Socks ~ Mancat Monday

Dreaming of my sweet MoMo.

Mommy says I am cold natured like her.

 When it is cold out I prefer to spend the day sleeping in Eldest Boy Bean's bed. I seldom set paw outside. I do like to check out any new stuff Mommy brings in the house though.

 Isn't this birdhouse pawsome. Mommy won it as a door prize at a Christmas party she went to. I kinda like Mommy's nutcrackers too.

 I am afraid of the rocking Santa. He rocked into me one time when I went sniffed him. Mommy loves horses so she is very fond of this Santa.

A close up of the birdhouse.

Now I am going back to sleep. MoMo would you like to come snuggle with me? ~Socks

Mommy's Christmas Present by Scylla & Charybdis

December 8, 2007
Daddy is giving Mommy a Greenhouse for Christmas. This is where he plans to put it (We think you can see the stakes if you enlarge the picture).

Lord Epa is helping Daddy measure the thing-mi-jigs.

Daddy is working very hard on it, but we wonder if he will get through in time. He does know there is only two weeks & 3 days until Christmas doesn't he? And bad Daddy is running off to San Diego for one of those weeks. We don't think he will get through in time unless we cats pitch in.

December 16th

We think it may take a miracle to get it finished before Christmas. Sockie~Pooh was even out there helping earlier. Daddy has marked where the post holes need to go, so I guess we cats better start digging. We are very good diggers. Although Sockie~Pooh says we may need to borrow a dog. Apparently they are better diggers.

Christmas Eve

Even with us cats offering advice and help (which sadly enough the humans didn't seem to appreciate) they aren't going to get through in time. So this is what Mommy is getting for Christmas. Maybe Mommy shouldn't let them open their presents until they finish hers. What do you think?

¿Cómo usted dice Merry Christmas en español?

Discover 13 ways to say Merry Christmas at History Is Elementary. Be sure to check out the comments for more ways to say Merry Christmas.

¿Cómo usted dice Merry Christmas en español?
Feliz Navidad

Why Christmas isn't Merry

by alasand

I loved Mother Crone's, Gift Receiving Etiquette(or how not to swear at the relatives), so I decided to share my pet peeve, gift cards. I am not sure why people think gift cards are superior to cash, at least with the cash I get to DECIDE what store to go to and what to buy. With a gift card I am stuck shopping at the store of the gift givers choice. Most gift cards also have an expiration date so I am stuck shopping when I don't want to. To add insult to injury the gift card and the gift never come to the same amount, so there is either money left over on the gift card that goes to waste or I have to make up the difference out of my pocket. Is it really a gift if I pay the majority of the price?

The most annoying gift card giver gives the same gift every year. A gift card to Bookstore X. Bookstore X is located a convenient 10 minutes from her home. She doesn't seem to care that I do not have a Bookstore X in the city I live in. That I detest Bookstore X, and would much rather shop at Bookstore Y which is 30 minutes from my home and a convenient 5 minutes from the soccer fields my son has soccer practice at. Nope every year I am faced with the same dilemma, toss the gift card to Bookstore X, try to get by Bookstore X while we are in town for Christmas to visit the relatives, or make a 1 1/2 hour drive in horrible traffic to the nearest Bookstore X. Why couldn't she just give me and the kids cash? If she really wants us to have a book from Bookstore X why can't she call or email and find out what book/books we want? So I'll take a page from Scrooges book and say bah humbug to gift cards everywhere and the annoying people who give them. Especially when the same annoying person that gives me and the kids $20 gift cards expects a $300+ present in return and expects us to go to the trouble of hauling it to them. Which means I either have to ride in very cramped quarters so my stuff can be in the cab of the truck or my stuff (including the presents I bought for my parents) gets dumped in the back of the truck at the mercy of the elements when it's drizzling rain, because her gift won't fit in the trunk of my car. And they wonder why I am not a happy camper.

Don't get me wrong, except for minor annoyances like the above and Hubby having to go fix busted water pipes the next day (They just had to tell him about them Christmas, although they had been busted for awhile. They had also conveniently gotten the wrong stuff for Hubby to fix it with, heaven knows how much Hubby paid to get the right stuff to fix it.), when we could have been spending quality time together, I did have a nice time. I got to visit with my parents the next day while Hubby was fixing broken water pipes, we got a chance to visit some of our friends, and we did manage to make it by Bookstore X so me and the kids could pick out some books. But boy am I glad Christmas only comes once a year.

Just When I Think People Can't Get Any Stupider

One would think that a Christmas wreath with a peace sign displayed on a homeowners home wouldn't provoke criticism but.................Neighbors incensed by peace-sign wreath proved that supposition wrong.

Then there is Scott Korb and Leon Morris's smug column Christmas belongs to Christians. Never mind that half the so called "Christmas traditions" have pagan roots, and very little to do with the birth of Christ.

THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Many Pagan cultures used to cut boughs of evergreen trees in December, move them into the home or temple, and decorate them. Modern-day Pagans still do. This was to recognize the winter solstice -- the time of the year that had the shortest daylight hours, and longest night of the year.

CHRISTMAS GIFT GIVING

Gift giving is one of the oldest customs associated with Christmas: it is actually older than the holiday itself. When the date of Christmas was set to fall in December, it was done at least in part to compete with ancient pagan festivals that occurred about the same time. The Romans, for example, celebrated the Saturnalia on December 17. It was a winter feast of merrymaking and gift exchanging. And two weeks later, on the Roman New Year--January 1, houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor. As the Germanic tribes of Europe accepted Christianity and began to celebrate Christmas, they also gave gifts.

MISTLETOE

No one knows exactly how mistletoe became connected with Christmas. Ancient Celtic priests, called Druids, used to give people sprigs of the plant as a charm. Hundreds of years ago, some people in Europe used it at religious gatherings.

Instead of Christians complaining about the term "Happy Holidays" being used, maybe Pagans should be complaining that Christians "stole" their holidays.

Christmas Eve Gift

Thanks to my eldest son, Alasandra has a new look. Not only do I have a pretty butterfly blog that suits my personality, but I got to spend quality time with my son learning a new skill, you can't beat that.

Merry Christmas to All!

Christmas Cards

Elementary History Teacher has a nice post about Presidential Christmas Cards , at American President's Blog. I like the card the Carter's sent.

Christmas with Jeanette

As always we had a great time. The kids had gotten so big and were so cute.

Merry Chirstmas to All............

by alasand

Decorating the Tree

by alasand

Jonathan made brownies for us to enjoy while we decorated the tree.

Christmas Gifts

Give the gift of reading the Sun Herald has some wonderful suggestions for books. And if you want to know what coast residents are reading click here.

A Christmas Hack

It's that time of year. You know, the time when you make a mad scramble to find the perfect gift for all those perfect people in your life. As if there isn't enough pressure with Christmas being December 25th, my Mother's birthday is December 9th (yep that's right two presents to find and wrap) and Lord Epa's birthday is December 19th (too many presents to count, and he is still adding to HIS list). What's a girl to do????

Panic!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least Mom and Lord Epa tell me what they want, other people make me search for that elusive gift that say "Yes, that's ___________ to a T." So what does my Mom want. A Kitchen Utensil Holder, easy enough right? Wrong, it has to go with her kitchen decor, it has to be large enough to hold her utensils................................

While searching for the perfect Kitchen Utensil Holder I found this craft. I may resort to using it, it looks cute and simple enough that even I can't mess it up.