merry xmas

holidays, shmolidays

It's "that time of year", the time of xmas, the solstice, festivus and many more holidays too numerous to mention ranging from thousands of years old to slightly fewer thousands of years old holidays based on the older ones with slight changes to relatively new ones to considerably new ones with various levels of basing on older holidays based on still older holidays, aka "the holidays". So we got that out of the way. I'll be having a modest one which I expect I usually say. Just staying in, having a half assed, partially based on a modified version of 2, maybe 3 different traditional xmas meals, with not a whole lot of booze this time seeing as one of the parties involved doesn't drink, that said the party I just now referred to is not oneself so one may choose to indulge, perhaps, quite a bit. And that's about it. There'll be some quiet giving of a small number of modest presents, perhaps a tree or at least an artwork somehow based on a christmas tree, not my responsibility so not sure what's intended, and a kitty. yes, we have a kitty, just for christmas, it's Cecily again, if you know who she is. It's weird these holiday thingies. I always know it's not going to be a big thing but I always feel it should be done properly, with everything prepared ahead of time, trees and tinsel and engaging with other people and lots of food of a particular sort and all that goes with it, so I do nothing until the last moment, when I realize oh shit christmas is like, tomorrow and everything is going to be closed from like, yesterday so I go off in a rush to get all these things I absolutely need to get to have everything just perfect and I get like maybe, um, one of them. And that's what I'm doing now. I mean the nothing bit, not the actually kind of doing, or trying to do the stuff bit, no, it's way too early for that, there's still like 2 days left until christmas, 3 if you don't count all the days everything will already be closed, so maybe tomorrow at some point in the early afternoon I'll feel like I really should go out and, you know, stuff, but I'll decide I can't be bothered and anyway there's still another day. Then the next day I might rush around like a mad chicken and get nothing done and then the holiday will come and we'll be here, eat and watch tv like we always do which is always fine except we'll have a kitty here. and that's about it really. Merry Christmas and all that or whatever you celebrate. Hope you've got all your shopping done and everything is good.

This season..

I guess I am enjoying it. A lovely dinner out on xmas eve.. and a lovely snacks and drinks in, with the same people, on xmas day evening. Now we're just.. hanging out. Leftover food and drinks and movies and apart from the cat trying to eat tinsel everything is pretty cool. Of course, everyone leaves just when you're starting to get to know them really well and are getting along with them but that happens, all to often in our little expat corner here, you get used to it, new people come, they hang around for as long as they do and leave just when you realize what super cool people they are.. ok not always but too often.

Enough of that, tis the season to be jolly and we do have drinks so it's all gonna be fine. We even had a bit of snow today (not yesterday on actual christmas though, somehow it never seems to happen) and some sun, which is nice of the weather gods.. and we've for some reason waited on the whole presents thing so still got some prezzies to open.. fun.

So I'll leave you all (heh, you possibly one person more like it, and even that's a stretch) with the usual Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, good times and I hope you have a great 2015, tough I might just pop in and say something before then, but good wishes for the new year all the same.

Cheery bye for now ;)

Silent night..

er.. quite ordinary night. Here anyway. The city over people are sitting around their tables choking on carp bones. Well by now they're probably opening their presents, post carp and potato salad. Depends on the family I guess. And hopefully people have been lucky to avoid to many bone accidents.

Here, it's a regular Tuesday eve. Well.. one of us didn't go to work today. Actually both of us (all 3 if you count Cooley) didn't go to work but in the case of one of us, that is me, (and Cooley if you're counting her) it's all too typical, but for one of us, the worker, the whole week is off, Christmas in the middle of the week really makes everyone.. well, take the whole week off.

So we're sitting here as usual on an evening, on the computer, watch a few shows, have dinner.. yell at the cat not to chew the Christmas tree and vaguely plan all our business tomorrow. Yes, we're doing it the traditional way, that sit he traditional north American and in fact Australian way of doing the pressies and main dinner thing on Christmas day, December 25th. We get up, whenever we get up. Probably have a breakfast, shower and stuff because we like to take dorky photos with the tree and want to look nice for it, and then open our, I guess pretty modest presents under our extremely modest tree, and then set to first cleaning this place up cos it's a total dump at the moment and get to cooking. In the evening we'll have our usual "orphans" dinner, with a few vegan dishes and that not even loosely based on any countries Christmas dinner as far as we know, lots of drinks and the best bad Christmas movies we could find. See traditional.

I used to do it the traditional way, back in Australia when I lived near my family. That is the traditional Czech way, of having Christmas dinner of, well something, sometimes a kind of fish (never carp) crumbed and friend, but always something that isn't fish cos I don't like fish and the traditional potato salad, and then open our presents, on a hot summer night, barely minutes after the sun goes down. See traditional.

All the years since I've left, most of which have been spent in this country, I've done the dinner and presents thing on Christmas day, that is 25th. I guess I like to be contrary like that.

checking of the list..

apparently there's a sort of boxing day bingo checklist thing. I don't know if it's a thing but it's a thing I just saw, so, sort of a thing. Most of the squares deal with stuff that doesn't apply here in our household, being a couple of expats not living near relatives no kids not in the US (or UK where this particular checklist thing I have before me seems to originate from) so.. pretty much all but a few that reference drinking, in ways usually considered inappropriate, ie breakfast, and well.. drinking more. Those, I've already done a little bit.. I reckon there'll be enough of that to make up for all the rest. Oh and eating leftovers. The first thing I did, even more the booze. Still got more seasonal movies to watch, so might add that one to the list in lieu of one about someone's auntie. Hope everyone had a fun christmas if they bother with that stuff, a pleasant regular day if that's what it is and a peaceful time where no one bothers you if that's what you wanted.

Merry Christmas..

and may God bless you all ;)

Oh so quiet..

It's very quiet. Not necessarily here, there's noise, tv.. music occasionally.. not necessarily in this building, not during the day, for although it is an official(ish, well I think official) holiday here, there's been drilling and banging going on. Started really early too, it was still dark, not that that is saying much. I mean... just quiet. Quiet out there.. no people, few cars, trams few and far between actually only night trams by now, reduced christmas service. Oh and nothing's open so.. if I were to take a walk outside, and feel like popping in somewhere for a drink, I may have to walk pretty far. There should be shops, and the hostel across the road but.. not much. It will be quiet in general this christmas.. I probably mentioned it, something about orphans having found families, I don't mind, I kinda was glad but it would be nice to, like, be around other people. It's also good that there aren't any other people, I mean.. other people.. what for? It will be merry enough I think, as long as there are some shops still open by the time we go for that walk.. got no booze in the house yet.. hmmm.. *gets shoes on and stuff*

Guess there will be a Christmas..

shit.. better get things ready.. not such a big deal, most of the orphans we host (yeah they're not literally orphans, they're just people who.. well, have other places to go on christmas but would rather come here, usually) would either rather be somewhere else it seems because they haven't contacted us, or are working.. or something. so, just the immed fam. Cooley will like that. Still stuff to do, haven't even put the tree up yet.. actually, don't really know where the tree is. And it's here again for another year. One woke up yesterday and found the world and all that happens year after year.. still going on. Yes I know.. I know, it's old news (if you even know what I'm referring to by this point) and no one's talking about that whole end of the world thing anymore but I like.. lost a day ok. I was completely out of commission all yesterday and I'm a bit behind. And I wasn't even hungover! Didn't drink anything.. well except for a tiny bit of sake but it was food poisoning that got me of all things. Well anyway.. feel better now and the world is still here and christmas is coming and it seems that everything is ok.. for now.

I can feel the silliness coming on..

this is probably not news to most people and has probably been going on for a week, weeks, more than week by now? but I have "literally" not been outside this flat since, forever, like, when I got back from Israel.. well not exactly but I haven't been anywhere to civilization during opening hours for anything that isn't a bar for.. some time, and if I have I haven't been paying attention but anyway I went out today to a supermarket to do the usual getting stuff one needs for one's abode, and yep.. it's started...

oh I saw chocolate santas.. christmas, that's what I'm talking about.. they're starting the stuff for that already.

Christmas at our place...

All about Cooley. Santa was very good to her this year.. we're thinking that she's just permanently on the "cute" list.

Done for another year...

Christmas has been and gone.. well.. I mean, the main bit of it, it's still boxing day and er.. 2nd/3rd day of Christmas? I dunno.. but yesterday is gone. We did our presents, got some nice things.. though one of my presents was suspiciously like something a kitty would want..

anyway, made rocks, that is, made bread that turned out like rocks but it didn't matter because we had so much other food that there was more than enough for our guests.. oh, did I mention, we had guests. Just a few, our usual xmas people, and we all ate, listened to cheesy music and watched some silly movies.

I think it was quite a success. And we have leftovers, that's the best bit.

One last desperate attempt to be good..

Well.. currently Santa's flying over South East Asia, according to my sources.. so I'm gonna assume list is done and checked twice, so at this point, there's not much I can do.. if I'm on the naughty list, I'm staying there.

Fortunately I've been good this year. As usual.

So.. this is Christmas, as the overplayed and otherwise annoying enough song goes.. what have we done? Oh the usual, nothing too interesting. Gonna spend the next few days preparing for guests, eating ,drinking and hanging out with guests, hopefully in a merry fashion.. oh and presents. Yeah, there's already some under the tree.. (actually under where the tree goes, we been putting it in the spare room for most of the time so Cooley doesn't chew on it) but yeah..

Not much else to say. It's Christmas, hope everyone has an awesome one.

Don't drink too much :)

The sun has set..

It is the shortest day o the year today, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, at least according to whichever site I clicked on when I googled winter solstice.. it's either today or yesterday.. whichever, there are really only a few minutes difference in the amount of light we see.

Today, or at least according to a certain script I often quote, and very near to the same aforementioned sites I spoke of, had exactly twice as much dark, as there was light. Not sure exactly what that means, as the sun takes it's time to both rise and set, but that's what they say if you're on the 50th parallel, as I am.

Yeah it's 3 days before Christmas, 2 if you count xmas eve which we do here and of course I had things to do.. stuff I should have done already but I'm doing pretty well if I'm not still desperately pushing through the crowds in the last hours of whatever's open being open on xmas eve, which is pretty much a holiday here so not so much and pretty early.. er, where was I, yeah, so getting stuff done on the 22nd, very responsible by my standards.

*sighs* That time of year.

חנוכה שמח

Yeah, I can write backwards :). Actually not really, I just google translated that.. it is Hebrew and it does mean (according to google, haven't actually checked with Erik, who does know) Happy Hannukah. Or Happy Channukah.. depending on your preference. It is the first night today and we're beginning our holiday hosting season this evening, with an elegant eve of latkes and stuff, spinning the dreidel with friends. Yes, got a dreidel this year, couldn't find it last year..

It's a strange time of year and a strange year for this strange time, one of our country's most beloved men, Vaclav Havel, dissident playwright during the communist years, major player in the Velvet revolution and President of Czechlosovakia and then the Czech Republic, died just 2 days ago, so it will be a relatively subdued season this year, for the Czech Republic...

nevertheless, life goes on, people still celebrate, lights are up, music is playing.. and all around Prague there are pools on the street, with carp swimming around in them, awaiting their fate...

It's got to be easier..

Life really should be simpler than this. That's what, (or something similar to that, "life should be much easier", "I thought you said it would make life easier", "things really should be easier", I remembered the exact words earlier, but I failed to note them right away) a I heard as I was walking a busy Prague street on the way to work earlier on.. they were said to a woman, carrying a large box, which looked like it had been filled with some kind of fruit or vegetable, but was now almost empty, with difficulty through the too narrow streets, full of people already experiencing christmastime.. by a distinguished sounding Englishman wearing a sorta Dr Who type coat.

Well it seemed intriguing at the time. I also saw some ghostbusters tonight... that is, I passed a car with the ghostbusters symbol on it. I didn't know they had those anymore :)

So work was, well, waiting around for no one to show up for a tour, but that meant I got to listen to the festive music in the Old Town Square, a colorful group of singers playing funky but whimsical songs about Jesus. Well.. you know.

Oh, and that reminds me, I came up with a cool new name for christmas, it is.. um.. shit, I think I forgot exactly how it goes already, one of those lying in bed half asleep inventions.

I remember. Magic Baby Saves the World holiday. It might sound silly, or even offensive to some.. but really, not that different from what those silver voiced youth were singing in our city tonight. Sorta.

And the big one is here..

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have/are having/had a great one.. I've had a nice one.. a lovely stroll through the Old Town Square last night for xmas eve.. it's actually the first time ever I've been out in the city on Christmas Eve.. very strange to find out that the night trams start from so early..



well anyway, it actually snowed, but it was a light, rain like snow.. but we did wake up to a white-ish city today, which was nice.

Just having food and drinks and friends at home today..

Oh.. humbug!

It really doesn't feel a lot like christmas right now... I mean.. it didn't earlier anyway. Let's just say it hasn't been the best Monday.. and you know Mondays.. well, this has been a particularly crappy one.

But I sorta lie.. it's evening.. we have a coat of fresh snow outside and Erik's on his way back so...

oh who cares..

Veselé Vánoce!

That's Merry Christmas for those of you that don't understand Czech.



And a happy new year. And all of that.

And the holidays keep coming..

It is now officially sorta christmas! And it's actually christmas christmas in some parts of the world, not just sorta actual christmas cos the main celebration is on christmas eve which it is, but christmas day so Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it, and to everyone else happy Thursday.

*drinks*

And speaking of...

Christmas that is. It's beginning to look like it. That is, it snowed.. a bit at least and some snow stayed on the ground giving it that "it's winter" look. And it's pretty.

Anyway that's all I had to say.