Bah Humbug - It's December again! 4 days to go!

Bah Humbug. 



And, Bah Humbug again. 

Now there are only four more days. I have no oven, I am sure I have forgotten a million and one Christmas cards. 

But then again, that presupposes I have a million and one friends. 



Thankfully, I don't.



Which reminds me of Stonehenge and that today is the Winter Solstice.



Why on earth do we have solstices? There's one in the summer too. It is marked as the shortest day of the year, the start of Winter - although meteorologically, the start of winter is 1st December - along with Advent and the start of me and my Bah Humbugging. 




The solstice is not the actual day, as many would believe, but the specific moment when the sun is over the Tropic of Capricorn. It is the moment when the sun stands still. Well, it seems to, anyway. The Romans thought the sun had stopped, and called it solstitium. 




There's a piece of information to wow your guests with at the dinner table.



The Chinese call 21st December, Dōngzhì. They consume copious amounts of glutinous rice balls, so I am told. I can't blame them, if I was that cold, I'd want to eat copious amounts of glutinous rice balls.



But today, December 21st is not the earliest sunset of the year - that happened a couple of weeks ago. 

Nor is it the coldest day of the year. 

Gosh, if it is supposed to be the coldest day of the year - the rest of the year is going to be boiling hot. 

Even the cat hid behind the plant pots today.




And what has Stonehenge got to do with it all? What has Stonehenge got to do with Christmas for that matter?




As all the news is filled with Druids at Stonehenge, here's a photo I snapped earlier - devoid of Druids.



Bah Humbug, it was too darned hot 1 degree north today.




Some interesting sites with more information about the Solstice:

The winter solstice

Ten things about the solstice

Dongzhi

The Winter Solstice  (there's a great infographic in this article explaining about the equinoxes)

Stonehenge and the Winter Solstice  (in pictures)

Bah Humbug - It's December again! 18 days to go!

Wednesday, 7th December. What? I've just missed a whole week of December? And still, no Christmas cards written. This is rather embarrassing, as I have not even made new ones this year. So, I shall have to climb up into my cupboard-that-holds-things-I-seldom-need,-but-need-anyway, and extract the box of Christmas stuff.

Too bad, if I send the same card design to someone for a second year. At least it demonstrates consistency on my part, and a modicum of austerity - along the lines of no new designs, no extra monetary outlay, using up stock from already written-off capital.

So, the choice is ...

Christmas letters:

Complete with an alphabet of rhyme - what more could you want for Christmas?

The Twelve Veg of Christmas:

That one comes complete with a veggie rhyme, set to a well-known Christmas Song. What could be healthier than that?

Eric and Bert, in the snow:

And not a volcanic eruption in sight ... sort of ...

Or an angel looking cute:

I fear, though, family reprisals, if I send them any of these again.

Bah flipping Humbug, now I shall have to go out and purchase cards ....

Of course, it is a tad late now, but maybe for next year. All the cards are available on my Etsy store.

Bah Humbug - It's December again! 19 days to go!

Tuesday 6th December. And, I still haven't written a single Christmas card.

I think I must have felt extremely grumpy this morning. I lined up Are You Grumpy Santa? to read with my primary student in the afternoon.

She was not overly impressed.

She had not chosen this book last week. But then again, I believe I omitted to give her the option.

So, she was not overly impressed, until she opened the book and saw Santa fall out of bed, have a cold shower, the elves shrink his best Santa suit in the dryer - so he had to wear the itchy woolly one, and then his reindeer got snowed under.

The mood changed.

Amazing how the excitement and magic of Christmas permeate young children and infects adults. I think I had forgotten, what with my Austerity- and Alt-Christmas trees, and two teenage boys.


Nevertheless, I could not quite get the image of an itchy, woollen Santa suit out of my head for the rest of the day, and became sympathetically Bah flipping Humbug itchy myself.

Think I need some more exercise.

Bah Humbug! It's December, again - 13 more days to go

Christmas Fetes

It is that time of the year, when out come the strip of motherhood and apple pie Christmas bunting. Well, not exactly, but there's bunting with a Christmas flavour - although not that I have tried eating any.

This year got off in full swing - a wobbly table in the outdoor canteen area of Nexus International School. Not a fan in sight, and no breeze either. So, after shoving a folded piece of card under one leg - gosh that reminded me of exams at school, and covering the plain white table with Christmas-looking table cloths, we covered it with books, cards and goodies to fill Christmas stockings.

They came in their droves. But I think they drove their money to the $1 stall and the book stall that happily announced it was selling "Adult Books" 5 for $2. It made me wonder how they'd got that past the school screening process??

And, finally, a couple more verses of:

DOWN THE CHIMNEY ©

 

Dad lit the logs sat in the grate,

And told us all to wait.

The chimney smoked and then it coughed

An ‘ouch’ came from aloft.

Dad stuck his head up in the chute,

And uttered a loud hoot,

‘I do believe old Santa’s stuck,’

My brother said, ‘What luck.’

Bah, bah Humbug!

Bah Humbug. It's December again - 20 days until Christmas

Bah Humbug, it's 5th December, and this year a Friday. 

I haven't sent out the Christmas cards - still - actually I haven't even written them, but then again no one seems to bother these days. A sad tradition lost. 

Old Christmas cards were particularly useful - you could recycle them as gift tags, props for an uneven desk leg or chair, folded up they make excellent door stops, even drink coasters. 

Maybe I should write a book on the revival of the recyclable Christmas card? 

20 days to go? Did I mention that already?

I haven't even sorted out Christmas gifts. Then there's food and who to invite.

As I start my morning in a ponder, I look up and see what Santa must see in quadruple or however many reindeer pull his sleigh, a fluffy reindeer butt.

The mere sight of it, really just is not quite right. No wonder Santa sings out, 'Ho, ho, ho!'

I wonder if they painted a butt on the back of the Virgin Traindeer?

BAH HUMBUG

The Eleventh Day Before Christmas - Bah Humbug

Bah Humbug, it's 14th December, only 11 days to go. I hadn't posted the Christmas cards, nor the packages out, they were just sitting there. Honestly, what is the point of me being organised if I don't manage to get out to the Post Office?

Maybe it is a case of: "I hate the Post Office, even when it is not Christmas" syndrome?

Desk covered in cards and address stuff - where did I put all the stamps?

Weighing scales out - gosh, that one is rather heavy, sigh, ah well.

The positive side of living in Singapore is that there are many services and shops that are open or on-line late into the night. So, if you don't like swimming through shoals of shoppers (did you see yesterday's blog?), then there is after dark and SAMs  - I always thought it was Postman Pat, not Postman Sam. Sam is the creature that pesters the flappy haired, floppy hatted creature who does not like eating green eggs and ham.

Would you eat them with a snowman?

Would you eat them with in a pan?

Not with a snowman,

Not even in a pan,

I would not like green eggs and ham,

I do not like them Sam-I-am.

Yippee only 11 days to go!

I wonder if it will snow?

BAH HUMBUG

The Eighteenth Day Before Christmas - Bah Humbug

Bah Humbug, it's 7th December. A whole week of "days before Christmas" has been and gone and done!

I woke up with a headache and I have to pack the car and take my goodies and books off to the Nexus School Christmas Fete.

Few chores before I leave: sweep the leaves, put the washing on and get some breakfast. Whoops, better make sure the boys have breakfast and brush their teeth.

Oh my goodness, was it noisy or was it noisy? At least the venue was busy, although I am not very good at leaping over my table and grabbing people by the collar and demanding they buy something. I shall never make sales woman of the month.

We sold a few books, a few Christmas cards and some nick-nacks. Sadly, no-one was tempted by the iPhone covers.

The afternoon was more cerebral: a tutorial with my IB pupil who had to write an alternate ending to Ibsen's play: Ghosts. The outcome was amusing as well as rather clever. Well done Alex!

BAH HUMBUG

I wonder where the seven swans have swum off to?

When I was young, I was always scared of swans as I thought if I got too close to the river, they would clamber out onto the bank at top speed and break my leg!