Holidays
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Monday Meme ~ Christmas Version
We’re still in the wonderful week of Hanukkah, and we’ve eaten the Stollen for St. Nicholas Day. What a confusing family, huh? Basically, we just love to celebrate many differnt cultures, even if they are not our own. This coming Saturday we’ll be baking Christmas Cookies and so on, and it’s a most wonderful time of the year. How better to commemorate it than with a meme? This one came from Scarlett, who started this meme herself just for us, and calls it “12 of my favorite things”. Here are her rules: Please share 12 of your favorite Christmas things: they can be memories, traditions, songs, presents, beliefs, whatever it…
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The Giving of the Gifts
Now that it’s officially ‘holiday season’, with Thanksgiving behind us, Hanukkah here, Christmas coming, and New Years not as far away as it seems, many folks start thinking of gift giving…of all of the shopping and gifting and so on that comes at this time of year. I’ve read two blog posts recently that, while speaking in very different ‘voices’, both said pretty much the same thing. First, Quee, in for Beenzzz over at Stealthy Bean, has a cautionary tale of someone in search of the perfect gift. Next, Quinn Cummings over at the QC Report comes up with the perfect description for about 95% of the stuff that gets…
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Thanksgiving, Past and Present
photo found here The first few years that Ted and I were dating, he would go to his family’s house for Thanksgiving, and I would go to my Grandma’s house. I had a lovely time at Grandma’s house, even with the talk of diets and the dry dry turkey and the taste of cigarretes, and it was nice to see my family, as I was living in San Francisco now, and saw them mainly on the holidays. But as time went on, Ted and I decided we wanted to spend our Thanksgivings together. So, one year, I invited Ted to Thanksgiving at my Grandma’s house. I think he was in…
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The Ghost of Thanksgivings Past…
I’m sure that we must have celebrated Thanksgiving when I was a child in Alaska, probably with lots of friends, music, and laughter, but I don’t have any specific memories of Thanksgiving during those years. Halloween and Christmas, yes, but not Thanksgiving. My memories of Thanksgiving are of holidays at my Grandparents’ house. My Grandparents’ house was a place where you had to walk on eggshells & be careful what you said, because my grandfather (whom I loved dearly) had a very sarcastic tongue, and a perfectly innocent conversation could quickly turn ugly. Add to that some pretty divergent political and social beliefs around the table, and it’s a recipe…
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Happy Diwali!
Happy Diwali everyone!
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Happy Halloween…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq2RXSboWMs[/youtube]
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Honey Apple Turkey with Gravy
This Monday, as Maya and I were walking to school, we saw these wild turkeys on the bike trail we travel (ok, not THESE wild turkeys…I brought the camera on Tuesday, and they were gone…stupid turkeys). Which reminded us, oooh, Thanksgiving is coming up pretty soon…and then, Maya said, I’m looking forward to Canadian Thanksgiving! Ooops…well, at least I didn’t totally miss it, because lo and behold, I came home, and checked, and that very day was Canadian Thanksgiving! Sooo…I decided to continue our recent tradition, and make a yummy Thanksgiving dinner for my family. (Ted was born in Canada, and came to the U.S. when he was 1 1/2…so…
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Happy Labor Day
Summer repeats…this is a post from last Labor Day. Enjoy your long weekend, and take a moment to thank those who worked so hard to get you the day off. 😉 Who Put the Labor in Labor Day? We did, that’s who. When I think of labor day, my mind first thinks of the end of summer…the crisp fall weather on the horizon, the cool weather clothes, school starting up again, the return of the good TV shows… Then there are the Labor Day celebrations…one last bbq of summer, maybe a trip to the beach, the lake, or the shore… For some people it is a chance to get caught…
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Miscellany
OK, first things first. Chrissy, Scarlett, and Curiosity Killer have all decided that I’m a Rockin’ Girl Blogger! Tres cool! I think that I am now supposed to pick 5 rockin’ girl bloggers, and nominate them myself. Or award them, to be more precise with my language skills. But here’s the rub…how do I decide, from my many female blogging friends, which ones are rockin’ girl bloggers? How do I say to some, ‘hey, you’re a rockin’ girl blogger’, and not others, who are equally rockin’ in my book? So I’m breaking the rules. No paying this one forward. I suck like that. But you know what? If you are…
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Happy Freedom!
Today is the day we celebrate our Independence from Tyranny, our Freedom to govern ourselves, and the birth of our Democracy. Enjoy your bbq and fireworks, and put a few thoughts towards what we have gained, and what we have already lost…
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Happy Canada Day!
Today is Canada Day, which comemerates the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a federation under the name of Canada. We’re celebrating with surf and turf for dinner…the surf being Crab imported from Canada. YUM!  Ted was born in Canada, so we enjoy celebrating whenever/however we can. Happy Canada Day to our neighbors up North!Â
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Purnima
Photo found here. When Ted and I were married, almost 14 years ago, we had a wonderful Hindu ceremony. When we were setting our date, our pundit, who also happens to be Ted’s 2nd cousin, I think, looked on a calendar to make sure that we were going to be married on an ‘auspicious day’. As our wedding fell on a full moon, it was deemed to be an auspicious day, and thus our marriage was blessed with good fortune. Today my bloggy friend Tracy marries her eSuitor, and as today is the full moon, I trust their marriage will be blessed. Hope your day is magical Tracy, and that…
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Happy Father’s Day!
To all the dads out there, but especially to the three best dads I know, Ted (this picture is him the day Maya was born, and I’m thinking by that smile, he’s one happy, happy guy, huh?), Dad (My dad, Maya’s Gramps) and Danny (Ted’s dad, Maya’s Granddad). To all the dads out there, I hope you know how special you are, and how much you are loved by your families.
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Rethinking the Draft
Memorial Day came about as a day to stop and honor those who died in service to their country, following the Civil War. On Friday, I listened to an interesting radio program (which I already mentioned on Saturday), which discussed the meanings of Memorial Day, and how the bulk of this war is being carried by the military, and the rest of us are pretty much free to go about our business, hopefully spending plenty of money at the mall, maybe even buying a new car or two, so that we can keep the economy strong, and get that Dow Jones up higher and higher. There is such a huge…
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Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is traditionally a day for honoring our mothers, our grandmothers, our wives if they are mothers. We do this by taking them to lunch or dinner, giving them flowers and gifts, making sure we understand how special they are to us, how important they are, and that we appreciate all of the things that they have given us, and what they do for us. It was interesting for me to find that the original purpose of Mother’s Day had nothing to do with Hallmark or FTD, crowded restaurants and long buffet lines…it had to do with searching for peace. Julia Ward Howe (hey, that’s almost my maiden name!)…