THE NEW CHRISTMAS THREAD.

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Jessica 🤗 said:
My year has been a bit rubbish really. My mum had a fall and was hospitalised, then she had covid and was hospitalised again. Then I started having trouble with my wisdom tooth, and I'm still waiting for an NHS appointment to have it removed 🤦
I've lost an uncle and a cousin in the space of a few weeks. So I'll be glad to see the back of this year! :thumbsu:
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You've had a hard year Jessica. May 2025 be a much better one.🤗
 
Jessica 🤗 said:
My year has been a bit rubbish really. My mum had a fall and was hospitalised, then she had covid and was hospitalised again. Then I started having trouble with my wisdom tooth, and I'm still waiting for an NHS appointment to have it removed 🤦
I've lost an uncle and a cousin in the space of a few weeks. So I'll be glad to see the back of this year! :thumbsu:
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So sorry for your losses Jessica. 🤗
 
Richie said:
How about you Thomas?
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I had started the ball rolling and wanted to join in later as I'm doing now. 2023 had been great, above all since I sold my MIL's house and we got her settled down where we live. This year is a mixed bag but I'm still grateful for having been able to live through it. A recent check-up gave me the go-ahead for another year. Yesterday I finally found a carpenter who will help me with redoing my garden shed for an arm and a leg. Doing that is my reaction to all the other owners of this condo community who declined my request to replace it with a new one. (I reported.) I can now focus on my next project: glazing my patio which was also turned down in that meeting. The question of how that glazed terrace can be insured needs to be answered first. I also had 16 small trees and shrubs chopped off and the stumps removed with a root grinder. Finally found someone who carted seven boulders away. Two others proved too heavy but I begged them not to let me down. Will see. We need a bicycle garage for an additional set of bikes weighing less than ten kilograms. I intend to put it up illegally and will see what's gonna happen when they see it. In summer I ended up joining a newly-opened fitness studio after a four-year pause. I reported on it. And I became a member of a table-tennis club and have been playing twice a week since June. On Tuesday a regional TV crew and a radio crew came and reported on us.
 
The meaning of Christmas seems a bit fluid to me. 🍺
The Christianity of it all seems to be on the back burner nowadays replaced by prawns, ham, beer and good cheer.
That's fine by me. I like beer, ... 😃 ... and seafood ...
 
Grier said:
The meaning of Christmas seems a bit fluid to me. 🍺
The Christianity of it all seems to be on the back burner nowadays replaced by prawns, ham, beer and good cheer.
That's fine by me. I like beer, ... 😃 ... and seafood ...
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I like prawns in my chop suey rolls 😋
I love Christmas for what it represents, the birth of Jesus 🙂 I celebrate it for that reason. But everyone is different so enjoy yourselves! 🎉🎁🎄
 
looker-on said:
2) What we didn't cover was
  • What time Christmas trees are traditionally set up and how long do you have them?
  • Did have natural or artificial ones?
  • How much are they this year?
  • Are there favourite trees like the Nordmann tree we have?
  • Where do you get them from?
  • Are they imported by the million?
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I'd like to remind you of my initial questions which I'm interested in. Care to answer them? 🤗🤗
 
looker-on said:
I'd like to remind you of my initial questions which I'm interested in. Care to answer them? 🤗🤗
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When I was a kid my dad used to drive my brother and I into the nearby National Park for our natural fir tree (see below). I figured by my fathers furtiveness as he cut the tree that pinching native flora from a national park was not exactly legal. But he was never nabbed by National Park officers. Once home it was time to start dressing the large tree with baubles and tinsel with an angel always on the top. No Chrissie lites back then. 🎄🎅
To my knowledge it is the tradition to not maintain a tree after the 12th day of Christmas.
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Thanks for sharing, Craig. I hadn't heard of that 12-day tradition. Given the effort it takes to get hold of a decent natural tree and decorate it, I used to think that it was a shame to have it only for a few days. Traditionally, one shouldn't put up a tree until one or two days before Christmas which increased all the pre-Christmas stress and hectic. Now I regret having stuck too long to those traditions which had to do with the fact that, due to a lack of cooling and freezing capacities, food couldn't be bought and prepared in advance. An additional problem was that there was no food you could easily buy. You needed to have connections. Without them it was such a hassle to get hold of something special or even the essential things. Long, time-consuming queues everywhere. It was downright ridiculous that people kept talking about a contemplative Advent season but in reality it was the most hectic time of the year with all that hustling and bustling.

The trees would shed their needles too soon. (There was no Nordmann tree. Have you heard of them? They are about 50 Euros this year, the highest price ever. How much is a tree this year?) I don't know how others managed but after I had been too late to get a decent tree several times, we went for an artificial one and put it up about one to two weeks before Christmas. We never had the tree and other decorations longer than until New Year's Eve. When the children left home we stopped having a tree, that's 14 years now. We make do with an Advent wreath and some lights. If I wanted to have a tree, I'd put it up in early December so as to make the effort worthwhile.
 
May the Christmas Season bring only happiness and joy to all of you and your family. 🤗

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Have been busy with last preparations like gift wrapping, (online) shopping, and so on. I'm looking forward to my daughter bringing her new partner along for Christmas for the first time. I hear he wants to cook for all of us and will bring all the stuff he needs. OK, taking pot luck then.🎄
 
looker-on said:
May the Christmas Season bring only happiness and joy to all of you and your family. 🤗

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Have been busy with last preparations like gift wrapping, (online) shopping, and so on. I'm looking forward to my daughter bringing her new partner along for Christmas for the first time. I hear he wants to cook for all of us and will bring all the stuff he needs. OK, taking pot luck then.🎄
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He likes to cook Thomas! ? 😃
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. 😉

Wishing you and all your family a wonderful Christmas.
Might it snow for a White Christmas?
A light gentle flurry of soft snow. ❄️☃️❄️

Perth's Christmas weather will be a mild dry ~25C just after more scorchers.🌴
 
Grier said:
He likes to cook Thomas! ? 😃
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. 😉
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Apparently he does. It did surprise me when I heard of it. It's quite a self-confident, even bold project 'cos he'll be using our kitchen for the first time and probably needs my wife's assistance to find his way around. 😃 I heard, though, that he cooked the same dish for himself and my daughter to be on the safe side.😁
 
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