It's nearly noon on Christmas Eve Day here.(10 PM Sat EST there) In an hour we are off to our round of family Christmas fun. My beloved's family are Netherlanders, so we have Christmas Eve with them, then Christmas Day with my AmerAussie family.

So I have to send my greetings now 'cos I'll be flat out like a lizard drinking for the next two days!

So to all who are reading this Have a Blunderful Christmas and I hope the New Year brings you all good health, happiness,peace in your hearts and in the world.

Love and Hug to you all from Deb Louise and the BlunderChooks!

I'd like to send a extra hug to adg, who brought us all together!

Hope you have a very merry Christmas & happy everything. We are here at my folks until Tues Am. They only live 20 mins from us so we are local lol. I walked into the room my folks were in tonite & they had the Lawrence Welk show on (GAG. My mom loves it lol). As soon as I came in the room they started doing a syrupy version of This Land. I told my mom I bet Arlo wouldn't like that & think it was too syrupy. My mom said I was being sacreligious lol. Have a good Christmas kids! I get to play with my moms Windows Xp computer...

happy holler days

Merry Christmas all!!!
i'm sitting here enjoying my new christmas gift - arlo's live in sydney CD before i have to head out to the in-laws this afternoon.
hope everybody else is having a great day too!

cheryl, i saw your cousin on tv today...he's all grown up!

happy holidays!

I sent out to the folks on my gig email list yesterday. Hope it ain't too long for here.

Well, here it is, Christmas Eve day! Which brings something to my mind (or what's left of it from the 60s & 70s!). Just when I was gettin' comfortable with saying "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays", in a genuinely friendly, heartfelt, non-denominational manner, it seems that those phrases are ticking people off now as well! I get emails from people wankin' that, "It's a Christmas tree....Not a Chanukah tree!" I pick up the paper and read that somebody got cranked that a town put up a Nativity scene or Menorah. Or a Rabbi asked an airport to put up a Menorah and the airport freaks and takes down all of the "Christmas" trees it had put up (they've since put 'em back)! But the one that took the cake, somebody in Colorado put up a wreath in the shape of a peace sign and other residents & the board committee of their subdivision threatened them with a $25/day fine if they kept it displayed. Seems some thought it was a protest against the Iraq War and others even thought it was a Satanic symbol! Duh! They've since voted to allow it and some of the board members have resigned. But wait! A news article today said that a peace wreath has been removed from the Chatham, NY village green because the mayor said it was "not the symbol of any recognized religion." Oye!

What the heck is wrong here, folks? This is not supposed to be a season of bickering, self-centeredness or "my deity's better than your deity!" Seems to me that it's a big enough time of year for everyone to share. And ain't that what it's all about? That, to me, is the real "reason for the season"! Not fighting somebody to get the "gift du jour" or a parking space, or blastin' on your car horn because of holiday traffic. Remember "Peace on Earth"? I think you can still find some Christmas cards with that on 'em.

Irving Berlin, probably the most prolific and popular songwriter of the 20th Century (who couldn't read or write musical notation!), was a Russian immigrant Jew, yet he wrote what was probably, not just the most popular Christmas song but, arguably, the most popular song of all time, "White Christmas". He wrote it while in California, pining to spend the holiday season with his friends and family in New York. It wasn't about all of the things that seem to be irritating people these day...... religious bickering, political correctness or the rest of that crap! It was about the season. We all may celebrate for different reasons, but we all celebrate. Heck, even an Atheist or Agnostic can dig that the Solstice means that the sun's gonna start spending more time shinin' down on us (well, at least in the Northern Hemisphere! The Southern Hemisphere's in summertime so they can't complain either!)! It should be a time for everyone!

So, that's my holiday rant! Sorry if it bored any one or if I'm preachin' to the choir. But with that said, Season's Greetings & Happy Holidays!

When I was kid, we actually had a Chanukah tree! We used it for Christmas too, seeing as how it was already there. I was just telling one of my grand-daughters the other day about the time Little Red Riding Hood went along with her friend Goldielocks when they discovered the three bears etc. It was a good tale, although she was looking at me with a strange gleam in her eyes.

Wishing everyone a great New Years, too!
adg

Hey everyone,MERRY EVERYTHING !!!

...sounds like you're having fun, Sparky....!!...hope everyone had a terrific
holiday or usual day or whatever....yes, Cap...there is more than enough room for everyone....
.... alot of my friends had Chanukah trees when I was a kid and we used to play with the dredyl in school....have some silly kid talks about 8 days of presents vs. 1....


...i spent the day packin cause the moving truck is coming in a couple of days...and celebrating is on hold...til next weekend...

....if you ever feel like tellin that fairy tale, Arlo, in public....i'd sure like to hear it....Goldielocks and Red Riding Hood in the same story is one i missed......

Wow, didn't know Cousin Jason was on tv. Thanks for the info. What show was he on? He sure has grown up.

Never heard of a Hannukah tree before but that is a neat story ADG. Hope you're having a great day & everyone else on here too. Thought'd I'd post something from the Jewish Bible for ya Arlo and anyone else who is interested. They have it online. Pretty cool.

The Complete Jewish Bible
Luke 2


1 Around this time, Emperor Augustus issued an order for a census to be taken throughout the Empire. 2 This registration, the first of its kind, took place when Quirinius was governing in Syria. 3 Everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 So Yosef, because he was a descendant of David, went up from the town of Natzeret in the Galil to the town of David, called Beit-Lechem, in Y'hudah, 5 to be registered, with Miryam, to whom he was engaged, and who was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth; 7 and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in cloth and laid him down in a feeding trough, because there was no space for them in the living-quarters.

8 In the countryside nearby were some shepherds spending the night in the fields, guarding their flocks, 9 when an angel of ADONAI appeared to them, and the Sh'khinah of ADONAI shone around them. They were terrified; 10 but the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, because I am here announcing to you Good News that will bring great joy to all the people. 11 This very day, in the town of David, there was born for you a Deliverer who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 Here is how you will know: you will find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a feeding trough." 13 Suddenly, along with the angel was a vast army from heaven praising God: 14 "In the highest heaven, glory to God! And on earth, peace among people of good will!" 15 No sooner had the angels left them and gone back into heaven than the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go over to Beit-Lechem and see this thing that has happened, that ADONAI has told us about." 16 Hurrying off, they came and found Miryam and Yosef, and the baby lying in the feeding trough. 17 Upon seeing this, they made known what they had been told about this child; 18 and al who heard were amazed by what the shepherds said to them. 19 Miryam treasured all these things and kept mulling them over in her heart. 20 Meanwhile, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen; it had been just as they had been told.

21 On the eighth day, when it was time for his b'rit-milah, he was given the name Yeshua, which is what the angel had called him before his conception. 22 When the time came for their purification according to the Torah of Moshe, they took him up to Yerushalayim to present him to ADONAI 23 (as it is written in the Torah of ADONAI, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to ADONAI") 24 and also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons,h as required by the Torah of ADONAI.

25 There was in Yerushalayim a man named Shim`on. This man was a tzaddik, he was devout, he waited eagerly for God to comfort Isra'el, and the Ruach HaKodesh was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Ruach HaKodesh that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah of ADONAI. 27 Prompted by the Spirit, he went into the Temple courts; and when the parents brought in the child Yeshua to do for him what the Torah required, 28 Shim`on took him in his arms, made a b'rakhah to God, and said, 29 "Now, ADONAI, according to your word, your servant is at peace as you let him go; 30 for I have seen with my own eyes your yeshu`ah, 31 which you prepared in the presence of all peoples -- 32 a light that will bring revelation to the Goyim and glory to your people Isra'el." 33 Yeshua's father and mother were marvelling at the things Shim`on was saying about him. 34 Shim`on blessed them and said to the child's mother, Miryam, "This child will cause many in Isra'el to fall and to rise, he will become a sign whom people will speak against; 35 moreover, a sword will pierce your own heart too. All this will happen in order to reveal many people's inmost thoughts." 36 There was also a prophet named Hannah Bat-P'nu'el, of the tribe of Asher. She was a very old woman -- she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage 37 and had remained a widow ever since; now she was eighty-four. She never left the Temple grounds but worshipped there night and day, fasting and praying. 38 She came by at that moment and began thanking God and speaking about the child to everyone who was waiting for Yerushalayim to be liberated. 39 When Yosef and Miryam had finished doing everything required by the Torah of ADONAI, they returned to the Galil, to their town Natzeret. 40 The child grew and became strong and filled with wisdom -- God's favor was upon him.

41 Every year Yeshua's parents went to Yerushalayim for the festival of Pesach. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up for the festival, as custom required. 43 But after the festival was over, when his parents returned, Yeshua remained in Yerushalayim. They didn't realize this; 44 supposing that he was somewhere in the caravan, they spent a whole day on the road before they began searching for him among their relatives and friends. 45 Failing to find him, they returned to Yerushalayim to look for him. 46 On the third day they found him -- he was sitting in the Temple court among the rabbis, not only listening to them but questioning what they said; 47 and everyone who heard him was astonished at his insight and his responses. 48 When his parents saw him, they were shocked; and his mother said to him, "Son! Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been terribly worried looking for you!" 49 He said to them, "Why did you have to look for me? Didn't you know that I had to be concerning myself with my Father's affairs?" 50 But they didn't understand what he meant. 51 So he went with them to Natzeret and was obedient to them. But his mother stored up all these things in her heart. 52 And Yeshua grew both in wisdom and in stature, gaining favor both with other people and with God.

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Party on!

kurt...

I hope everybody had a nice time celebrating. I got to spend it with my mom. My brother and his family showed up, that was nice.

Sounds like a nice story adg, your grand-daughter is a smart child.

in the interest of full disclosure, the book that Cheryl Harrell refers to is not the Tanakh (Old Testament) that is accepted by most jews around the world, but a modern attempt to reconcile Judaism with Christianity, resulting in the Messianic Jewish movement (think Jews for Jesus...)
Calling such a book "the jewish bible" is misleading (but is exactly the desired result)

Belated and early happy everything to all! ( that about covers it)

adg, your grandaughter ain't the only one that looks at you with a strange gleam in her eye when listening to one of your tales........I know, I've been to plenty of your shows and seen that before!
Red Riding Hood, Goldielocks and the 3 bears? What happened to the wolf?

Happy everything from Istanbul! It's snowing here today. My son goes to a Turkish kindergarden and was the only one who got gifts from Santa. The teacher has been doing a lot of damage control today. Oddly enough, St. Nicholas came from Turkey, but we since it's a mainly Muslim country we don't have much in the way of Christmas celebrations going on.
A reality check: Been online with a friend stationed in Bagdad. Santa made it there for their party, but the elves were carrying M-16s. They've been under fire in the Green Zone almost every night and are expecting more incoming soon. Send Blundervibes.