f13.net

Once again, becouse my brother has children, and i do not, ill be making an early trip to his house (Early, because his children can use phones).

(http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/9210/anatomyofasantaja5.png)

Also, please Fill this out and repost it here,........ for humanity.

Christmas started back in September.  Maybe August.  I will be finishing it up around January 1.  The list of tasks is long.  It might involve more squash casserole.

As far as shopping goes, i'm done =) I start just after Halloween.

We started buying shit last spring, but there's always something.  We wrapped the presents for the cousins this past weekend and my boy says we need to get a present for Audrey, his friend at school.  So we did.  I ordered something for my wife and I'm hoping it arrives before mid-January.  Putting up lights outside has driven my wife to sailor-talk since the strands are all being sketchy; some sets have been purged and I'm considering those new LED sets.  Inflatable snowmen, tethered three ways and dominating the yard.  Tree is up and decorated... do real trees drink this much water?!

Also my PS3 broke so one thing I won't be doing is playing Uncharted.

Trying to buy the 360 version of the Guitar Hero 3 bundle is turning out to be more difficult than buying a Wii.  EBGames has seemed to have gone as far as removing the bundle from their website.  "No, we don't have any in.  No, we don't know when we will.  No, you can't preorder it." FACK.

I hate this short supply fucking bullshit.  Why does the one year I buy something video game related for my brother it turns out to be this year's version of the Furby.  I'm not a soccer mom, I don't have my Tuesday-Thursday available for camping GameStops from 12-3pm.  :tantrum:

Skiing with my daughter.  Being 2h from Winter Park and Steamboat = win.

En dos semanas yo trabajando a Espana.   :awesome_for_real:

We don't usually do Xmas at home but since I now have kitties and I don't want them to feel left out, I'll be decorating... NO (http://www.mommiescamelot.com/forum/images/smilies/tree2a.gif)... just some greens on the mantle, basically.  Some rusty primitive ornaments and stocking holders, that sort of stuff.  Only the living room, though.  Pressies and stockings for mah babies.

Other than that... I'll be making pizzelles next week, which is mostly what I'll be giving the kin-folk.  Only my dad and nephews get anything else, and not much.  Christmas Eve I'll be making Voodoolily's Sexy Pear Focaccia to bring to my sister's open house on Xmas day.  I'll stay long enough not to piss anyone off, maybe 3 or 4 hours, then dash home to lay about, slobbily, for the rest of the day.   (http://www.online-thecatsmeow.com/images/Emoticons/cid_3C3EDF47-FF59-4C95-9B49-B68DF7F67238.gif)

Travelling to Beirut to see family.

Finishing PhD apps and hard prayer. :uhrr:

Christmas looks to be boring.  Typical crazy extended family meal,  get to see who's on the wagon and who's off the wagon (the crazy Catholic Irish-American side of my family....)  We usually accumulate lots of strays, too, like the Jewish friend of the family from NYC.  There's usually a big competition to see who has my sister-in-law buying for them,  since her father has box seats for Montreal Canadien games and that ends up being your gift.

Much rigging of the "random" family gift giving goes on.

It's always interesting to see what my de facto gift to receive is.  A couple years ago,  everyone knew I wear scarves in the winter (goes with the suit and overcoat), so got 2 or 3 that Christmas.  Can't be worse than that,  though I haven't had a bad tie year yet....

New Years looks good.  Going to rent a condo in Lake Placid with my brother, his wife, and some friends of ours and do the big dinner with wine and catching up after.

I went to a wedding this summer where the bride finished her PhD dissertation (biochem, I think) a couple weeks before the wedding,  so was working on it all through the wedding planning.

I felt real badly for the groom.

Good luck!

Christmas Eve: driving up to Sacramento with my mom and (half)siblings to my maternal grandparents' place.  I think at least half of her siblings will be there, but the ones who are married with kids periodically split off to spend a Christmas with their spouses' families, so it's hard to say how crazy it'll be this year.  When the entire family is there it's 2 grandparents, 8 aunts and uncles (half of those by marriage), and 8 cousins.  Fear.

Christmas Day: driving into San Francisco to my paternal grandmother's place.  All that side of the family minus one will be there, which totals 4 people.

Guess which side of my family is the Catholic one!   :awesome_for_real:

I've got almost all my Christmas shopping done already (including presents for all those damned cousins), which is maybe a new record for me.   :rock:

Christmas may be a a little odd for me this year, as it will likey be a very small family gathering that gets preceded by an enourmous family gathering happening next week for my Great Grandmother's funeral. At 106, you have a lot of people to see you off.

I'll be visiting family on Vancouver Island for a few days around Christmas, and spending the rest of the time off bumming around. Might finish painting the apartment.

My shopping so far consists of buying one book for my dad. I'm a bad shopper.

Vegas baby!

I predict epic amounts of wastedness.

You should get the PC version  :grin:

We're doing the same old traditional stuff. Xmas party with friends saturday, family xmas sunday. Fiancee does the whole catholic mass thing with her mom on xmas eve, I usually sit around the house wrapping presents (I like to be the presents ninja). Then xmas we go to my mom's place in the country for a nice cozy little xmas morning with snow and kitties and whatnot. I've become a big mushball, apparently.

Best xmas-related thing I've seen this year....two houses down someone hung their xmas tree from the ceiling. Inverted tree ftmfw.

That's not a bad idea (inverted tree)!  We're debating on what to do with ours since our little boy (who's one) will most likely be making the tree and ornaments his own personal playground.

For some reason, those upside down trees have become popular.  I hates them. 

(http://blog.holidays.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/11292006ut.jpg)

You can buy them at Sears for $400 or something silly.

Looks like something you can crucify peeps on.

I don't do much for xmas. It's been the season in the past where people I love die.

I do get an 8ft tree every year, and set it up in the living room. Zip tie on a few bright red plastic ornaments and some sleighbells, then watch the cats climb it. There's a small pool going each year for how many days until Oscar (27lb part wildcat) makes it to the top and brings it all crashing down. Last year was 10 days, but I've got him down for 6 this year.

Not the most exciting time of year.

Reading this, I'm suddenly inspired to buy a small tree and decorate it with shiny Christmas cat toys and treats.  It might be fun!

Fixed it for ya!

Doing some essay writing and researching over the festive period. As well as trying to get PhD apps done too, I'm sure it will be fun and am looking forward to an Oxford rejection letter come the spring.

Going to Reynold's Plantation to visit the immediate family, then back to ATL for the maternal grandparents on Christmas Eve, then over to Birmingham on Christmas Day for the absolutel fal-der-all that is my Dad's family (Two Grandparents, One Aunt, Two Cousins, their Two Wives, and their collected Three Kids under the age of 6, not to mention the four of us). I think it's around 14 people in a 2000 sq. ft. house, and they don't serve any booze. I love my grandparents but that Christmas trip is NOT the highlight of my year.

One of these years I am going to follow suit. It is getting harder and harder to schedule shit with my families (in laws and the like); might be nice to just blow out of town and hit Vegas on the MEGA-CHEAP.

Is Vegas cheap over Xmas?

My girlfriend will be spending it with my family and I. We're getting weird about Christmas. We get more and more lazy each year. Now we pretty much give each other gift cards and just call it a day. We'll have a dinner with ham, and call relatives that are out of state. That's about it.

Christmas Eve: In-laws. Open presents.
Christmas day + day after: Parents. Open presents. My sister is hosting the Christmas day festivities since their children are getting a Wii and her McMansion has a lot of floor space for everyone that will be attending.

It just works out so perfectly.  Helps that my parents are only around 90 minutes away and my in-laws are about 10 minutes away.

Ohh yah, and from December 19th on, I'm on vacation for the rest of the year.  WOOT.

We do gifts with the kid in the morning, then drive to my mom and dad's house for gifts over there. We'll likely then go to the wife's family's house, then meet up with my parents at whomever-from-my-mom's-family-is-hosting-this-year's-Xmas-thing's-house. I will be asked to cook something and bring wine. The kid will get great loot, the Mrs. will get thoughtful gifts and I'll get gift cards.

Huzzah.

Incredibly. The town is virtually empty most of December, so the hotels bend over backwards to get people to stay. You can get hotel rooms on the strip for less than $50 a night with ease. That saves lots of money to spend on gambling and hookers!


You are a rat bastard. I just burned most of my remaining vacation being out with the flu last week.

Funny that you just said that. I just got an email from a few hotels in Vegas for $50 a night weekends over the next 3 weeks.

Heh, yeah, I got one for $46 a night from somewhere. If you go and gamble enough, it is probably a lot easier to get room comps this time of year too.

I'm doing my taxes, then jury duty.

Running all over town being infuriated and aggravated by my relatives and in-laws until I manage to get sufficiently drunk.

Oh, and why are all you fools applying to get a PhD? Just hit yourself in the head with a hammer instead. Same effect.

Making bad jokes, sleeping in and whinging about the heat, most like.

Now in the US, I am teh sad ya'll don't get Boxing Day off.  Man, no extra holidays here.

I'll be trolling game stores, playing something, taking the girlfriend out for air. Merry Seasonality and all that.

Mmmm. Boxing day. I suppose I might wander to the cricket.

We have two holidays to celebrate our war veterans.  What else do you want?

Days for Boxing.  A Day for your monarch (President's Day a stat?).  Still, you win on the veterans integrity side.  We still worry a lot about WWI. 

I have no idea.  Until I see my Christmas week schedule I don't know for sure.
All my presents have been wrapped, and most have been handed out already.
I need to send out Christmas cards this week though.

I have done some holiday related activities like this already too:
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2379/2096395954_ab756bce63_o.jpg)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2388/2094650516_001d0e9eb5_o.jpg)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2013/2094650520_aa40ff6af4_o.jpg)

Yes I AM fucked up thanks.

Either driving a lot or flying a lot, and I pray the latter.

In either case, drinking a lot when not in the active tense of transit.

Nearly done my shopping. Spent too much fucking money for not enough shit. Having a large family with children starting to come down the pipes is... quite a lot of fun. For people that aren't me.


Dude if there was no family for me to spend time with on Christmas I'd basically take up every cheap offer in Las Vegas for a week or two. Especially the hookers.

I always hated xmas. I would always get shitty gifts like a guitar-themed tie or something. Because my family are all normal people and have no clue on what to get quirky ol' me.

Then there was the amazon wishlist. Xmas revolution, I now look forward to the day, knowing I'm going to get some new music and songbooks. Load in enough titles and it's still a surprise, I forget half the shit on my wishlist these days.

It is good to know that you found God and the true meaning of Christmas.  (http://www.democraticwarrior.com/forum/images/smilies/shopper.gif)

I think we're staying home.  Probably going to be a quiet Christmas this year.

I found God while hanging out at Lot's house.

Nothing. I couldn't afford to go home for Christmas before I found out I needed $2700 in repairs to keep my car from dying in two months (my insurance company thus far hasn't been convinced that the damage was related to the deer I hit five hours before I started having problems).  For reference, I have a bit over $1000 in savings. Also, flights to New England were pricing at four digits per ticket, and we'd need three.

I got a Wii back in November, and Jamie and I agreed that would be our "present to each other." We don't have a tree up, because Jamie is lazy, and I'm firmly convinced that to a three year-old, it's just something to yank on and break pieces off of.

I unfortunately will have to deal with about 24 family members, as it is our turn to host Christmas.   :ye_gods:

Poor Jamie.  I guess you're too pooped from watching Jamie lounge around the house to put up a tree yourself.  Poor you.  Poor wee sprog being deprived of a proper Xmas.  Someday when his friends in school ask what Santa put under the tree for him, he'll come up with something other than a puzzled look.  Are you having vension for Xmas dinner?  Poor old Rudolph. 

(http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/357659/2/istockphoto_357659_bad_bad_santa.jpg)

Didn't you used to have that santa as an avatar?

Working through Christmas Eve, spending Christmas day running around between the various families (yay divorce), and then back to work the next day.  I've got about half my shopping done, plan on finishing it up this week. 

Accepting that, regardless of how much I dwelled on it this year, I'm still turning 31.

Maybe.  It was probably this one, though:

(http://members.iinet.net.au/~michaelbolger/mp3/evil%20santa.jpg)

Yes. That's the one.

I was going to be traveling for half of the holiday, but that's all changed, so just home for the holidays with family.

i changed my avatar for christmas

There's a classic.  I'll bring out my "dung beetle rolling a ball of excrement with Christmas lights drawn around it" but there was far too much self-pity in that.  Actually, Jean Armstrong is already pretty Christmas-ish, in a horribly misunderstood sort of a way.

I have a new one for this Xmas.  Several, actually.   Hannuka isn't over yet, thou.  It would be rude to bin the Rabbi. 

21st December - Last day of work. Till 29th of January or some shit.
22nd-23rd December - Barricade self inside house. Re-up to World of Warcraft, play 360, watch TV, read the intarwebs, slack the fuck off. Wife can go shopping for food, etc. Or order Take-away chinese, pizza, etc.
24th December - As with previous day, until just before midnight. Surround wife with presents.
25th December - As Le Clock strikes 12, get her to open up the piles of stuff I've bought her over the past couple of months. Enjoy the spectacle. Later, sleep. Wake up at 9 or 10 or whatever, make token phone calls to family, then back to pervious days' activities. (AKA Fuck committments for other people and random family members, we spend Christmas together, relaxing.)
26th December - Shitty Boxing Day lunch at my Parents. Fucking horrible experience usually. Arrive early and leave early. Wife will probably go visit her parents afterwards and I'll come home and resume previous days' activities.
27th December - 1st January - As before. Watch the local fireworks go off on NYE, but stay the fuck away from other people as much as possible.
2nd Januarary - Payday - Go out and Buy 46" HDTV. Hope for fast delivery.
3rd-28th Janurary - As before. Taking reciept of TV at some stage, and mountain biking here and there.
29th January - Back to fuckin' work....

Waste of vacation.

now -> Dec 24: Be the sucker who covers for my boss who has taken holidays he isn't owed, also covering for his boss who has quit, in running a team of noobs to meet deadlines for a large web audience.

Dec 25: Work morning. Ponder an audience that spends Dec 25 online. Holidaying boss then supposedly works evening while I have a family Christmas.

Dec 26: Day off. Phone off. His problem.


edit: this pic always deserves a run among the santas (http://kev.needham.ca/gallery2/v/misccrap/jesus_wtf_big.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1)

No such thing as a large web audience between Dec 24th and 26th.

Whoever convinced you otherwise filled your mind with lies. And if you somehow break the norm, well, I don't know what to say. It's one of those "not broken" things. There's no reason whatsoever to cater to people on Christmas Eve or Day.

Off to Scranton to visit with some of the wife's side of the family and her siblings.  Then driving back to MD on Christmas day so I can go back to work on the 26th.   On the upside, since the rest  of DC/MD/VA has the remainder of December off, Beltway traffic should be trivial and hopefully I can get in some quality Dwarf Fortress time at the office.

Where do you live (and work) in MD, JWIV?

Read again - the large audience is between now and Christmas. Also, it's news. Your rule died on Boxing Day 2004 somewhere off Aceh.


Radio and TV news will air. There will be web news. We do have a sekret autopilot mode, but if I switch it on, you can guarantee a tsunami of 9/11s. That's how I killed Steve Irwin.

I live in Baltimore and work in Reston, VA.  My daily commute is not for sane people.   

I used to do the reverse, from DC border to Timonium. And yea, I agree.

I mock you both.

I am sad no one took the time to label the Santa. /sniffle

I think we should support the troops and take donations so we can send poor Iraqi kids copies of "Do They Know It's Christmas Time At All?" on cd.

There is no real excuse for that commute; there are plenty of reasonable places to live around Reston. Heck, I'm in Herndon myself. Living up near Baltimore is absolutely fucking insane. I used to commute to Beltsville, MD and I did that for about a year and a half before I went nutty. Now I telecommute and I've never been happier. Any job you have in reston you should be able to get up in MD with less of a commute. It's like you're kicking yourself in the balls every morning.

Nah, I won't be living on it. I'm past all that kind of shit. When I bother to play it, 70% of the time it'll be duoing with my wife. About another 20% will be with a couple of friends we have who also play, usually they come round here and we LAN it, Southpark-style.

Well, without the pooptray.

I've just done the same thing.  I reckon Xmas on WoW is good fun and I don't plan to catass or raid or anything.  Just fiddle around and maybe duo with Righ now and then.  Only groups I'd consider are with friends from here, anyway.  It'll be fun for the month or so I'll stick with it.  Haven't played since BC came out and I only leveled a BE to... umm... 1.  (http://www.invision.smileyville.net/smilies/disdain%20(29).gif)

I got a month of leave to spend at home with my family!



A month is too much, I wish I could go back sooner.

You could spend a month diary-ing maxxing out in Disgaea PSP.

We are here for you, Cim, whoever you are.  (http://www.mommiescamelot.com/forum/images/smilies/hi.gif)

A cimmerian?

Part of me is horrified by the grind potential, but another part is enthralled considering all those max-level items.

That Prinny in his avatar looks better than I remember them looking in the game.

Man, I love Disgaea.

Also, I'm not a cimmerian, just a Cim! :c)

The Guild: A Christmas Raid Carol (http://youtube.com/watch?v=q21iitT0VL4)

I wonder if that was all done in the same location or if they all used their webcams from various parts of the country and edited that together.

It's a show, semi-professionally done by Felicia Day (who played Vi on Buffy, which I never really watched). That's just their Christmas special, there are five episodes. Edit: You'll have to copy and paste this to get around F13's youtube popup code: http://youtube.com/watchtheguild

After two solid days of driving around and seeing family, Christmas is finally over.  I think this was the best one I've had since I was a kid.  Whee!

Xmas is over!  YAY!!!!!  (http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g254/babydeleon1/shadySantas1.gif)
 

But, I'm still here! ;_;

I'm just waiting for the first annual "What is everyone doing for New Year's" thread.   :awesome_for_real:

Staying home so I can ignore the bullshit excuse to pay entirely too much money to get drunk and make an ass of yourself.

Plus there are bowl games on.

Probably taking it easy at home or at a firends, because I'm going to a music festival the next day.

Summer rocks.

I have to work during the day on New Year's Eve.

I imagine I will then go straight home and play with my 360. Luckily, I have off New Year's Day.


I never understood what the big deal was. Whoop Dee Fucking Doo, I have to change a digit when I write out the year, OH BOY.

I guess I'm a spoilsport, but that hardly seems like a good enough reason for all the hoopla and such.


Just means I have to get a new calender now.

You just depressed me via my interwab tubes.

winnar is me?

Because that's quite a feat, and I wasn't even trying.

I'm in Pittsburgh and particularly bored for the next few days.  Big party on New Years eve, but that's mostly it.  I might have an extra ticket to the Penguins game on Saturday, though.

Celebrating another incredible year with my fiancee, at home with a nice bottle of champagne.

HAY!

No fair recycling my threads! **Stares at who ever changed the title of this one**

It means spending time with friends and family. And booze, which is like one of the family. Everyone has the next day off, so it is a great time to get together for late night frivolity.

You would probably need to leave your street to enjoy it though.

Have some friends over, get drunk on the roof and watch fireworks. 

My family traditionally celebrates New Years Day, not Eve. We get up early and turn on the TV to watch the first bowl game. We never change out of our cool PJs. We make Mimosas and Bloody Maries. Then we proceed to bring out the gigantic snack platters and munch on them all day. Cheeses, Crackers, Guacamole, Queso dip, Chips, Fruit, Summer Sausage, Sandwiches, Cookies, Brownies, etc. Then, we watch every single bowl game on that day for about 13 hours. We also start drinking wine a little after lunch.

It's just about the coolest holiday ever.

Day off work.  On a Tuesday.  Will likely spend it on the phone with retardeds, yelling about my broken consoles.

I'm taking the 31st off so I get a four-day weekend.  Going to take the train up to my uncle's cabin to spend a few days with family.  Fireworks, snow, DVDs, booze, Millipede, and a bit of LAN action.  Should be fun.

I lolled a little at the use of "retarded" in pluralized noun form.

I'm going to sit at home and figure out how I can kill the jerk knob who changed my status to jackhob over the innerwaves.  I'll figure it out, you know.  (http://www.advrider.com/forums/images/smilies/patch.gif)

Flying home. West-East transatlantic jetlag FTL.

Seeing how I'm a teetotaler, I'll not be doing anything of importance for New Years.

(Easy retort: So, in other words, it's the same as the rest of the year for you, eh Geldon?)

So, in other words, it's the same as the rest of the year for you, eh Geldon?  (http://www.mommiescamelot.com/forum/images/smilies/4_1_72.gif)

Saving my energy for Reverend Horton Heat, and Nashville Pussy on the 16th.  :yahoo:

However, I still will be stone drunk come the first, and much like Geldon, not much change from the other 364.

I'm going to a lame party unless I find a better party.

Bonus points if you know where I stole that from.

Well John Lennon made of them, for one. But no, I have no idea.

Went to one of those once, but couldn't get the wheelchair through the door.  Bad planning on someones part.

 :awesome_for_real:

Lake Placid was bagged,  since we didn't want to pay for a three night minimum.

Now hitting Burlington, VT for New Years with friends and family.  Dinner reservations and cruising Church Street.

My wife and I are hosting a Rock Band party. Anyone who can find their way to my house is invited  :awesome_for_real:

I'll take any recommendations you come away with. We usually try to hit VT for about a week in autumn.

I can find my way to your house, but I'll need coordinates first. xD

For the record:

I work with my friends, at one job or another. I live close enough to the family I give a shit about that I can see them whenever I please (but it would just be aunts and uncles, so NYs would be even More of a waste). I don't really drink.

Oh, and it turns out I don't Actually have NY's off in full. So there.

I'm not sure what you were trying to accomplish there.