a few of mine, diversity and regrets included

Often understated in the Thanksgiving festivities, with its focus on feasting, is gratitude.
In some sense that may make it the most significant holiday.
I was brought up Catholic, but my spirituality today has no direct connection with organized religion. Haven't pursued other faiths, either on an intellectual or personal basis. Philosophically an agnostic, but in day to day life rely on a personal God who can give me serenity and strength.
Then again, gratitude (or any other virtue) should not be restricted to just a single day, but a reminder does help.

I'm a Thanksgiving missionary. I think Canada has a version of Thanksgiving, they'll be my first target, get them in line with US dates and customs.
 
I usually get a couple Chanuka cards a year, and I'm not Jewish or Christian. I don't believe in God or anything like that, but if I got a card with baby Jesus on it I don't think I'd be bothered. Most Christmas cards have pictures of your friends and family on the front, they're usually super secular even for super Christian families. Do English people do that? Send a picture on the front of the card and like their life story for the year inside? The story of the family inside the Christmas card is usually super funny, it's always about how wonderful and fabulous everything is when really you know their kid was in jail or Dad's been out of work for the year.

I think most people understand the reason people send cards during the holidays. Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph aren't missionaries, some people think they are, but they've got issues. Other folks stomp their feet over stores saying, "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". Some atheists lose it over Christmas trees in public places, so hopefully your buddy is the kind of atheist with the right priorities.

I love celebrating Christmas with my friends and family and having no aspect of Christ in it. Christmas is still technically a Christian festival, but the celebration of Christ's birth is usually an hour of the day for most people, something that my family used to dread. Dad: "Let's go the night before so we don't have to go on Christmas Day!"

I'm very selfish in that I like getting cards but dislike the marathon of writing them! I think everyone should get an email address so I can send them all the same one in one fell swoop. People do still send potted yearly histories in cards but not me lol! Some do send the ones with the family picture on the front but I like the traditional ones to arrive on my door mat, ready to be strung across the room and bat tall visitors on the head.
I do however like going to a carol service and singing my heart out to all the old favourite carols. As for family gatherings I would rather sit at home just me and Ron and watch what we want on the TV it being the only time there's anything decent on to watch.
 
Sheeeesh

I'm a Thanksgiving missionary. I think Canada has a version of Thanksgiving, they'll be my first target, get them in line with US dates and customs.

Keep your filthy, myopic, USean hands off our calendar, Dude. :caning: It;s bad enough we had to extend daylight saving time completely illogically well into Autumn (That's Fall to you, Dude) because it suited US retailers. We need to have our Thanksgiving while we still have a harvest that hasn't been blackened by frost, ice and snow.

At any rate we want to keep our dates at least until global warming makes it feasible at your date.
 
Keep your filthy, myopic, USean hands off our calendar, Dude. :caning: It;s bad enough we had to extend daylight saving time completely illogically well into Autumn (That's Fall to you, Dude) because it suited US retailers. We need to have our Thanksgiving while we still have a harvest that hasn't been blackened by frost, ice and snow.

At any rate we want to keep our dates at least until global warming makes it feasible at your date.

*giggle*
 
I think the Canadian one is in October.
Why not celebrate both ?
And I agree the Daylight Savings Time (aka Summer Time)
Should tie it to the equinox, perhaps with a shift due to ephemeris,
as the analemma lags or leads them somewhat (e.g. Northern hemispere summers are longer).
But just a few days, not more than a month.
 
I think the Canadian one is in October.
Why not celebrate both ?
And I agree the Daylight Savings Time (aka Summer Time)
Should tie it to the equinox, perhaps with a shift due to ephemeris,
as the analemma lags or leads them somewhat (e.g. Northern hemispere summers are longer).
But just a few days, not more than a month.

Yeah! Celebrate both!
 
I think the Canadian one is in October.
Why not celebrate both ?
And I agree the Daylight Savings Time (aka Summer Time)
Should tie it to the equinox, perhaps with a shift due to ephemeris,
as the analemma lags or leads them somewhat (e.g. Northern hemispere summers are longer).
But just a few days, not more than a month.

growllllllll I love it when you talk sexy......
 
Yeah! Celebrate both!


Celebrate, Celebrate
enjoy the pumpkin spice
if you don't have a partner
then a cousin will suffice

Horn of Plenty,
your gifts are your glory,
Horn of Plenty
and so is your story,

Let's thank the Horn of Plenty
for the pumpkin and the gourd
 
You have all my sympathy for what you are about to endure.

:rolleyes:

sympathise with me too, then, lori - all that yummy food, relaxation, seeing my nearest and dearests, alcohol, pressies, christmas tree to buy and decorate, gifts chosen, wrapped, opened - more alcohol


sure, pity me :rolleyes:



:D
 
:rolleyes:

sympathise with me too, then, lori - all that yummy food, relaxation, seeing my nearest and dearests, alcohol, pressies, christmas tree to buy and decorate, gifts chosen, wrapped, opened - more alcohol


sure, pity me :rolleyes:



:D

My sweetie makes me write a list of what I want for Christmas every year, and she writes hers. The only stipulation is I can't write, "Your vagina" ten times in a row. Does anyone give all surprise presents to their partner? My mom and dad always tell each other what they want. I think most people who've been together for a bit do that? I like surprises better, but I also like avoiding 'disappointment face' masked as 'thankful/cheerful face'.
 
My sweetie makes me write a list of what I want for Christmas every year, and she writes hers. The only stipulation is I can't write, "Your vagina" ten times in a row. Does anyone give all surprise presents to their partner? My mom and dad always tell each other what they want. I think most people who've been together for a bit do that? I like surprises better, but I also ike avoiding 'disappointment face' masked as 'thankful/cheerful face'.

my sons let me know loud and clear what they'd like, and this year they know they're getting an XBox Elite package between them but some other, smaller gifts they don't know about too. The older one, 170, really only wants cash but I have some toiletries, clothes, and chocolate goodies. The younger one LOVES surprises, he's approaching 13 and Xmas wouldn't be Xmas for him without a big snuggly dressing gown, slippers and loads of sweets as well as little, silly surprises. My eldest and his partner live in their own place and I get them clothing and toiletries too, as well as the expected mumsie pressies of slippers and, adults though they are, sweets :rolleyes: I find out from them what my grandson's after (he's 2 but has strong likes - this year it's all about Disney Pixar's Cars). Then it's other bits like snowglobes and yummies, clothing and teddies.

I get more pleasure out of being able to choose gifts and giving them, seeing their pleasure, than from receiving, to be honest. A lot of that's to do with the fact I DO get to choose - while I was with my now ex he took it all over. I got to cook Xmas dinner, tidy, wait on them, and wrap. He did all the shopping, food and gifts. Drove me nuts.
 
cocoa and eggnog
cocoa and eggnog
cocoa and eggnog
come bring us
come bring us
your jovial cheer!

cocoa and eggnog? that's a weird combination

my sons let me know loud and clear what they'd like, and this year they know they're getting an XBox Elite package between them but some other, smaller gifts they don't know about too. The older one, 170, really only wants cash but I have some toiletries, clothes, and chocolate goodies. The younger one LOVES surprises, he's approaching 13 and Xmas wouldn't be Xmas for him without a big snuggly dressing gown, slippers and loads of sweets as well as little, silly surprises. My eldest and his partner live in their own place and I get them clothing and toiletries too, as well as the expected mumsie pressies of slippers and, adults though they are, sweets :rolleyes: I find out from them what my grandson's after (he's 2 but has strong likes - this year it's all about Disney Pixar's Cars). Then it's other bits like snowglobes and yummies, clothing and teddies.

I get more pleasure out of being able to choose gifts and giving them, seeing their pleasure, than from receiving, to be honest. A lot of that's to do with the fact I DO get to choose - while I was with my now ex he took it all over. I got to cook Xmas dinner, tidy, wait on them, and wrap. He did all the shopping, food and gifts. Drove me nuts.

170?? what's that make you then lol

I find the young ones and some of the not so young love the things from Hawkins Bazaar so I'm getting a lot from there. I got Ron's pressie weeks ago trawled the internet to find it and it's now tucked away in my knicker draw!
 
cocoa and eggnog? that's a weird combination



170??what's that make you then lol

I find the young ones and some of the not so young love the things from Hawkins Bazaar so I'm getting a lot from there. I got Ron's pressie weeks ago trawled the internet to find it and it's now tucked away in my knicker draw!

hahahhahahhahaha

ancient! hahahhaa


that'd be 170

what the f? when I type 70 (seven) it comes out as 170. damn. this keyboard fritzses and the other has sticking keys. need a new one . soon! don't you just love searching for gifts they'll enjoy?
 
And sometimes you have semi-suprize gifts. I contiue to get my wife true crime books, but she doesn't know what ones before hand (guess I could really surprize her and not get any!).
No secrets for my son's major gifts.
 
a few more

I've gone as far as I can with polishing these. maybe fresh eyes or time might lend new perspective but, for now, they are what they are.


bleeders

with experience comes
a thinning of the blood
a coolness of the brain that
lifts the mists

and in the grass
the liars sharp as glass
are easier to see

handy that
for bleeders
such as me



estranged

how to communicate with the moon
when it sails so high
so lofty
a blind eye
indifferent to semaphore
and ill-equipped to receive thoughts
launched
in a rocketship
 
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and ...

dawn raid


black shapes
with their black sounds
drop black tears on a
sleeping city

day erupts
bright with pain



for Mike


feet sunk in mud
grasping at stars
the poet does
all he can

to build a bridge out of words

there's dirt on his hands
a sheen on his brow
his belly's full of acid, meat and dreams

born with that need
to embrace it all
he's torn -
inhabiting some desperate place




i want to catch a

thought in all its glory -
a threadbare leaf
against a bright blue sky




love comes quietly


there is no grand parade, no clarion call
for magic happens in quiet quarters
small gestures, in the catching of an eye
back alleyways, the vistas of a sigh
in dusk's cool plums - that backdrop to starlight
and mists across the moon on autumn nights.

laughter, warm and fresh, can swell a heart
enmesh it, happily, and two hands held
in firelight's soft red and embered glow
will hold the memory of that touch although
the snow lays all around, and freezing hail
vies with the bitter wind to no avail.

Time teaches us best listen to the breeze
for truths are small and love comes
quietly.
 
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