Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Posted by Amy as Canada, Holidays at 9:40 AM EDT

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Not everyone is impressed with Valentine’s Day, and there’s now a great website out there to help people out with that: Be My Anti-Valentine.

The site says it all:

Stick two fingers (or one, if you’re that way culturally inclined) at any organisation with a vested interest which prescribes how and when to show your feelings. This year, don’t say it with flowers: say it with bile.

How to do this? Choose one of the anti-Valentine cards and send it to whomever. Here are a sampling of the messages:

• I love you blah blah blah hearts & flowers yadda yadda yadda kisses, cupid, etc.
• Oh, is there something special about today? I hadn’t noticed.
• Uprooted overpriced plantlife and fat-saturated caffeine and sugar blocks? You shouldn’t have.

They’re free, but you’re invited to make a PayPal donation to help with costs.

Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Humour, Holidays at 5:27 AM EST

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Valentine’s Day is coming up, and with it comes the potential for a lot of romantic gifts—or, for those couples where one person is romantic and one isn’t, a lot of disappointment.

Here’s an article that could save some heartache: Romantic Gift Giving For Pragmatic People.

Rafe Colburn has given the subject a lot of thought, and he is able to break down the issue in a solidly straightforward way:

For the longest time, I had no idea how to give a romantic gift, mainly because I didn’t understand what the word “romantic” means. I’m a guy who interfaces more with computers than with people, and who enjoys reading about economics and sports statistics. One day I was driving home from work and realized that the word “romantic” is an antonym of the word “practical” and suddenly a lot of things I had been missing became clear to me.

He gives three guidelines and one caution for romantic gift-giving, and they make good sense.

I remember reading somewhere about a woman whose husband always gave her things like a vacuum cleaner for gifts. Eventually she got smart and gave her husband a set of pots and some serving bowls. I don’t remember what she got the following year, but it wasn’t household stuff.

Via Rebecca’s Pocket.

Posted by Amy as Daily Life, Holidays, Relationships at 4:44 AM EST

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If you’re interested in how people in the past celebrated Christmas, check out Medieval Christmas.

This page has such nuggets as the following:

• the first recorded use of the word “Christmas”
• the source of the word “carol” and some history about carolers
• what to expect for the holiday meal in the Middle Ages (hint—it’s not turkey)

This is an interesting, if brief, browse.

Posted by Amy as History, Holidays at 1:35 AM EST

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If you’re a fan of Christmas and pop culture, check out the following quiz: Comfort And Joy: Test Your Knowledge of Christmas Pop Culture.

It’s a multiple-choice quiz; here are a few of the questions:

• “What crooner’s 1942 version of ‘White Christmas’ is the top-selling single of all time?”
• “Seinfeld’s Frank Costanza invented what Dec. 23 holiday as an alternative to overly commercialized Christmas?” (choices include “tinselklaas” and “Chrismukkah”)
• “What toy does young Ralphie Parker pine for in the beloved 1983 film A Christmas Story?”

Here are my results:

You scored 4 out of 10.
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laaame. Just kidding. Merry Christmas!

There are a few Canadian-slanted questions, which adds some interest for me (although I didn’t score very high on them!).

Via CBC.ca.

Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Holidays at 1:50 AM EST

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Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff, Holidays at 1:24 AM EST

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Well, this is fun: The Top 9 Things Overheard at the SF Holiday Party.

Here are a few of them:

• “When I retire from Starfleet, I’m thinking of becoming a lawyer. Or maybe a game show host!”
• “Greetings. I am the Emergency Holiday Hologram System. Please state the nature of the Yuletide emergency.”
• “Have you seen Rudolph? He’s totally high on spice!”

Definitely check the rest of them out.

Via SF Signal.

Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Humour, Holidays at 7:10 AM EST

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You Are Rudolph

Sweet and shy, you tend to be happiest when you’re making someone else happy. Why You’re Naughty: You sometimes stick that nose where it doesn’t belong Why You’re Nice: Christmas would be a sad affair without you!

Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff, Holidays at 4:08 AM EST

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A mondegreen is a phrase that has been misheard and as a result mis-spoken the next time it’s used. Often the twisted version becomes common.

The word was coined from the the mishearing of a sentence from a folk song. The original sentence was “and laid him on the green” (with “green” meaning “grass”). It was understood to be “Lady Mondegreen.”

There are many wonderful examples of mondegreens, but I thought we’d rejoice in some seasonal ones. See if you can identify the original songs from the following inventive lyrics:

• Olive, the other reindeer
• You’ll go down in Listerine
• We three kinds of porridge and tar…
• On the first day of Christmas, my tulip gave to me…
• With the jelly toast proclaim…
• Noel, Noel, Barney ís the king of Israel…
• He’s making a list, of chicken and rice…
• Later on, we’ll perspire, as we dream by the fire…
• Sleep in heavenly peas…
• You’ll tell Carol, Be a skunk I require…
• Come foggy faithful
• Good tidings we bring, to you and your kid…
• Oh, what fun it is to ride with one horse, soap and hay..
• In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is sparse and brown…

Posted by Amy as Music, Humour, Holidays at 1:53 AM EST

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O.K.—let’s see if you can do better than I did: Reindeer Arm Wrestling.

Make sure you play it with the audio on.

Via dangerousmeta!

Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff, Holidays at 1:00 AM EST

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Once again, I don’t know who wrote this, but if you do, please let me know–I’d love to give that person credit.

December 1

Blanch carcass from Thanksgiving turkey. Spray paint gold, turn upside down and use as a sleigh to hold Christmas Cards.

December 2

Have Mormon Tabernacle Choir record outgoing Christmas message for answering machine.

December 3

Using candlewick and hand-gilded miniature pine cones, fashion cat-o’-nine-tails. Flog Gardener.

December 4

Repaint Sistine Chapel ceiling in ecru, with mocha trim.

December 5

Get new eyeglasses. Grind lenses myself.

December 6

Fax family Christmas newsletter to Pulitzer committee for consideration.

December 7

Debug Windows NT 5

December 10

Align carpets to adjust for curvature of Earth.

December 11

Lay Faberge egg.

December 12

Take Dog apart. Disinfect. Reassemble.

December 13

Collect dentures. They make excellent pastry cutters, particularly for decorative pie crusts.

December 14

Install plumbing in gingerbread house.

December 15

Replace air in SUV tires with Glade “holiday scents” in case tires are shot out at mall.

December 17

Child proof the Christmas tree with garland of razor wire.

December 19

Adjust legs of chairs so each Christmas dinner guest will be same height when sitting at his or her assigned seat.

December 20

Dip sheep and cows in egg whites and roll in confectioner’s sugar to add a festive sparkle to the pasture.

December 21

Drain city reservoir; refill with mulled cider, orange slices and cinnamon sticks.

December 22

Float votive candles in toilet tank.

December 23

Seed clouds for white Christmas.

December 24

Do my annual good deed. Go to several stores. Be seen engaged in last minute Christmas shopping, thus making many people feel less inadequate than they really are.

December 25

Bear son. Swaddle. Lay in color coordinated manger scented with homemade potpourri.

December 26

Organize spice racks by genus and phylum.

December 27

Build snowman in exact likeness of God.

December 31

New Year’s Eve! Give staff their resolutions. Call a friend in each time zone of the world as the clock strikes midnight in that country

Posted by Amy as Humour, Holidays at 4:25 AM EST

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Now that Christmas is coming closer, those of us who share our house with animals would do well to consider the various dangers the season potentially holds for them.

The University of Minnesota Extension Service has put together a good fact sheet on this: Holiday Hazards For Your Pets.

In addition to the warning about the dangers of tinsel and poinsettas, the site tells us that alcohol and chocolate can be poisonous to animals (dogs especially) and it also cautions us about the strings that go around the turkey (these can get wrapped in a pet’s intestines with potentially deadly results).

There are also tips here for ways animals and Christmas trees can co-exist peacefully.

Posted by Amy as Holidays at 7:15 AM EST

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Many people have grown up hearing the phrase, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” without knowing the origin of it or why the phrase is addressed to Virgina.

In 1897, Virginia O’Hanlon was an 8 year old girl who wrote the following letter to the New York Sun:

Dear Editor–I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

The text to the world-famous answer to this letter can be found here.

I was never taught to believe in Santa Claus, and I would raise my children the same way if I had any, but the letter is lovely anyway. Definitely check it out if you haven’t read it, or re-read it if you have read it.

For those of you who like updates, listen to this short (just under 4 minute) 1963 interview with Virginia, who was about to become a great-grandmother.

Via John Rosloot.

Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Holidays at 1:01 AM EST

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Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

Hot Chocolate.

When do you put up your decorations?

Early in December if I put any up.

What kind of decorations are on your Christmas Tree?

We often don’t have Christmas trees just because we have a lively group of animals who would soon destroy them.

If we did, however, it would be blue lights and a silver and blue theme. I like tinsel, but it’s not good for animals, who tend to eat it, so we likely wouldn’t have it.

Snow! Love It or Dread It?

I love snow and I even don’t mind the cold and the wind.

Can you ice skate?

This Sagittarius on skates? Shudder. No, I never did learn how.

What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?

Being with my husband, my family, and my husband’s family.

What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?

My mother’s pumpkin pie or Christmas pudding. I’ve never had any better. Ask me about her fudge!

What is your favorite holiday tradition?

• having Christmas on Christmas Eve
• our family’s annual pre-Christmas excursion (a holiday brunch plus something festive afterward, such as a Christmas concert or visit to an art gallery with Christmas programming)
• the Christmas Cow, an ornament my sister made when she was about 10 (the rest of the family hates it but they humour me)
• listening to Christmas carols (it just isn’t Christmas for me unless I’ve listened to a concert—either in person or on the radio)
• listening to Stuart McLean’s “Dave Cooks A Turkey”—one of the funniest pieces I’ve ever heard, Christmas or otherwise. By the way, it’s just not the same reading it to yourself; you have to hear him do it. If you’ve never heard this piece, you can find it on Vinyl Café: A Christmas Collection

What tops your tree?

This year my sister made me a tree for my office, and there’s a silver cherub on top.

What is your favorite Christmas Song?

Just one? That’s almost impossible. But I think it would be “Silent Night,” especially a bilingual version with bits of German: Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.

Candy Canes! Yuck or Yummy?

In very small doses they’re o.k. (like maybe a ½” piece).

Via Heather at Orange Blossom Goddess.

Posted by Amy as Memes, Holidays at 7:40 AM EST

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Every year as Christmas gets closer, I bore my friends and family by sending around this little piece I found on the Internet several years ago.

I don’t know who originally wrote it, but if you did, please get in touch with me so I can give you credit.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with ferrets, I can assure you that this is a very good description of what it’s like to try to work when they’re up and about.

*****

It’s Christmas. I need to decorate the house. Ok, simple ’nuff task. Silly me. I forgot about the Eight Spirits of Chaos with Fur. Here’s how my day has gone so far.

Open storage room door to look for Christmas lights.

Spend 15 minutes pulling ferrets out of various boxes.

Locate box of Christmas lights.

Locate ferret hanging from light.

Toss ferrets out of storage room, slam door shut.

Realize there is no doorknob on inside of storeage room.

Spend 20 minute prying hinges off door.

Drag out Christmas lights.

Replace hinges.

Remove ferrets from assorted boxes and bags.

Shut door to storage room.

Bring Christmas lights into living room, dump on floor.

Find 2 ferrets the lights were dumped on.

Hand out raisins in effort of have 4 minutes of peace.

Begin sorting lights.

Begin cursing at the idiot who put lights away without separating them.

Stop cursing upon remembering *I* was the idiot who put the lights away.

Notice string of lights making a break for the bedroom.

Grab lights, reel in two ferrets.

Notice 3 ferrets chewing merrily on lights.

Gather up lights, pile on chair.

Begin untangling one set of lights.

Shake two ferrets out of pant legs, pick one off of top of chair, remove two from speakers, wonder where other 3 are.

Notice another string of lights making a break for the bedroom.

Reel in missing 3 ferrets.

Untangle one string of lights.

Being taping lights to the window (No staples allowed).

Have ferret grab free end of lights and race around you in circles.

Fall on face, pull taped lights off window.

Fall prey to eight ferrets while helpless on floor.

Untangle feet from lights.

Untangle 4 ferrets from lights.

Untape 2 from lights.

Gather up lights, throw them in garbage.

Gather up ferrets, throw them in cages.

Grab large bottle of wine.

Run hot bath.

BAH HUMBUG!

Posted by Amy as Animals, Humour, Holidays at 1:10 AM EST

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Every now and again a site comes along that helps put life in perspective. When you feel out of sorts because the computer ate your report or the fax is down yet again, check out The Worst Christmas Jobs in History.

The site breaks history down into historical time periods (e.g. Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, Stuart) and gives examples of distasteful jobs from each of the eras.

Here are a couple:

• in Georgian times, kelp collectors were needed “to venture out and drag up the stinking slimy seaweed at low tides.” Why? “Collect 20 tons of the stuff and it can be boiled down to make one ton of soda, the magical chemical that will keep the linen tablecloths underneath all that Christmas fare whiter than white.”
• in Victorian times, you could have been the back end of a pantomime cow: “Nobody will actually see you as you’ll be constantly bent double, gripping the belt loops of the actor in the front end.”

I’m glad that I’ve never had to do these jobs, or one of the worst jobs in Roman times. “House servant” sounds relatively innocuous, but check out the job description.

Via Quiddity.

Posted by Amy as History, Holidays at 1:02 AM EST

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If you’re starting to think about doing your Christmas decorating, and if you share your house with any animals, you might appreciate A Cat’s Christmas.

Iris and Fern are two cats who believe in taking part whole-heartedly in the “getting ready for Christmas” preparations.

People who have lived with cats will recognise at least some of these antics.

On a serious note, I want to second the warning here about tinsel and thin ribbons–please remember that this can be dangerous for a cat to ingest (it can cause an intestinal blockage and require a vet’s attention). Keep a close eye on your cat to see if she’s wanting to eat the tinsel.

Via Information Junk.

Posted by Amy as Animals, Holidays at 1:43 AM EST

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Today is Remembrance Day, a day that Canadians observe with the wearing of poppies, a two-minute silence, and, of course, recitations/publications of various writings, especially the Ode of Remembrance and In Flanders Fields.

Veterans Affairs Canada has a very good website to help in the observances: A Day of Remembrance.

The site answers the following questions:

• why remember?
• whom do we remember?
• what should we remember?
• how do we remember?

This site also has information on the history of Canadian involvement in wars (as well as its current peacekeeping work), interviews with veterans from the wars, audio files of songs popular during the First World War, Canadian Orders, Medals, and Decorations, a digitised book of remembrance, and much, much more.

Lest we forget . . .

Posted by Amy as History, Holidays at 7:28 AM EST

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Today many parts of the world celebrate Hallowe’en, which in our neck of the woods involves children dressed in costumes going door to door and collecting candy.

Check out the site Hallowe’en Customs and Traditions; it explores the history of Hallowe’en and discusses some of the non-traditional ways it is now marked (e.g. by evangelical Christians).

If you’re thinking of sending someone you know an E-card to celebrate the day, try sending something a little different—World Wildlife Federation’s Free Hallowe’en E-Cards.

Posted by Amy as Holidays at 1:05 AM EST

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You still have time to carve a Jack O’Lantern before Hallowe’en. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out any of the following:

• Physics Pumpkins (pumpkins that are carved to display principles of physics, as an imitation of physicists, and other fun stuff) (via Boing Boing)
• learn how to carve a Klingon Pumpkin, ably assisted by a pet cat . . . er, targ (via Quiddity)
• Pumpkin That Looks Like a Big Mac (via Boing Boing)

Once you’ve got your pumpkin ready, you can learn the best way to Keep a Hallowe’en Pumpkin Fresh (via Boing Boing).

Posted by Amy as Holidays at 12:09 PM EST

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If you’ve ever felt the need for a truly artistic carved pumpkin, you should check out Ray’s Pumpkin Carving Tutorial.

He gives step-by-step instructions that will help you create a 3-D pumpkin such as the one above or various others (all appropriately freaky).

These are not your garden-variety pumpkins.

Via Ursi’s Blog.

Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Holidays at 3:26 AM EDT

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In anticipation of Hallowe’en, you might like to start thinking about carving pumpkins. Extreme Pumpkins features some non-traditional designs.

As its creator says,

I decided to make a pumpkin carving site that included shocking, funny, and gross pumpkin designs. The concept is about adults having fun during the halloween season.

Well, they’re certainly not your run-of-the-mill pumpkins. If you look at the winners of previous years’ contests, you’ll see such sights as the “moldy skull” pumpkin.

If you’re interested in something other than the traditional pumpkin this year, check out this site.

Via Ursi’s Blog.

Posted by Amy as Unusual, Holidays at 2:30 AM EDT

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Here in Canada, it’s Thanksgiving Day today.

Unlike the American holiday of the same name (which is celebrated in November), Canadians don’t focus on the Pilgrims; instead, the holiday is officially celebrated “For general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessings with which the people of Canada have been favoured.”

This hasn’t always been the purpose of Canadian Thanksgiving, however, and it hasn’t always been celebrated on this day. The very interesting page Proclamation and Observance of General Thanksgiving Days and Reasons Therefore gives us a history of Canadian Thanksgiving Days and their purposes.

Here are a few examples of the dates and purposes of previous Thanksgiving holidays:

• 12 August 1802: for God’s mercies
• 21 May 1816: end of war between Great Britain and France
• 06 February 1833: cessation of cholera
• 01 November 1834: end of quarantine of ships at Grosse Isle
• 15 April 1872: for restoration to health of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales

Whatever the reason for the holiday, it’s traditionally celebrated by members of the extended family gathering for a meal. The usual Saskatchewan Thanksgiving meal consists of roast turkey (possibly with cabbage rolls and ham also available), potatoes, gravy, vegetables, salads, cranberries, and bread/buns and butter—with pumpkin pie for dessert.

For a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal, check out Fatfree Vegan Recipes for some possibilities.

Thanksgiving is not just celebrated in Canada and the United States; a visit to Around The World Thanksgiving gives information on similar holidays in such countries as China, India, Africa, and more.

Of course, Thanksgiving isn’t the only time to give thanks. There’s a lovely blog that I noticed a while back: Sarah Fitz’s 10 Things I’m Thankful For Today. She uses her blog to list the many things in her life that she’s grateful for—a terrific spiritual practice, no matter what your faith.

Here are 10 things I’m thankful for:

• my husband
• my family and my husband’s family
• my religion and spiritual teachers
• the fact that I live in a beautiful country, province, and city with full democratic rights and freedoms
• a job that I love
• the Internet
• my education
• my wonderful support network of professionals (doctor, dentist, hair stylist, naturopath, energy worker, veterinarian, mechanic)
• the animals who share our lives
• my health

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, no matter what country you’re from!

Posted by Amy as Holidays at 1:39 AM EDT

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