winsor: oh no! Hope she’s okay and you all can reschedule your plans soon.
evodevo
@There go two miscreants: The last time they came to my sister’s door when we were visiting, I told them I had some pamphlets for THEM and I would read theirs if they would read mine in my presence…they did a fast 180 and practically ran back down the sidewalk …I
I habitually carry a couple of FFRF mini pamphlets in my purse, and they have done wonders when confronted by fundies of any sort LOL
https://shop.ffrf.org/books-and-lit/?wpf_filter_cat_list_0=25
Another Scott
@evodevo: :-)
We haven’t had too many visit. I usually try to stop them early and say sorry we’re not interested.
I am occasionally tempted to ask them what they think about things like this:
This religion stuff could (and did) take many weird turns over the years depending on the whims of rulers and the twists of fate… ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@evodevo: a friend of mine once saw them coming while they were still on the sidewalk and so, when they rang, he’d had the time to disrobe and therefore answered the door stark naked. He said they just turned and ran and never came back, so that’s one way to get rid of Jehovahs witnesses.
and Thks for kitty picks! You can tell that the black cat was draped with the lights while he was sleeping and just woke up to find himself a lit kitty.
JAFD
@satby:
Good to hear the news about your cousin. Sending prayers and healing energies for his continued improvement.
Gemina13
@opiejeanne:
My mom used to have a Nativity scene, but I gave it away before I moved from AZ to WA (no space). My ILs just gave their Nativity set (handmade, with the figures of the Three Kings made from Palmolive dish soap bottles) to their only grand-daughter. If I get one, it’s gonna be a “Let Mom Rest” one. :)
Gemina13
@HumboldtBlue:
It’s a mystical experience. I’ve even meditated to it.
Gemina13
@Betty: Good to know! I don’t have any in the house, but I’ll buy some for the next time. (I’m a major-league klutz; I know there’ll be a next time!) ;)