Happy hollyday

[ewmayer]

Followup to my above post - here is pic of advent calendar, first matchbox-chocolate just got eaten today:

[Nick]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Growing up in Austria, our regional version of Nikolo (abbrev. for Feast of St. Nicholas) featured Krampus with his wooden Rute as the assistant specializing in dealing with naughty kids.

Apparently some people have gone too far this year:

"Austria struggles with marauding Krampus demons gone rogue"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ons-gone-rogue

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Nick

Apparently some people have gone too far this year:

"Austria struggles with marauding Krampus demons gone rogue"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ons-gone-rogue

It's the horrors of Socialism on public display, I tell you!

This is what comes of liberating the poor, oppressed Krampus from his lowly status as a subordinate Claus.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by Nick

Do you mean this?

You don't know left from right... but don't be sad, it happens to me very often too (not age-related, I was like that since I know myself), and I have to pause and think before naming them

[Dr Sardonicus]

One Christmas single I have heard and enjoyed since childhood is the 1958 masterpiece Green Christmas by Stan Freberg. The Songfacts page has some facts I was previously unaware of.

With the official title "Green Chri$tma$," this is about the over-commercialization of the Christmas Holiday. The song uses characters from the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol in Prose. Freberg used Ebenezer Scrooge as an advertising executive, and humble Bob Crachit, as the owner of a spice company trying to keep the true spirit of the holiday. There is a board meeting headed up by Mr. Scrooge, the CEO of an unnamed advertising agency. A lot of the conversation held in the meeting discusses plans to tie their products in with the Christmas holiday. Such advertisements not-so-subtlely referenced include Coca-Cola and Chesterfield Cigarettes.

Freberg was a popular disc jockey, and sponsors of his radio show were miffed when this was released. Some sponsors refused to pay for any commercials aired within 5 minutes of the song being played when it first came out. Since radio and advertising were so critical, the song received no commercial airplay until after 1983.

As reported by UPI on December 27, 1958, the day after Christmas of 1958, Stan Freberg presented a check for $1,000 to the Hemophilia Foundation of Southern California as his royalties from the first year's release of "Green Chri$tma$." He gave all the proceeds from the song to charity, defusing any criticism that he was hypocritically profiting from the subject of his satire.

Speaking of over-commercialization, YouTube has deliberately tried to annoy viewers into paying not to have its offerings ruined by frequent commercials which pop up with criminally obnoxious abruptness. So unless you have given in to their extortion, or have good ad blocking software, I can not recommend listening to the song on the YouTube link Songfacts has provided (or anything else on YouTube).

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Speaking of over-commercialization, YouTube has deliberately tried to annoy viewers into paying not to have its offerings ruined by frequent commercials which pop up with criminally obnoxious abruptness.

Use Opera browser. No more commercials.

[Nick]

Here in the Netherlands, we don't have Christmas pudding or mince pies.
Instead, we have kerststol, which is a soft, sweet bread with raisins, icing sugar and almod paste (a bit like marzipan but with less sugar and more almonds).

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Nick

Here in the Netherlands, we don't have Christmas pudding or mince pies.
Instead, we have kerststol, which is a soft, sweet bread with raisins, icing sugar and almod paste (a bit like marzipan but with less sugar and more almonds).

The Germans must have Stollen the recipe.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Use Opera browser. No more commercials.

Thanks for mentioning this option.

Sadly, some web sites are fighting back. A dialog box comes up, saying something like "We see you're blocking ads..." and that's as far as you get unless you disable ad blocking. It's probably only a matter of time before this happens with YouTube.

[Nick]

Happy (and healthy) Sinterklaas to everyone celebrating it!

[Dr Sardonicus]

Today is Christmas day. It is bitterly cold where I am, 8 F or -13 C, with a stiff breeze (13 mph, approx 22 kph) out of the NW, making for a "wind chill" of around -8 F or -22 C.

A good day to wear my mittens and my newly acquired heavy winter coat outside. And a good day not to be outside for too long.

There was a light dusting of snow overnight. Not enough to turn things white, but enough to lend a "Christmas-y" appearance, and to warrant sweeping the powdery snow off the porch and stairs. I did the same for my next door neighbor, who is 90 years old and rather frail. Her mental acuity, however, would be enviable in people half her age. We wished each other Merry Christmas.

I am not having the traditional turkey. The only fresh turkeys in the stores have been "improved" with some witches' brew of turkey broth, salt and sugar. I don't want to eat embalmed turkey!

Instead, I decided that, with this cold weather, I wanted some good hot chile in the worst way. And I'll have in the worst way -- my way! I grew the chiles myself. I just got them out of the freezer - fire-roasted, peeled and seeded. They'll add a festive red and green to my dinner.

Merry Christmas!