Katiebell’s Neighborhood

Christmas Eve

Ann was up in Billingham to exchange presents and take her mother down to the East Riding for Christmas Day. Ali was visiting too and we all took George for a walk in the snow...

Ann and I shared a couple of little bottles of wine...

Xmas-Eve-2009 014a

There's a few more pictures in the collection, click below...

Christmas Eve 2009

and Ann has pictures she and Ali took on her blog.

Happy Holidays!

Team Vox
Yesterday
3 comments

6acardVOX

Happy Holidays to you, your family, friends and neighbors from all of us at Vox.
See you in 2010!

Our song for the first thing Christmas morning: a family tradition

Christmastime is drawing near

Santa Claus will soon be here

With his presents and his toys

For the little girls and boys

For dear old Santa we'll give a cheer

He'll soon be coming with his swift reindeer

He comes to quick with a click click click

On the early Christmas morning

Have you sent him by the post

Telling what you want the most

If you have you need not fear

For he loves you all most dear

For dear old Santa we'll give a cheer

He'll soon be coming with his swift reindeer

He comes to quick with a click click click

On the early Christmas morning

Merry Christmas to All!

Christmas Party

Eol Ruin
Yesterday
1 comment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icp9PHDGxQc

18:43 sure, why not? RT

chris
Yesterday
Post a comment

18:43 sure, why not? RT @babybug: "I think the reindeer would like olives." #
21:31 @fstop23 we're on the last episode. i want to go again! #
21:34 @AngryJulie how do you lose presents? #
21:40 @margalit maybe santa will bring you a TiVo - doesn't matter what's on - you watch what you want, when you want to. #
22:46 RT @SFMOMA: We're closed 25th bit.ly/6pxHYZ However, SFMOMA neighbor @jewseum is free & has Chinese food if you need a museum fix : ) #
22:47 @frogtosser but how will santa ....? #
23:13 @kennyeng safe journies! #

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Christmas eve dinner, 2009

DoctorD
Yesterday
6 comments

Xmas dinner

Christmas eve dinner, home-made, prepared by my wife following Italian family traditions. Several days work to make all the dishes! There was a gathering of 16 (eight adults and eight children).

2010 New Year's Resolutions

HapaLove
2 days ago
3 comments

I'm still working on some of the old resolutions (like improving my posture -- this one's a toughie), but I've got two more this year. I'm keeping it pretty simple:

Meditate
Try archery

Why meditate? Well, when I do yoga, it really clears my mind and re-centers me. Meditation does the same. It's easy to start practicing, because I can just do it at home. Surprisingly the difficult part is putting 15 minutes aside to do it. But we should all have at least that much time every day to ourselves. I'm getting a couple meditation CDs on Amazon to help me start. Oh, and there are also a ton of health benefits to meditation.

Archery... well, I've just been wanting to try it and haven't gotten around to it yet. I enjoy the focus and concentration of target shooting, and archery also seems sort of meditative in its own way. I found an outdoor shooting range in El Cajon, for both archery and firearms, so I'm going to drag the honey and maybe some friends out with me.

Merry Christmas, and happy holidays everyone! Share the love year 'round!

Sing, Brave Men!!

It's Christmas Eve in Siem Reap.

Particularly in Pub Street, Old Market. Excitement was riding the air in full velocity, and travellers around the world united here, to celebrate the eve with strangers.

But the victims from the past's presence spreaded humility amongst the merry makers in the street. They are not okay, are they? Or would the eyes lie?

To me, they are beautiful people.

Christmas came a day early

DoctorD
2 days ago
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Christmas came a day early for Americans this year, as the Senate voted down the Republican filibuster in order to permit full consideration of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care" Act a bit after midnight. The last time the Senate voted on Christmas eve day was in 1895, when the issue was whether or not to provide federal benefits to U.S. military servicemen. I assume that the people we now call "Republicans," but back then probably were Southern democrats--anyhow, the same group that provides the core of ongoing political racism and opposition to federal government actions of any beneficial sort--were the "againsters" then as well. (Although I don't know that for sure; perhaps I will try to look it up).

Humor was provided by Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid, who had worked so hard to assemble and keep a supportive coalition, actually initially voted "nay" by mistake! Senator Harry Byrd, the ill 92 year-old that Republicans and their "Christian" allies had vocally prayed would die and thus be unable to vote yes managed to make it there, too. Of course, the biggest advocate of health insurance reform, Senator Ted Kennedy, did pass away a few months ago, perhaps showing the power of such pacts with the devil against progressive forces do sometimes work after all?

I don't know: I have never prayed for someone to be harmed, at least not that I can remember. Sometimes I've been a little glad for their misery, though, like the plumber in my neighborhood who cheated me, and now is unable to sell his house. Is that the Hand of God in action?

But anyhow, I am (mostly) a Buddhist--although we will attend a Christmas day mass tomorrow, and certainly celebrate this evening.

Always, when human progress is made, there are opponents. The Republicans know full well that their only hope for a political comeback after the catastrophic Bush years is that Obama somehow "fails." So they don't want unemployment to go down, they want it to go up; they want more people to lose their houses and their life savings; they hope that there will be terrorists attacks against the US that they can blame on Democratic laxness, as they have attempted to do with the Fort Hood tragedy and the prospect of trials in American courts; they want to prevent action against climate change--and perhaps top among their priorities, they don't want the health insurance system to be improved and they don't want Americans who lack coverage now to get any.

Some countries talk about "gross national happiness" as their major goal, but for Republicans, adding to the "gross national misery" in the US during 2009 and 2010 and 2011 and 2012 is their chief, and really their only, objective.

But, anyhow, it happened to that this day, and the Christmas holiday, started with something good, something beneficial. There is still a lot of work to be done, trying to blend very different House and Senate legislation. The liberals will be angry that the resulting product isn't "strong" enough, and conservatives will be angry if anything at all is passed. (Indeed, John McCain is now unalterably opposed to his own prior proposal to expand Medicare to younger people!)

Of course, every member of Congress has perfectly fine government-provided health insurance. None have offered to give up it, or Medicare, or Social Security. It is just that if you are the constituent of a Republican, and out of work, and in financial stress, as so many millions are, or if you are sick and might cost a private insurer to lose money, they don't want YOU to have it! Better that you simply die, like they hoped for Senator Byrd.

Talk about your "death panels!" Here are groups of Republicans gathered, in family groups or what they consider to be "Christian" (sic) churches, praying for the Grim Reaper to come and take away a fellow man. (Of course, there were a lot of people that wanted Jesus to die, too--and he did. But right now, we celebrate his birth).

It isn't that there is a rotten apple in the barrel. Sometimes the barrel is nearly half full of rotten apples! But for today, Christmas eve, Christmas in the US came a day early, and every American has an opportunity to feel at least a tiny bit more secure that progress is being made, even as a second big winter storm is coming upon us.

Be careful out there!