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Post by Dulciana on Nov 17, 2006 21:12:35 GMT
I can really honestly never quite decide whether I love Christmas or hate it. My most prevailng memories -
Being about 10 when my parents were out on Christmas Eve for a while, leaving me alone to light loads of candles (not what they had in mind) and sing Once in Royal to myself.
Coming downstairs at 6.30 on my daddy's back, terrified that Santa wouldn't be gone.
Carol-singing round the streets for charity with some members of the school choir - freezing to death but wanting it to go on for ever.
Crying my eyes out round the hospice Christmas tree, listening to Silent Night. He was dead by Boxing Day, as I knew he would be.
Clearing up endless wrapping paper and wondering why no one around me sees more to it than this...
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Post by kerioboe on Nov 17, 2006 21:55:42 GMT
Ils ont foutu le bordel ici. Fascinating, I never knew that 'bordel' was used in a non-literal manner . Whilst not respectable classroom language, it is used an awful lot - more I think than in it's original meaning. (Or at least in the circles I mix in ;D) You can also have an adjective "Elle est bordelique" which just means "she's really messy".
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Post by possom on Nov 17, 2006 22:22:23 GMT
We went on a day trip to Lapland last December and it was fantastic!!! My children who were 3 and 9 at the time were completely taken in by it all so much, you can actually hear me snivelling on the video camera when they met Father Christmas because it was so special (he was the real one you see )
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Post by SuzyMac on Nov 18, 2006 12:57:35 GMT
Hubby and I have never spent Christmas day together - we are this year. We're being joined by my dad and sister for 24th and 25th, and his parents for 25th and 26th. The overlap means I have to find a turkey to feed seven that fits in our freezer! I enjoy it in principle but I detest the shopping rush which invariably starts before I'm organised ;D
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Post by rainbow on Nov 18, 2006 14:55:04 GMT
Keep up the bi-lingualism - its fun and it really works. My daughter used to come out with "Mummy's got a white car and Papa's got a car blue". My elder daughter used to come out with mixed utterances like that which used to amuse me. I was waiting quite eagerly for the younger one to do the same but she spoke in complete sentences from the very beginning and never mixed languages. One funny story that you (and anyone else who speaks French) will appreciate. My elder daughter is not always very sure about what is English and what is French. Last year at the end of the school day her younger sister was taking ages to come out of her class so we went in. The children had been cutting out and there were bits of paper all over the floor. My elder daughter looked around and said "Ils ont foutu le bordel ici." The teacher said to her "Ca ne se dit pas." To which my daughter looked very puzzled and said "Ce n'est pas du français? Pourtant mon papa le dit." Sorry about hi-jacking the thread. Back to Christmas... Awww! That is really sweet! One of my German friends (who speaks fluent English and studies AS Spanish and A2 French ) has 'ici c'est une grande bordelle' written on her pencil case which she told me meant - 'here is a huge mess' or..... well you know the other meaning! About Christmas, my father hates Christmas so we normally have a pretty quiet Christmas.
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Post by digby on Nov 24, 2006 9:03:46 GMT
Our decorations go up on the 1st December....we go a bit mad...well my parents do. I still think Christmas sucks. I like the christmassy songs though . I have a theory that there are 12 days of Christmas, therefore if the decorations go up on the 1st - you have to take them down on the 13th! sadly no one else agrees with me.
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Post by anacrusis on Nov 24, 2006 13:58:25 GMT
Oh, yes someone does. Ours go up on the 24th December unless we go away for a few days over Christmas, and are back down again after twelfth night. I do start getting candles out before that, though, and set up the row of silhouhette houses I made with the kids when they were very small - they drew the windows and doors, and I cut them out with a scalpel; mounted on card and stood up in front of a row of candles, they look very wintry... I'm afraid I'm even more boring than that - no tinsel...
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Post by Steve Hopwood on Nov 24, 2006 14:37:50 GMT
And so does someone else. At least, I would agree if we actually owned any decorations. Any parts going for a Mr Scrooge? ;D
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Post by Dulciana on Nov 24, 2006 21:05:50 GMT
The top of the piano (maybe not if it's a concert grand with the lid up, mind you... ) looks good if you arrange lots of holly (with berries), mistletoe and ivy on it, all hanging over the edge, the odd bit of fine silver tinsel to catch the light, and very small pinhead sized fairy lights. (I still like the coloured ones rather than white, but tiny ones are hard to get.) A few bog-standard white candles strategically placed will set the whole thing off - as long as you've got good insurance against fire!
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Post by anacrusis on Nov 24, 2006 23:13:03 GMT
In my house, the candles are on the tree. And yes, we light them. Having said that, we've been doing that since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and have the correct fixtures, which you can't even get over here, and I'm paranoid about getting the candle holders just so and not leaving the tree unattended. It looks wonderful when lit up - fifteen candles on a christmas tree look way brighter than a string of fairy lights, and there is enough light for some carols round the piano too.
Hence no tinsel, too....and no cats, either.
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Post by Amy on Nov 27, 2006 22:20:04 GMT
Has everybody got their advent calanders ready for Fri Dunno what has got into me I suddenly feel very christmasy, maybe its the fact I have started my christmas list ;D
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Post by anacrusis on Nov 27, 2006 23:06:23 GMT
After much struggle, we found one for each sprog - the shop we usually go to only had one nice design and three really tacky ones, but thank goodness, another one had something better. We ended up with the same design two years in a row a while back - though even my degree of Christmas-scepticism didn't have me shutting all the doors of an old one to recycle it! ;D
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Post by YetAnotherKlavierist on Nov 27, 2006 23:30:14 GMT
I used to close the door and re-use old advent calendars. I'd get a new one every year though, so I'd just have four or so each year .
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Post by Dulciana on Nov 28, 2006 0:49:38 GMT
We used to have a cloth one that had a pocket for each day, so you could put your own sweets in every night before you went to bed for the kids to find in the morning. It means they can't gorb it all in one go!
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Post by petite joueuse on Nov 28, 2006 9:13:54 GMT
Yes, we've got pocket ones, and I'll be spending Friday filling the pockets with the ornaments which go on the Christmas tree (in about 3 weeks time!) and the Playmobil animals which go into the cardboard stable, awaiting the arrival of Mary and Joseph. I thought the kids would grow out of it...but at 12 and 10, they still expect it all to happen and would be desperately disappointed if it didn't happen! We will be having turkey & stuffing on Christmas Day....but son wants Mummy's home-made lasagne, and daughter craves apple sauce....and the grumpy old man of the house just wants "a bit of peace and quiet!".
Went on Starland last night and they've got a ballpoint pen with built in A440 tuner and metronome for £15!!! Wowo, what a bargain! That's Grumpy's present sorted!
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