This is my christmasiest icon

[alias_sqbr]

The those who celebrate christmas: Merry Christmas!

To those who are celebrating some other festival: Happy that other festival!

To those not celebrating: Happy December 25th! If you find yourself annoyed by the near-compulsory celebratoriness, think of us, stuck in a small non-air-conditioned house in the middle of summer with a large group of people eating lots of hot food to celebrate the birth of a god we don't believe in :D

Comments

[lilysea.livejournal.com]

If you find yourself annoyed by the near-compulsory celebratoriness, think of us, stuck in a small non-air-conditioned house in the middle of summer with a large group of people eating lots of hot food to celebrate the birth of a god we don't believe in :D

Heh! :)

I rather like Tim Minchin's take on Christmas, that Xmas is not about religion but about family/community/the people who love and support you:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=-0s68-GLGWY

I'm looking forward to Christmas
It's sentimental I know
But I just really like it

I am hardly religious
I’d rather break bread with Dawkins than Desmond Tutu
To be honest
And yes I have all of the usual objections to consumerism
The commercialisation of ancient religions
And the westernisation of a dead Palestinian
Press-ganged into selling Playstations and beer
But I still really like it

I really like Christmas
Though I'm not expecting
A visit from Jesus

I'll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They'll be drinking white wine in the sun
I'll be seeing my dad
My sisters and brother, my gran and my mum
They'll be drinking white wine in the sun

I don't go for ancient wisdom
I dont believe just cos ideas are tenacious
It means they are worthy
I'm ambivalent to churches
Some of the hymns that they sing have nice chords
Though the lyrics are dodgy
And yes I have all of the usual objections to miseducation
Of children forced into a cult institution and taught to externalise blame
And to feel ashamed and to judge things as plain right or wrong
But I quite like the songs

I really like London
Though Christmas is not quite as white as I’d hoped
It’s kind of European
I'm not expecting great presents
Ye olde combination of socks, jocks and chocolate
Is just fine by me

Cos I’ll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They'll be drinking white wine in the sun
I'll be seeing my dad
My sisters and brother, my gran and my mum
They'll be drinking white wine in the sun

And you my baby girl
My jetlagged infant daughter
You'll be handed round the room
Like a puppy at a petting zoo

And you’re too young to know
But you will learn one day
That wherever you are and whatever you face
These are the people
Who'll make you feel safe in the world
My sweet blue-eyed girl

And if my baby girl
When you're twenty one or thirty one
And Christmas comes around
And you find yourself 9000 miles from home

You’ll know whatever comes
Your brothers and sisters and me and your mum.
Will be waiting for you in the sun

Girl when Christmas comes
Your brothers and sisters
Your aunts and your uncles
Your grandparents, cousins
And me and your mum.
Will be drinking white wine in the sun
Waiting for you in the sun
Drinking white wine in the sun
Waiting for you

I really like Christmas
It’s sentimental I know

[lilysea.livejournal.com]

p.s. In a little while, I'm driving for 40 minutes to Smithfield Park's Waifs and Strays.

None of them are related to me, but they're funny and friendly and they'll make me laugh.

(They're also all atheists/agnostics/pagans/buddhists.)

And then I'm catching a 4:30pm flight to Adelaide.

Right now, I'm sitting under the air con, trying to cool down after an ill-advised hot shower.

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of you both sympathetically as I sit at home in my closed, cool house, gaming all day.

Think of all the good karma you'll be getting, though. =)

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

And Merry Christmas to you too! Looking forward to the anime panel next year. :)

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

remember, it Isaac Newton's birthday. That must be worth celebrating.



(that was his birthday according to the Julian calendar in use in England at the time, anyway).

[flyingblogspot.livejournal.com]

That's awesome; thank you for sharing.

*is hoping to squeeze some gaming in between family-of-boy and family-of-choice*

[vegetus.livejournal.com]

Tim Minchin is fucking awesome...

And myself and the large number of antepodean Xmas orphans who are currently passed out around my house this morning may be finding it particularly pointant (and Ellen and I may actually have sung along to this last night)

[alias_sqbr]

Luckily it wasn't too hot, and we spent the day chatting with/snarking at my younger siblings as they took turns playing Fable on my family's new giant tv. So possibly not that different a day after all :)

[alias_sqbr]

That's a very good point! Though if you go around saying "Happy Isaac Newtons birthday!" you'll offend fans of Leibniz like the Citizens Electoral Council :D

[alias_sqbr]

Thanks, me too :) I've put all the anime people recommended that I hadn't seen and was in the system on my Quickflix queue, you'll be happy to know "Vision of Escaflowne" is the first up :D

[alias_sqbr]

I rather like Tim Minchin's take on Christmas, that Xmas is not about religion but about family/community/the people who love and support you:

Me too. But not everyone feels that way (especially non-christians from a less christian background) and I respect that too.

That's a really nice song, but the image they chose to go with it is a bit distracting :)

Things to remember about Escaflowne

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

Just remember:

a) The episodes are only 22 minutes long. Another one won't hurt; and

b) You can stop at any time.

For best effect these should be uttered at about 3AM. :)

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Glad that you had a good time, and tell your husband there seems to be a problem with the email address he gave me at Pavla's, as I get bounce messages.

*hands you a box of !poke!s to use on him*

Re: Things to remember about Escaflowne

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Another one won't hurt;

True, but those 6 extra you just watched just might.

b) You can stop at any time.

LIES! You cannot watch just onethree.

Y'know, Dr Sophie, *I* have the complete collection I could lend to you...

Re: Things to remember about Escaflowne

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

Shhhh! I was trying to be gentle. :)

[pedanther]

you'll offend ... the Citizens Electoral Council

A plan with no drawbacks, then?

[pedanther]

Thank you for the Christmas-type wishes. And the same to you, sincerely if belatedly.

(Fortunately, I was stuck in a large non-air-conditioned house with a small group of people. And they were all people I like, which helped.)

[alias_sqbr]

I have passed on the message, but he's fairly resistant to pokes :) You could message him directly at distantcam.

Re: Things to remember about Escaflowne

[alias_sqbr]

Heh. Luckily I'm only getting one disk at a time, so as long as I start it early in the day should be safe :)

Re: Things to remember about Escaflowne

[alias_sqbr]

That's a very kind offer, but from the sound of things I'm safer getting it one disk at a time :D

[alias_sqbr]

:D

[alias_sqbr]

I like most of my family, which does help :)

Re: Things to remember about Escaflowne

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Wimp! =)

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Done so, and ended up just sending the message to him that way, given I know that'll get through.

Re: Things to remember about Escaflowne

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

In that case I should add this to the list:

c) Arrrrghh! What evil bastard came up with that cliffhanger!

Are you sure you don't want to borrow bunny_m's set?

And, yes, I am enjoying doing this to you. A lot. :)

Re: Things to remember about Escaflowne

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

You might want to reconsider that...

:)

Re: Things to remember about Escaflowne

[alias_sqbr]

Well, we'll see how I feel after finishing the first disk :)