I waited long enough. It's December, the Holidays are coming, and we need the seasonal thread for talking about how ashamed we should be feeling for loving Last Christmas...
Also, we need a place to post our drunken/stoned thoughts over this season.
Anyway... My favorite Bruce Xmas song. I love the more pompous 2010 Carousel version too, but this one kind of melts my heart.
If anyone has this show, I would really appreciate it. A few tunes from this show have recently been uploaded, all sounding fabulous. I'm hooked.
Santa maybe? Please... ๐
Did we all survive?? Good presents? I got the Obama/Bruce book, which is really rather lovely.
Check this out. It will warm up your hearts... True Xmas spirit.
The idea of renting Xmas trees and later replanting them back to the forest seems like the right thing to do... ๐
Clark Griswold has just lit up the house on TV... we must almost be done for another year.
Darth has made his yearly visit also...
Have a great day everyone, whatever it is you're celebrating!
give us a second band aid
Bosstralian posted a kevin bloody wilson i havnt heard before so Bob and co have to take a number ๐
I know there's been controversy and criticism around this song over the decades since it released, but I still gotta hear it once a year. I believe Geldof's intents were true and it's nice to see all those 80s faces.
New short story for Christmas.
It's 6:30 Christmas morning here in Adelaide. Just waiting for the junior Bosstralians to arise and get the chaos started.
Merry Christmas to all.
New traditions for us this year in our new home! After much effort (from Mr J) we have a stained glass window depicted on the TV.
The green lighting around the shelves looks better than it appears in the picture! Emmylou's Christmas album waiting to hit the turntable...
Merry Christmas everyone - you help me through every day, one way or another.
Handsome fellow!
We are ready for another Christmas Eve... First year we'll be celebrating with our oldest son's girlfriend... Which is very nice, but it also makes me feel like I'm one hundred years old..
Our tree, a few days ago, later tonight there will be plenty of gifts underneath, many of them just silly gifts like torn socks and broken old gadgets, which was a tradition my late Grandma started when I was a kid...
Also, my favorite animal, all dressed up for the Christmas dinner.
As in Berlin, Christmas Eve is when we are opening the gifts, and this is when the magic occurs in this part of Europe.
Merry Christmas, everyone, you are all very dear to me.
Smoke-free and ready for Chistmas Eve (you know we give the presents then).
Snowflakes are falling, but it is too warm and they don't stay on the ground.
Anyway, Merry Christmas and stay healthy and well! Glad to be around you guys, I need you!
And one just for @Jerseyfornia and any other tokers here across the border...
Holy crap, if I was drinking eggnog I would've just spat it everywhere. How close does this sound to our man...?
Perhaps this is old news to some, but it's new to me and just made my whole holiday season...
***For anyone just scrolling through and seeing the video and thinking 'well, don't know that and too busy at the moment' stop and listen... this is the funniest (and closest vocally) Bruce parody I've ever heard***
That should read โindistinctโ. This iPad has a mind of its own.
I have to askโฆโฆwhat is the decoration. I distinct in your pic.
I was requested to post a picture of the finished cake, so here it is.
if im too busy burning things on christmas day wishing you all a very merry day
love Nicky
The Jones' Christmas tree - not very exciting!
I was collecting and delivering parcels for the food bank today. Thanks to the generosity of ordinary folk, all the parcels had Christmas extras, chocolates, crackers, etc. Our FB is currently in a supermarket car park and one man came to ask whether he could make a donation, to which, of course, we said yes. He came back 30 minutes later with a full trolley of stuff and last week a man was outside giving our clients ยฃ10 notes,
it's quite humbling to realise how kind people can be.
I love the work I do for the FB, but I wish it wasn't so necessary.
Top guys, all of you.
And they said Santa rides a sleigh ....Maybe not
I was wondering if I'd find a Christmas cause to replace the work I did at the shelter. Angel Tree Kids filled that hole in my soul nicely.
Yesterday, my MC delivered the presents to our Angel Tree kids. No photos because these children are in protected foster care, but I'll never get their faces out of my mind. We went to each house in a pack of 8 bikes with a chase car hauling the gifts, food and clothes. At each stop, the kids met us outside, drawn by the sound of the bikes they had been expecting. They are all such babes, from age 4 to 9, and they have been neglected, abused and left behind. They were so grateful for the meager gifts we brought, so thankful for the love and attention, so excited to sit on our bikes. We fell in love with each kid. If I could bring them home the way I can the stray kittens I find, I would in a heart beat, but they're not kittens. They're wounded children and they need more than a broken old biker can provide, but I am honored, humbled and privileged to have shared a little happiness with them. I don't think we've ever had such a great ride back to the clubhouse, nothing but smiles for miles. We already signed on for next year.
I can tell you that a hug from a child, with a kiss on the cheek and a whispered "thank you, Smokey" is all the Christmas gift I need.
Happy Gravy Day, folks.
This one makes me smile.
DEFO NSFW
So so video quality ....Terrific version.
I'm going to annoy you with more Slovenian trivia, and so I expect you'll all hate me by January 1st.. ๐
Our national radio produced a very fun show a few years back, called ลฝivooke.
The concept was live karaoke, performed by various Slovenian musicians. It was recorded in the studio, without them knowing in advance, or any rehearsals..
This is one of the Xmas songs, both singers are (were) lead singers in two very successful groups. The Viking looking dude sings in a very popular rock group, and I just cant stop smiling when I'm watching this.
Last Christmas, partly in the Slovene language. ๐
From my favourite YouTube channel...
In the style of Bruce Springsteen.
I don't know if it's still done, but there used to be Santa tracking announcements on the radio, with the tracking being handled by NORAD.
So... This is the letter to Santa my youngest had written...
He started writing on the right, run out of place, continued on the left... ๐
Before specifying his material wishes, his first wish was happiness and luck for the family... ๐ฅฐ
With the letter came the unavoidable Santa links, because kids really don't want to be surprised anymore... And they don't want the patents to buy the wrong stuff either.
I also found out today that there is a Santa Tracker app in case you need to know the exact whereabouts of the old man. Mrs. Clause must be excited! ๐
@Bosstralian posted an Australian Christmas song above. My all time favourite Christmas song also happens to be Australian. Arguably the greatest Christmas song by anyone, ever. It hits me every time I listen without fail. Great live version from a Live DVD I got a few years back.
In Slovenia, the three good men of December make the children delighted but the parents usually become exhausted and broke in the process.
The first one is named Sv. Miklavลพ, and this celebration is held on December the 6th. Sv. Miklavลพ feast, translated from St. Nicolas, was greatly affected by Austrian culture, what we do here is just a copy...
Miklavลพ brings gifts to children praising them for their good behavior over the past year and encouraging them to continue in the same manner in the year to come. He brings modest gifts such as oranges, dried fruit, walnuts, and chocolate, while the badly behaved ones only receive punishment from Parkelj (the Devil) with birch rods.
This tradition is still very much alive. Many Slovenian kids, especially strict Catholics, don't follow the Western gift-giving tradition of Christmas, so the eve of December the 5th is similar to Christmas Eve in the level of importance.
We used to have many parades, called Miklavลพevanje, which were held neither this nor last year, due to Covid.
Younger kids are terrified of the Parkelj, watch the video if you are interested.
We have never followed this tradition in our house.
Birch rods for me this year, I know, I know... ๐
Everything subdued this year - as last year, come to think of it. We have some friends to dinner on the 22nd, and other than that, Mr. B and I will be alone. Not even a cat in the house....
Nevertheless, presents all bought and on the way where necessary, menus planned, no hassle. Even a first dusting of snow.
Was there a life before Corona?
Ok, so it's time for the old Bosstralian to share Australia's contribution to Christmas spirit.
As I have every year previous before doing so, here or elsewhere, I say...
EXTREME BAD LANGUAGE INCOMING.... DO NOT PROCEED IF EASILY OFFENDED.
But I must also add, having listened to this song again today, that this was very much mired in it's mid 80's time. So things joked about in the
song may not be appropriate now.
SO, BAD LANGUAGE, BAD TASTE, EXTREME NON PC SONG INCOMING....
"Soul" is one of those hard concepts to define... you can't put it into words, but when you hear it in a piece of music, or feel it in a person, it is instantly recognisable.
You, sir, have it in spades. Soul personified. Thank you for your post, and bless you for sharing your soul with others, materially and spiritually.
I don't do Christmas with family. I make up for the loneliness by doing something for other people. Up until 2018, I cooked at a rescue mission, but when a new organization took over and politicized the whole place, I stopped volunteering there. 2019 I played Santa for the developmentally disabled clients at my old workplace. Last year COVID cancelled everything. This year, my MC is doing Angel Tree Kids, for children whose parents are incarcerated. Can't wait to deliver the gifts in a pack of bikes and put a little rumble in those kids' Christmas.
My own little observance is usually Christmas Eve and though it isn't much different than my other campfire nights, I enjoy the time with my memories of Christmas past.
Merry Christmas, Tramps and Greasy Ladies.
I never feel very excited about Christmas until about three days before. Right now I just hate the hassle and the stress I always put myself under.
When you mentioned Last Christmas, I momentarily thought you meant Christmas 2020 and I remembered that last Christmas we could do none of the usual stuff and how wonderful I found it!
Hey ho, back to the mince pies...
I'll be honest with you, I can muster zero Christmas spirit this year.
It might pick up as December progresses but meantime I feel about as festive as July.