Christmas is over once again.

 During the Christmas season I posted (on Flickr) a series of photos called "The Many faces of Santa". The series had photos of different gift giving figures like Santa Claus that I have accumulated over time. Today the last of the set is being posted and they are of the back of these characters.

To the best of my knowledge all the Christmas Gift Givers have come and gone for another year.
Epiphany was yesterday, the twelve days of Christmas are over, the Yules Lads have all departed and today (I believe) is orthodox Christmas.

That's why today's gift giving figures are shown from the back as if they are departing for another year. 

The anticipation is nice, the celebration is great, but wrapping up Christmas and putting it away is also satisfying.  To me putting away all of the things that go with Christmas is comforting. It's a sort of a pat on the back that says "we did it again, we had a good Christmas"  and it's sort of the first small steps in preparing for the next Christmas.

Putting things away so that they'll be ready when you need them for next Christmas sparks little ideas of what you might want to do next year... well not really next year, it's now the end of this year. 


It is (or was, or soon will be) time to put away the last of the decorations and with them the old year AND get on with the new one.


 I hope everyone has had a good Christmas and will have a good 2020.



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Christmas is coming & Gavle Bocken is LIVE!

It's official the Christmas season.
Most of the Santa Claus parades are done with the final one (in our area) being next Saturday in NOTL along with the Garrison Christmas at Fort George. As well It's December,  NOTL Candle Light stroll was yesterday,NORAD tracks Santa has launched for the season, the NPC festival of lights is in full swing AND .  .  .  .  .  . Gavle Bokken is LIVE!

Unfortunately I can't figure out how to include a live feed with the tools on blogger,  but there's a link so you can watch for yourself. 

The whole big story is on the site but the short version is the town of Gavle makes a giant goat for the Christmas season to attract tourists. Apparently Christmas goats are enough of a thing in Sweden that people will travel to see a giant one. As the Gavle Goat has been going on for fair while there are traditions that have grown up around the event, most notably the 'tradition'  of people trying (& sometimes succeeding) in burning it down. This is a problem for the town, as no one will come to see where there used to be a giant goat. So there are precautions on one side and  attacks on the other.

Some years are pretty quiet and the Gavle Bocken survives to be packed away til the next Christmas Shopping season.  Other years, well there not as smooth..  There are lots of youtube videos of Burning goats & somewhere there's a chart of when it survived and when it didn't & I think there are probably book makers that are giving odds on the chances of survival this year.

For the last few years I've checked the feed at least once a day in December, usually when I need a break from what I'm supposed to be doing. Last year when I checked in on the live feed and the Gavle Bocken was gone after only a day I wasn't sure what to think. Part of me was disappointment I wouldn't have that diversion for December. Another part of me was little happy that there's still a bit of high spirited chaos out there... and I do like fire, so my next stop was Youtube.

We have already surpassed last year, it's been more than a day and at last check Gavle Bocken is still standing.

Go and waste some time looking at a goat, you might get hooked.

PoTd - December 29

Pic-of-The-day

Today's theme "Siblings" 

 

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Chrsitmas Menu

 Here is this years Chrsitmas menu. I didn't set out to make a blog post about Chrsitmas dinner it just sort of happened. I was making a list of what who's bring what, what we still needed & what I personally was responsible for & I suddenly realized that I was 3/4 of the way to having a blog post... so here it is.
If I've missed anything let me know & I'll update it.

2016 Christmas Menu

  

Main Dishes

Sweet Ham

Pork Tenderloin with Jamie's jerk sauce

Cabbage Rolls

Pork Pie 

Turkey

Side Dishes

Corn

Mashed potatoes

Sweet Potatoes Casserole

Crock Pot Mac & Cheese

Home Grown Carrots and Beets

Extras

Stuffing

Turkey Gravy

Cranberry Sauce 

Desert:

Fruitcake

Fruit Pavlova

Ice Cream Bombe

Sweet Treats: cookies, squares,  chocolate, fudge, hard candy
Savory Nibbles: Cheese, Crackers, Olives, home made Pickles & Preserves, nuts, Fruit.
Drinks: Juice, pop, tea, coffee, Red & White Wines, Selection of Beers,  
Specialty DIY Bar with all the tools & recipes for special hot or cold drinks.