HOLIDAYS!!!

This time of the year is SO busy - what with Bodhi Day/Rohatsu, Hannukkah, Gita Jayanti, Mother Night, Yule/WinterSolstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day and of course New Year's Day! So! I thought we could throw them all in the mix here and just kinda celebrate everything at once!

Break out the eggnog!

Brilliant idea, luv! And an excellent picture to start off with!

There are so many holidays this time of year, I wish happiness to everyone for them.
This is my favorite Christmas karol.

Thank you, Rabbit, and to you, mate!

I've always liked the contemporaries, but my favorite "carol" has always been Carol of Bells. I have yet to hear a rendition that I don't like.

Oh that's nice. I wish the same for you, Rabbit

Have you seen the TSO (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) version?

Bril, Dot! No, I hadn't seen the TSO video before. Heard the song but never heard the video. Excellent!

AJ shared this on facebook and it was so fantastic, especially in the wake of recent events, I felt the need to share it here.

That is very good. It is too bad many other countries cannot do the same thing.

There are many holidays celebrated throughout Europe. In my house we celebrate Christmas with family and friends, including a Jewish family down the street and our Pagan neighbors who celebrate Yule. We all enjoy good food and music.

Awesome vid, Wraith! And I agree, Rabbit. It's too bad everyone can't follow Lebenon's example. It sounds pretty cool how you and your family celebrates Christmas. It must be a lot of fun!

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. My mom always plays it while everyone's opening their presents.


And while I'm at it, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Yule and a Happy Christmas as I'll be offline for a week again (going down to see my family for the holidays). So, while I'm packing the prozac and the uncooperative cat, I wish to say

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

What a wonderful way to share the blessings of the season, Alaryah. Caught in the bloody damp cold of England, the warm and sunny scenes from Hawaii were very welcome indeed! I know how you feel about being far from family. Even though most of my brothers and sisters live in and around London, a lot of my family is still in Ireland, including my parents who moved back after my dad retired from Scotland Yard.

Hopefully you'll get to see your ohana soon, though. It's still the holiday season after all In my case, thanks to a pretty hefty work load on all fronts, the Smith Family Christmas has been postponed until the 30th. But that okay, a bit more time to prepare for the plane trip. (I'm not a what you might call a fan of air travel, even just across St. George's Channel.)

Still had a bloody good day with most of my brothers and sisters and a great many nieces and nephews.

I hope everyone else had a very Merry Christmas.

Aw, thanks Alaryah! *huggies* I hope you get to see your family soon. So far it sounds like everyone had a great holiday (or will have, Wraith).

Mine was total crazy awesomeness! My car broke down on the way to my mom's, then it stalled on the way back. But all the driving I did inbetween was great! Go fig! But Christmas dinner was great as always and I even got some neat gifts (the best was a bunch of Doctor Who specials from my brother!!) and to top it all off I got my nephew into Doctor Who now too!

Total awesomness as always!

Alaryah, feel free to share all you want! I find it very interesting to learn about people's heritage. For me, a single question is all it takes and I can talk up a storm. Hopefully I don't bore anyone. But I do love to learn about others'. If you do make it to New Zealand, I bloody hope you take pictures! I've been in love with that country since "Xena".

I'm glad to hear you had a great Christmas, even if December was such a mess for you and your family. With a wee bit of luck, 2013 will be 100% better for you and yours!

The Smith Family Christmas went off without a hitch! Everyone was there, happy and healthy. Some forty of us enjoying too much good food and too much Guinness. Still it was all good. Even the flight wasn't too bad, even though I kissed the Sacred Green the minute I touched down in Dublin. That's for a variety of reasons though.

I did take quite a few pictures and I plan on posting them...as soon as I get unpacked. It's funny but the first thing I did upon getting home was get my cat from the landlady, second thing was sleep and I've been working ever since. With luck by the weekend I'll have myself sorted out and pictures ready to post. I have quite a few of County Meath which I don't mind telling you is the most beautiful part of Eire

Dot, your Christmas sounds bloody wonderful! So exciting with the car breaking down. Glad you made it home safe and sound, luv.

Indeed, Alaryah, we seemed to infected Dot with Who-itis and now it's spreading!

I am glad to hear everyone had happy holidays. Mine was very happy indeed.

Cheers, mate!

Well, luvs, as promised a few photos from my holiday with the family. Let me introduce you a bit to the rather large Smith Family and County Meath, Ireland.

I'd like to start with the best picture I got the entire time - the entire Smith Family! Damn I'm good!


A picture of me and a few of my family - two of my brothers, my mum, one of my aunts and me dad. I'm the nutter on the far right.


Trim Castle just down the road from my parents' place.


Me with some of the family in front of Trim Castle - my cousin, his dad, me, his mom and one of my younger brothers and his wife.

Oh my gosh! I love the first pic! How many of you Smiths are there?

And wait...green grass? In December? What gives?

I believe all told, including aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and whatnot, there's 147 of us.

Sorry, luv, we don't much snow any more and when we do, it doesn't last long. Christmas was spent around 10 C. It was downright balmy!

Oh my gosh!

Okay 10 C, 10 Celsius, right? And that would be...? A lot warmer than 10 F? Cause 10 F is REALLY cold!

Rabbit wrote:

I am glad to hear everyone had happy holidays. Mine was very happy indeed.

Congratulations again Rabbit!

@WW...thank you for sharing what an awesome family photo! And I love...love the castle some day I will get over that way with my camera! Feel free to share more any time! And 10 degrees that is quite warm for this time of year there isn't it!

@Dot...10 C not too bad about 50 F for us! Tho still too warm for snow! I need to move somewhere with snow!

THose are nice pictures, White Wraith. Thank you foor sharing them, everyone looks like they were having a good time.

Thank you everyone.

Yes, Rabbit, we all had a great time.

And yes, Dot, 10C is a lot warmer than 10F! It was downright balmy but believe it or not, we get more rain than snow as an average. I don't think there's been a good snowfall in Ireland or Britain in the last twenty years.


Alaryah, Trim Castle is a Norman castle on the River Boyne and the largest Cambro-Norman castle in Ireland. The entire complex is open to the public for a small fee and the inside of the keep is accessible by a 45 minute guided tour. It's kind of a family tradition for the Miller Family to visit every Christmas and I never tire of it.

As soon as I've sorted out more pics, I'll be more than happy to share

Ohhhhh. Now I understand. Kinda makes you wonder where all those Dickensonian Christmases went, don't it?

Can't wait to see even more photos WW! You sure do know your way around, does that mean if I come to you, you can play my own personal tour guide? Please...please?

@Dot...I think the global warming monster ate all those snow clouds over the U. K. !

It'd be a pleasure, luv! So long as I don't end up boring everyone.

And you may be right about the global warming monster!

Oh, I'm sure you won't WW!