Celebrations

[vilakins]

Happy birthday to hafren, though I'm not sure how people know; she's not on my birthday list thingy. Have a good one!

I'm having a nice day today, despite it being the longest one yet miserably wet. We had secret Santa presents at work and I got green tea and ginger shower gel and bubble bath in a nice rack: two favourite flavours and scents. Good guess, whoever it was. Then I had a farewell lunch down the pub which the company actually paid for in the end (and the manager was friendly and chatty, sadly rather too late). I'm now full of quesadilla, citrus tart, brandy, and coffee. Two more days in this office to go!

My thinkgeek package arrived yesterday, so I have something to give Greg. He's getting a red Swingline stapler, a plushy Tux (Linux penguin), a t-shirt with a caffeine molecule on it, and a stormtrooper potato-head to go with our Darth Tater. I shall take a picture of them both with Athena the owl. I also bought myself a t-shirt with the galaxy on it with a little sign 'You are here' pointing to the unfashionable end. I've wanted one ever since seeing a guy in one several years ago.

I'm not sure about doing the Christmas meme that's going around because a lot's not very applicable but I'm enjoying reading other people's, so here you are.

1. Do you have a real or fake Christmas tree?

A fake one, and only for the last three years. Why kill a poor inoffensive little tree? We did once have a tree in a pot for two years when I was a teenager. It leaned to one side and we named it Claudius, but after we planted him in the garden, that was it.

2. Do you put up Christmas lights on the exterior of your home?

Absolutely not! Very few people do that here. I think it's an American custom and not really suited to the short summer nights.

3. What's your favourite Christmas song/carol?

Snoopy's Christmas! I adored that as a kid and still do, though I haven't heard it for years.

4. What do you like better - turkey or ham?

Pass. This is a ham-free zone (except for my acting) and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've eaten turkey. I'll have chicken.

5. Do you open up any Christmas presents on Christmas Eve?

No.

6. Have you ever been Christmas carolling?

No. I've never seen or heard anyone else doing it either.

7. What was your most memorable Christmas gift(s) that you received?

Pass.

8. What's your favourite Christmas movie?

I haven't really got one. I finally saw It's a Wonderful Life a couple of years ago and liked it but I wouldn't say favourite. Um, [hangs head] maybe Bad Santa?

9. Have you ever built a real snowman?

No. I've had snowball fights up Mount Taranaki in winter but that's it.

10. Have you ever peeked into a present and found out what it was before Christmas?

No.

11. What is on the top of your Christmas tree?

A translucent white dove I bought from Oxfam a while ago and forgot I had till I found it a few days ago.

12. Do you own a Santa hat?

No. I've started seeing people wearing them in the last two years though. There was someone in the pub today.

13. When was the last time you had your picture taken with Santa Claus?

Never.

14. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

Yes, and finished

15. Do you put candy canes on your Christmas tree?

Eh? Why would I do that? No, I have glass balls, spaceships, and some dangly silver and gold things.

16. Who is hardest person to buy for?

Greg, because if he wants something, he just buys it.

17. Who is the easiest person to buy for?

Ari, my nephew. He's two. He's getting plush toys, a bouncy ball, and a Thomas the Tank Engine story collection.

18. How old were you when you realised Santa was imaginary?

I never thought he was real.

19. What does your Christmas morning routine consist of?

It's pretty low-key. We get up, have a late breakfast with coffee (we have an espresso machine) which is standard for the weekend, and open presents. That's it. The cats always give us one (though I have to buy it). [note to self: must buy tuna for them]

20. Egg nog?

They don't have it here, even at Starbuck's. Possibly because it's summer, though I've never seen it in winter either.

21. What do you want for Christmas this year?

A plush Vila, preferably life-sized. A new printer. But whatever Greg bought me in Singapore (which will be neither of those) will be a great surprise.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Oooh, I like your taste in geeky presents! And I have a "You Are Here" t-shirt. Or I used to... It's either in the very bottom of my t-shirt drawer now because it's nearly worn out, or in the rag bag because it's completely worn out, I forget which. *sniff*

Snoopy's Christmas!

Is that the one with the Red Baron? I love that one! And I haven't heard it in years, either. I used to know all the words...

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Aargh. That was me. LJ is being annoying with my logins again.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Hello, angry Scorpy! And have I got a link for you, to be posted soon. :-D

Yep, it's the Snoopy one. I think I could sing along if I heard it again; it's been a couple of years.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Duh, I mean yes, it's the Red Baron one. :-)

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

15. Do you put candy canes on your Christmas tree?

Eh? Why would I do that?

Because it's a traditional decoration for Christmas trees, albeit not a German-Victorian-old one. Although they hung cookies and things, so it's the same idea. :)

Starbucks wouldn't serve eggnog; it's not hot, and it's not coffee or tea-related.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've hardly seen candy canes here at all, let alone on trees. I've occasionally seen those decorations made out of glazed dough.

According to my UK friends, Starbucks serve eggnogs there. They keep talking about them and making me want one to try. :-(

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

They are pretty on trees, all that red and white. We also do garlands of strung popcorn.

Eggnog, or eggnog-flavored coffee? The latter does exist, and isn't bad, but it's a far cry from eggnog.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure; they just say 'eggnog' and make me envious about how delicious they are.

Yes, the canes would be pretty, but you'd be hard put to find any except in a specialty sweet shop like those pseudo-Victorian ones in tourist areas. Are they nice to eat, or really hard jawbreakers like Brighton Rock?

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

They're just standard hard-fruit-or-peppermint-candy consistancy. Like... lollipop consistancy. But because they're so much thinner than your standard hard candy, they break and crunch really easy. Most kids suck them rather than crunch them, though, because they last longer and form a really sharp candy point when you suck on them, and crunching them just makes your teeth sticky.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I just googled. What Starbucks does is an eggnog-flavored latte. Which does sound good.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yum! I'd go for that. They had a creme-brulee-flavoured latte when I was in one a couple of weeks ago but they were out of it.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Hey, you have an espresso maker - add milk or cream, sweetener, nutmeg, a little vanilla, maybe a little brandy or rum flavoring... there you go. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, yeah, I should experiment. Cream would be good. I should buy some cream.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Cream's really the way to go. It's supposed to be pretty rich and thick - a lot of the recipes even involve a custard base for the drink. (Heck, if you got eggs, you could try a recipe for the real stuff, too, although you might not want to bother with the custard-base ones.) :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I bought a carton of custard for Greg because he likes it. I could experiment. I also have creme anglaise which I like better but it's probably a waste to have that in a drink rather than over fresh berries in a brandy basket.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I really couldn't say what they'd do in the recipe. All the recipes I've seen involve making it from scratch. Commercial custard has a lot of stuff in it that wouldn't go well in eggnog, I'd think (especially British-style custards, which taste a lot like cornstarch to me). It's supposed to be just eggs, cream, sugar, nutmeg, and vanilla-or-alcohol.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'll follow a recipe. Vanilla and alcohol would be nice.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

It's wonderful stuff. Though quite rich - I'm not sure what the calorie count is! It's probably just as well that they only serve it for a couple of months around Christmas...

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

21. What do you want for Christmas this year?

A plush Vila, preferably life-sized.

This would be to keep you company when Greg has to be unavoidably absent, right? :)

You're lucky about the carollers. The people around here doing carols were either competing with the Christmas muzak in the local shopping centre, or accompanied by booms from fireworks let off in a park far too small for that sort of thing. Not the most advantageous method either way...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Greg said a Vila might be grounds for divorce though, and he wouldn't be allowed in the bed. Plus he'd drink all our booze. :-P

What, you have people going door-to-door singing?

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

Plus he'd drink all our booze. :-P

Why is that so easy to picture? :)

What, you have people going door-to-door singing?

No, these were people in a park up the road, or another group attempting to cheer up the shoppers. (Who seemed to be ignoring them, from what I could see.) I didn't go to the carol service in the park because it appeared to be organised by the Hillsong people. I'd prefer to stay away from them...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Plus there aren't that many carols I like. I heard a nice syncpated one in the supermarket today though, possibly Jamaican. Spare me the saccharine tinkly snowy stuff though.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I think when I updated my info I must have put my birthday in by accident; I'll take it out again.... At my age it's nothing to celebrate!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It wasn't in your info; that's what puzzled me. I think glitterboy1 was the one who let the cat out of the bag. Trust him to know and remember; he's such a sweetie.

And as Vila said in one of my stories, it's really celebrating surviving another year. You don't have to let us know how many there've been.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

There was nothing clever, I'm afraid. You posted about it last year - I think your son had got you something you were pleased with.

I'm sorry to have reminded you, if it's not something you really want to celebrate! :-) But for the rest of us, it's a very nice excuse to celebrate you.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

I do like thinking of your Christmas tree, complete with the Liberator in orbit.

And I'm relieved that lots of my LJ friends are replying on the same lines, about lights on the outside of houses. There are so many lights on houses near me, I'm surprised we're not getting planes coming in to land.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well, as long as you don't leave the landing lights on...

There's only one house I know of that does the outside kitsch thing and I really should take a photo this year for your collection. Giant Santa and reindeer and fake snow--it's the stuff of nightmares. I've only seen it by day; I'm afraid to see if it lights up at night but I suspect it does.

I might be going past it on Saturday. I shall take my camera. :-P

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Eeep! I keep meaning to take my camera out, but never quite remember at the right time. Maybe it's my subconscious, trying to protect my sanity.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

There's an article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1671846,00.html) in today's Guardian about how much electricity is wasted by Christmas lights, with corresponding consequences in greenhouse gases. It makes me feel even more annoyed with the people who have erected a giant nativity scene in flashing lights on the road into Didsbury.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[rolls eyes] Can you take guerrilla action and unplug the thing?

A lot of people put lights on their Christmas trees here but the only outside lights I've seen have been two or three instances of quite subtle and tiny fairy lights on shops which I rather like. I suspect the giant Santa and sled on the kitsch house in Pakuranga (I must get a photo this year) might light up but they're an isolated (I hope) case and have been infamous for years. I truly hope people don't start doing it here. I hate to say it (because I've hurt people by doing so) but US culture is taking over far too much.

I mentioned the very funny, profane, and sometimes moving film Bad Santa in this meme. In that, considerable pressure was put on all the households in a street to decorate and have a unified theme. I bet that happens too, so that people feel they have to conform or be seen as Scrooges.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you did well in the Secret Santa, and I'm glad you didn't have to pay for the farewell lunch after all (guess there are Christmas miracles sometimes ;-) ).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The manager being friendly was another one! :-D