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Holiday Postcard Exchange?

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SonjaMarie
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Post by SonjaMarie » Sat November 20th, 2010, 6:36 pm

The Christmas commercials seem to start the day after Halloween or there abouts, it annoys me to no end!

SM
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Michy
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Post by Michy » Sat November 20th, 2010, 7:31 pm

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]You're very welcome, Wendy!

Plenty of holiday cheer in London. Decorations are up in shops and supermarkets, they are selling Christmas goods and the lights are on in Oxford St and have been for a bit (although not in the suburbs). The coffee shops are decorating too and have introduced seasonal menus. Of course we don't have Thanksgiving so once Hallowe'en and Bonfire Night are over, there's nothing really to wait for.

I wasn't feeling very Christmassy up till now but this week there has been a sea change and Moppet is now in mince-pie-mood.[/quote]

Oh, Moppet, your description of London makes me want to be there!!!!! I absolutely love cities at Christmastime, and in my mind London would just be the ultimate.... Where's a magic carpet when I need one? ;)

What is bonfire day?

Mince pie -- never been one of my favorites, anyway, but I remember once when I was a teenager, my mom got hold of an old mincemeat pie recipe and decided to make it. It was an incredible amount of work to make, not to mention expense -- a huge pot of raisins, currants, zillions of other ingredients simmering on the stove. Plus meat -- it is mincemeat, after all. When she finally produced a finished pie it was soooo strong nobody could eat it. I think she may have canned the unused mincemeat, but I'm sure she ended up throwing it out, since I don't remember her ever baking another pie with it.

As for Christmas 365 -- I once had a co-worker who loved Christmas so much, she kept a blackboard in her office whren she counted the days until Christmas. Started the day after Christmas, when she would write "364 days until Christmas" -- no joke. She was in charge of the office gift exchange, and would have us exchange names in July! :eek: Until one year the boss/owner's wife griped about it, and so we didn't exchange names until November, I believe. The co-worker was upset and felt the boss's wife was being a Scrooge.... I love Christmas, too, but c'mon!!!!!

Must now go hunt for postcards.... :)

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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Sat November 20th, 2010, 8:32 pm

Boswellbaxter will send to Kveto from Prague
Kveto from Prague will send to Ash
Ash will send to EC2
EC2 will send to Michy
Michy will send to ejays17
ejays17 will send to Misfit
Misfit will send to Ludmilla
Ludmilla will send to Divia
Divia will send to Miss Moppet
Miss Moppet will send to Ariadne
Ariadne will send to sweetpotatoboy
sweetpotatoboy will send to Tanzanite
Tanzanite will send to LoveHistory
LoveHistory will send to SonjaMarie
SonjaMarie will send to Wendy
Wendy will send to MLE
MLE will send to Susan
Susan will send to Vanessa
Vanessa will send to Boswellbaxter


All you have to do now is PM the person who is sending to you with your name and postal address.

I'll start another thread for the pix.

Any probs, let me know but I hope it should be pretty straightforward.

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Sat November 20th, 2010, 8:33 pm

[quote=""SonjaMarie""]The Christmas commercials seem to start the day after Halloween or there abouts, it annoys me to no end!

SM[/quote]

I had two radio stations in my area playing x mas songs the day after Halloween. :mad:

Two more radio stations have started playing x mas music since last week. Ick.
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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Sat November 20th, 2010, 10:04 pm

[quote=""Michy""]Oh, Moppet, your description of London makes me want to be there!!!!! I absolutely love cities at Christmastime, and in my mind London would just be the ultimate.... Where's a magic carpet when I need one? ;) [/quote]

Best Christmas sight in London IMO is Fortnum & Mason's windows. They are great all year round but they really outdo themselves at Christmas.

From 2006 - Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland, Attack of the Playing Cards

2007 - Twelve Days of Christmas - Seven Swans a Swimming

2008 - The Snow Queen
Michy wrote:What is bonfire day?
Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated on 5 November. Officially it celebrates the attempt of Guy Fawkes to blow up parliament (some people think he was framed, don't know the ins and outs as it's not my period) but in recent years I think it's more the attack on parliament people want to celebrate! There are fireworks (although fewer than in past years since they're so expensive) and people build bonfires and may burn a 'guy' on them.

The town of Lewes burns several effigies, always including Guy Fawkes and the Pope who was supposed to be behind his conspiracy, can't remember which one. They have also burned contemporary hate figures such as Osama bin Laden and Tony Blair.

Image
Michy wrote:Mince pie -- never been one of my favorites, anyway, but I remember once when I was a teenager, my mom got hold of an old mincemeat pie recipe and decided to make it. It was an incredible amount of work to make, not to mention expense -- a huge pot of raisins, currants, zillions of other ingredients simmering on the stove. Plus meat -- it is mincemeat, after all. When she finally produced a finished pie it was soooo strong nobody could eat it. I think she may have canned the unused mincemeat, but I'm sure she ended up throwing it out, since I don't remember her ever baking another pie with it.
Mincemeat is one of those things it's not worth making for all those reasons! I always buy mincemeat for my pies and my stepmother goes one further and buys ready made pastry. That way pies are very quick to make and taste much better than the shop bought ones.
Michy wrote:As for Christmas 365 -- I once had a co-worker who loved Christmas so much, she kept a blackboard in her office whren she counted the days until Christmas. Started the day after Christmas, when she would write "364 days until Christmas" -- no joke. She was in charge of the office gift exchange, and would have us exchange names in July! :eek:
I look for cut price Christmas cards and wrap in the sales and then I don't want to hear a word more about Christmas for ten months. When I worked at an historic house, though, the subject would always come up by the end of the spring because of the need to plan ahead, but no-one could get enthusiastic about discussing it.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sat November 20th, 2010, 10:28 pm

The Alice in Wonderland with cards display is awesome.
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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Sat November 20th, 2010, 10:41 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]The Alice in Wonderland with cards display is awesome.[/quote]

Some of the other London stores used to be spectacular too but the quality has gone down in recent years. Selfridges just shove as much merchandise as they can fit into their windows. Harrods are boring, boring, boring. Hamleys are okay but not up to their old standard - they once had some marvellous recreations of scenes from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, complete with flying Aslan, but that was over ten years ago.

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Sat November 20th, 2010, 10:44 pm

As a teenager I remember seeing a poster featuring Guy Fawkes and a round black ball with a fuse labelled 'Ye Bombe'. Underneath it said.

'Guy Fawkes. The only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions.'

:D :D
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

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Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Sun November 21st, 2010, 12:47 am

Those window displays are awesome. The Saks Fifth Avenue store in San Francisco does beautiful window displays at Christmas, too, although not quite this level.

I've heard of Guy Fawkes Day, but wasn't sure when it was and didn't know it was also called Bonfire Night. I actually thought Bonfire Night might have some connection to Lammas or Beltane, or one of those ancient festivals (I may not have the names quite right).

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ejays17
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Post by ejays17 » Sun November 21st, 2010, 9:38 am

The Myer windows in Melbourne always have a Christmas Display. This year is The Nutcracker, and previous years have had all sorts of stories - not always Christmas stories, mind you!
It's one of the traditions - it's been going for about 60 years. They put them up / unveil them the first Friday after Melbourne Cup Day (which is the first Tuesday in November).

I haven't seen them yet, but I've got plans in a couple of weeks to go in on thw weekend & do the shopping & see the windows.
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