Northern California checking in.
I can SEE snow, on Mount Shasta, but nothing any closer.
Don’t know the outside temp, but it’s nice enough to be out with out a sweater for a while.
I have an 18 pound turkey in the oven for me and my daughter. I got a brief call from my son in the Navy this morning, who spent most of his time talking to his sister, which made me happy.
Reporting from beautiful Columbia, Maryland. Woke up to my cat pawing at my face at 8am. Mom told me to go back to sleep, so I did and slept until 9:40, when my cat AGAIN decided it was time for me to wake up.
Opened the presents for the cat first from my parents…he got all new cat toys. Ooooo. 
Then I opened mine up…got mostly practical stuff. Which is fine. Hung out and took a bath, and ate dinner around 2. My dad is currently taking a nap behind me on the futon, and my mom is watching the local news.
All in all, not a bad Christmas. And those of you that know me well know how UNLIKELY I figured that would be.
That sounds so wonderful, big_yellow; care for a few hundred of your closest Doper friends dropping in next Christmas? <g>
Western Illiois here; was -15F and about a foot of snow on the ground. Lazy day, but a good one. Slept late (after noodling around on SD until wee hours), then my sis called and we “opened presents” over the phone. We all really liked our gifts–though I’ll have to spring for my standard Far Side desk calendar. And we planned our get-togethers for the year, so that gives us something to look forward to.
The prime rib is in the oven and almost done; gonna have Yorkshire pudding w/ it and snap peas, and a good Merlot I’ve been hoarding.
All in all, a quiet Christmas but a good one.
Veb
I’m in Thunder Bay snuggled up with a passle of cats and getting ready for skiing tomorrow, but I posting this for my cousin Ray.
You see, Ray is up at the North Pole (Eureka, Canada), but the cook took sick last week and had to be flown out. Thus the normally sumptuous North Pole Christmas Feast has gone down the gutter. Poor old Ray is sitting there in the dark at the top of the world solely dependant upon what Santa brings back in the sled following his rounds down south.
So I hope everyone left more than just milk and cookies for St. Nick, 'cause unless someone left some turkey ‘n’ fixings, Ray will be having a pretty glum Christmas.
Cheers,
Muffin
Oh it is. It’s the only way to go. Then afterwards drop down on bondi or coogee to spend the afternoon on the beach, then in the evening the beer garden of the local pub…
I don’t know why you lot want to have snow at xmas, when there’s better alternatives available 
TVeblen, sure thing. Get your arses down here. Just one rule to remember - no bottle, no entry…
Well, I’m off to the sales. Last year I managed to snare 2 $80 yard glasses at 75% off. This year I’m looking to get a decent CDW for under $200. Or maybe some DVDs. Or Computer games. Or something to help me lose some weight…
sings I’m off to see the sales, the wonderful sales of Aus…
Was in Chattanooga, TN, now home in Atlanta, Georgia. About 40 degrees Fahrenheit both placed today, and was a beautiful 103 mile drive home, though there was a lot of traffic on I-75.
My Christmas was…well, it was decent, which is better than I expected. The family thing was good, though tiring.
I’m exhausted, so I’ll be going to bed early tonight, and getting up early for work tomorrow. Just have to make it through 4 days, then another 3 day weekend, this one with nothing specific planned. Thank goodness.
It’s friggin cold everywhere except my place, where I cannot adjust the heat, so it’s like 80 here. I went on a ravishing, multiple-day drunk that is worthy of recounting.
Let’s see, Friday night I met all of my bestest friends, and we had a rip=roaring time, at least so I am told. I myself was primarily interested in this really, really good tequila. Then, apparently, I switched to gin.
The next day I woke up to discover my rock star pal sleeping on the floor. He was just as suprised as I, but we embraced the Christmas spirit by roasting a few dozen bowls and pretending like we were artists at the National Gallery, where we studied up on some Art Nouveau. That really made my friend happy, because he’s dating some gorgous Canadian gal whose great grandfather did all of that Toluse-Latrec thing, and it was cool to see the real deal. Then we ate the best danged Mexican food I ever had, along with a half a dozen margaritas.
I’m pretty sure I did something after that, because the next morning the telephone rang, and I discovered that I was going to be attending a football game. It was the Redskins and the Cardinals, presaged by steak and eggs and still more margaritas. Margaritas really ought to be a Chistmas thing, by the way. And get this: Washington won. That was somewhat unexpected.
Then, I took a nap, I think, because suddenly I was home again at the sauna. This time I was snagged as a tour-guide for a trip to the National Cathedral. I must have smelled like a brewery, ‘cause the SS was all over me like flies on shit–but they didn’t find my bowl, man!, which I foolishly brang with me. The President was there, and my pal’s girlfriend was totally psyched about that. Tunes were kickin’, all silent night and shit. I took an impromptu nap, and was invited to leave just as the service was ending. Then I had a few G&Ts at a place that I don’t think has a proper name.
Anyway, it was like having a Christmas enema, what with the sport and the President all taking communion and shit (he’s Catholic?) and my ex-girlfriend giving me back my fishing lures and that Tito Puente CD, I’m kinda overwhelmed. I hope every one of you had as great a Christmas as I did.
And I hope you all have a happy New Year, too!
Next Christmas I’d like someone to give me the gift of being able to spell the names of important French artists.
Central Minnesota checking in here…
Christmas starts at noon on the 24th with lunch at the Ace Bar in St. Cloud, but it was closed this year so we went to brunch at the Green Mill instead. We will have to find a different restaurant next year…blecchh!
Then out to mom and dad’s near Gilman to open presents with just us, then we go up to the farm to gramma and grampa’s (dad’s parents) for supper - herring and that brown Norwegian cheese I can never pronounce and Swedish meatballs and rice pudding (gramma taught me how to make it this year! YAY!!) and mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top and sand bakkels and krumkakke and…yeesh. Am still stuffed 
After dinner gramma picks someone to read from Luke (was me this year) and the youngest sentinent child passes out gifts. This year some severe gramma-guilt forced me into going to the candle light service at church (for the first time since…um…1989?), and by the time I got home it was nearly 1 a.m. and -20F :eek:
This morning we went to mom’s parents in Sauk Rapids and ate more and opened more gifts and ate more and played cribbage and at more and played 500 and ate more…Oh, also went to see my cousin’s new house and ate more
:sigh:
Am stuffed
kingswood: What’s a ‘yard glass’?
not to seem like a completely ignorant boob but, what the f*** is up there besides pretty lights?
Is a glass that usually holds beer that is 3 feet (a yard) tall. At a New Years Party a few years ago, the entrance requirement was to drain a 1/2 yard glass of coors light (back in the day of my friends having NO taste in beer).
Well…on Christmas I was in northwest Alabama.
Woke up, opened presents with my sister acting like a much younger kid, then went to my grandparents and opened MORE gifts with my cousin. (Well, all the “adults” opened gifts, too, but ours were more fun.) We ate lunch, I took some medicine for my sinus infection, took a nap, got up and ate supper with my grandparents, and then came home. And played on my very out-of-tune mandolin.
Rilchiam:
[quote]
kingswood: What’s a ‘yard glass’?/
[quote]
Bloody big glasses for drinking absolutely stupid quantities of beer out of. I’ve got two of them, which might say something about my drinking habits…
Here are some photos at a place you can buy them. Not for the price I paid, I’m betting…
http://www.aaronhill.com.au/ProductPages/Products/42940.htm
Generally you see them around 18ths (in countries where that is the drinking age), 21sts(ditto), bux nights, New Years Eves and Tuesdays, although that last one might only be at my house…
preview preview preview
oi oi oi…
Sofa,
Clinton isn’t Catholic, but neither is the Nat’l Cathedral. It’s Protestant, I’m unsure of the denomination
(maybe Presbyterian?)