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Altaira
Superuser
Dec 26 2025, 5:08pm
Post #1 of 17
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*jingles bells* Welcome to Fiesta!
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Well, well, welcome to a post-Christmas Fiesta celebration!
We all survived another day of over-eating lunches/diners, then moving on to over-eating leftovers. Yay us!
We were going to go over to my brother's for Christmas yesterday when we got a last-minute call that we needed to postpone as my nephew came down with something nasty. We rescheduled, but I had prepped a huge lettuce, spinach and veggie salad for the get-together, so B.G. and I had salad for dinner, will have salad for lunch, and salad again for tonight's dinner (with various meats added to make it more of a meal). Did I mention I'm making spinach, bacon and cheese omelets for breakfast this morning, lol.
What did you do for the holiday? Let us know what festivities and food were involved. The Fiesta buffet is full of holiday goodies and, yes, plenty of salad! The specialty at the Fiesta bar today is mulled Dorwinion, and a special holiday batch of 1420. So, settle in and help us celebrate!
*kicks juke box* We Wish You a Merry Christmas by The Irish Rovers starts to play.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Dec 26 2025, 5:34pm
Post #2 of 17
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You had a very "green" Christmas!
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Oh gosh, fresh salads don't keep long, but you two will be very healthy!  I hope your nephew gets better soon.
We had a lovely music-filled Christmas Eve service. Christmas dinner was a repeat of Thanksgivings, with turkey and all the fixin's, now looking forward to son's awesome turkey & stuffing paninis. My youngest is spending the holiday with my brother down in Texas, she's gotten into ornithology so he's been taking her to various conservation areas. She's excited about seeing species they don't have in the Great Lakes area.
A glass of mulled Dorwinion would be a treat! We've got the snowblower ready for an inch or two of snow tonight. How's the snow in your area, Altaira?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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Altaira
Superuser
Dec 26 2025, 6:09pm
Post #3 of 17
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...it sounds like for both of us. We're supposed to get snow on Sunday which is when we rescheduled our Xmass get-together, so that will be perfect. It's also supposed to snow 5-10 inches in the mountains which will be welcome by all of the ski areas, many of which are well under 50% open due to lack of snow.  Your snow-blower will be coming in handy a lot sooner!
Sounds like a wonderful few holiday days were had by you and your family. Turkey and stuffing paninis? Yum!
Happy weekend! 
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Altaira
Superuser
Dec 26 2025, 6:30pm
Post #5 of 17
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How funny about the Legolas toy. Just the right size too. I'd say it was meant to be and would leave him with the set too. Nice take on the LOTR quotes too.
Merry Christmas, Meneldor! 
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Annael
Elvenhome
Dec 26 2025, 8:03pm
Post #6 of 17
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I stopped celebrating with my immediate family three years ago, for *reasons* I've lost interest in repeating--suffice it to say, I see the people I want to see in other ways and spare myself aggravation. My youngest sibling came for dinner and gift exchanging on the 22nd and brought me the best gift ever: Ursula Le Guin's Book of Cats which only just came out (and I hadn't even heard of it!). Clearly Le Guin had many cats in her lifetime and loved them all. She drew them, she wrote poems about them, she even wrote poems from one cat to another. There's also "The Art of Bunditsu, a rare 1982 chapbook written under the pen name Bunto Ursura about the natural zen of cats." Delightful in every way.
On the day itself I ate some very yummy stuff, did a jigsaw puzzle, listened to choral Christmas music--including the program from St. Olaf University. Half my choral directors came ouf of St. Olaf's, I swear.
It's my birthday tomorrow, and my niece is coming to celebrate with me. Other'n that I have two books I'm editing right now, so I spent the morning formatting one and will spend the afternoon making sure the citations are all correctly formatted (my least favorite chore) so I can send it back to the author Monday for one last look before it goes to the publisher.
New Year's Eve I will spend with some of my raucous group of old lady card players, who are a hoot. We plan on watching the ball drop in Times Square (three hours ahead of us) so we call all go to bed by 10.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Dec 26 2025, 8:06pm)
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Annael
Elvenhome
Dec 26 2025, 8:07pm
Post #7 of 17
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I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Altaira
Superuser
Dec 26 2025, 8:38pm
Post #8 of 17
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How will you and your niece be celebrating? Lunch? Dinner?
My brother and I quietly parted ways with my sister's kids after she and my mom passed away. I'm sure the feeling was mutual and I'm sure we're all better off for it, so I empathize with your family decision.
The Book of Cats sounds delightful! I'll have to look into it.
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Annael
Elvenhome
Dec 26 2025, 8:45pm
Post #9 of 17
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She's feeling flush with her new job and wants to treat me.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Dec 26 2025, 9:16pm
Post #10 of 17
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Dec 26 2025, 9:27pm
Post #11 of 17
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Music is a "must" on Christmas day.
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That's a pleasant calm celebration, no need to bring any "baggage" into it.
Happy birthday tomorrow, it is wonderful that your niece lives close enough to you now that you can enjoy celebrations together!
Hm, now what kinds of raucous card games do raucous old ladies play?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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DwellerInDale
Nargothrond
Dec 26 2025, 10:04pm
Post #12 of 17
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It turns out that the thing to scream NO!! about is when you go to pick up your wife from work, and she comes out with a 4' 6'' mylar inflated Santa Claus that they said she could have. Just what I've always wanted .
..post edited for political content.
Don't mess with my favorite female elves.
(This post was edited by Altaira on Dec 26 2025, 11:01pm)
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Dec 27 2025, 4:56pm
Post #13 of 17
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I hear we need to eat more salads, Altaira. *pauses* Good Plan! *reaches for ICE CREAM!*
This Christmas we VERY interesting here as we're still moving my daughter and her son into their new home. Furniture was delivered last Friday; but now is the time of box toting ;) You really don't realize how much you've gathered until you put it in a box and move it from here to there. We're in the 3rd day of an ice storm here in mid-Michigan... so it's been a challenge to get to her former townhouse about 10 miles from me and impossible to fetch them in their new home 1.5 hrs north of me to bring them down to help. So I'm out the door in a few minutes to tackle the beast of packing and moving whilst hoping for enough warmth to melt the snow from wires, trees and roads to prevent anymore damage.
Christmas dinner was interesting as I drove to their home with a load of "stuff" to celebrate. When I got there, the water wasn't working and they didn't have "stuff" for a meal (still unpacking), so we figured I could stop and get something on the way. The only places open for over 80 miles were gas stations (bless them!). Se we had Pringles chips, lunchables snacks, and a box of Christmas Tree snack cakes :D Hey! At least no one was left with cooking and cleanup! It was FUN!!!
Thanks for taking such great care of us Altaira. Have a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR! :D
We have been there and back again.
TIME Google Calendar
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Dec 27 2025, 5:22pm
Post #14 of 17
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Ice storms leave pretty icicles everywhere - but they can be pretty nasty icicles! I hope your roads have been well plowed and sanded!
So true about never realizing how many boxes are needed to pack one's stuff. Then will come the UNpacking, and that's when you really discover things you'd quite forgotten about! Don't strain yourself hefting the boxes, gramma!
I'm chuckling at your Christmas dinner, you must have felt like college kids on your own for the first time, foraging at the local quick marts. You'll never forget this Christmas!
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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Altaira
Superuser
Dec 27 2025, 7:58pm
Post #15 of 17
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..when only the best gas-station cuisine will do, lol.
I love improvised meals. What you're eating becomes secondary to who you're eating it with and the fun you're having eating something totally unplanned.
Glad you made all the trips safely through the ice. Here's to temperatures warm enough to at least make it wet instead of slick!
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Kimi
Forum Admin
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Dec 28 2025, 10:23pm
Post #16 of 17
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My timekeeping has gone astray
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(a common issue at this time of year), so here I am, two days late.
We had a nice holiday time, Christmas Day itself was spent quietly at home, and fortunately the weather, which has been decidedly ropy around the country, was pleasant enough for us to eat all three meals out on the terrace. Our Christmas Day menu has evolved over the years, and its current incarnation (hmm, rather an appropriate word) is one we're very happy with: breakfast trifle including lots of berries, and with a pleasant dollop of sharpness thanks to yogurt and a dollop of marmalade (sounds weird, but very nice); for lunch, Thai-style fishcakes and Japanese-style dipping pancakes with ginger; dinner, lamb marinated in spices for 48 hours then slow-cooked for hours. And then we repeated the whole lot next day, because we'd made enough of everything to have leftovers (my favourite meal).
On Saturday we ventured to the Big City and spent a very nice afternoon with Mr Kimi's sister (she's in frail health these days, but is enjoying living in her new place and was in good spirits) and her two grown-up daughters, who are both just fab and whom we love dearly, plus their lovely partners and the older one's two children. Daughter #2 lives very near her mother, but Daughter #1 lives in Germany, so we hadn't seen her for a couple of years. Traffic was appalling in the other direction as we went south, but fortunately by the time we returned it wasn't too bad at all, and the total delay was only about 15 mins.
Today's a fairly ordinary working day, but taking it gently, mostly catching up on accounts and the like as I threw all my energy at the book release. It's absolutely pouring with rain, and windy too, so there's little temptation to leave the house.
We don't generally do Christmas presents these days, except when one or other of us thinks of the perfect gift (like some obscure book that we manage to track down), but I did buy myself something: a new office chair! I've had in mind for ages just what I want, one as comfortable as an armchair but with the whole swivel and wheel and adjustable height thing, but nothing even vaguely like that has been available. Then Mr Kimi found *exactly* what I wanted at a fairly new importers, and we combined a visit there with our trip to the Big City. A reasonable price, and because it was the Boxing Day sale (which lasts several days) it was reduced by 20%. For a while there it looked as if it wouldn't fit in our modest-sized car (it's quite a substantial chair), but the very helpful staff unpacked it and did some creative work and it fitted just fine, so I could bring it straight home. I love it! Working on the next book should be a lot more comfortable.
Wishing everyone a pleasant remaining holiday time. See you in the New Year!
The Passing of Mistress Rose
My historical novels
Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?
- A Room With a View
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Dec 31 2025, 2:49am
Post #17 of 17
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That was a very savory Christmas!
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And I think marmalade on yogurt sounds delicious.
What a wonderful visit you were able to have with Mr Kimi's family!
Those staff at stores that sell some large items have to be very creative at times, to get the items to fit: they can look at a car's interior, and know exactly where things need to go. Getting a new comfy chair is a perfect way to welcome in the new year!
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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