Manic Monday - Carol

I sit at my computer, sipping a lovely cup (well, Santa mug really) of delicious and sweetly aromatic chai tea. I'm waiting for the storm after the storm that will come when my Chicklet learns that she in fact, as she predicted last night, gets to stay home from school for her second snow day since the it's-not-winter-yet-but-you'll-have-a White-Christmas-cause-you-all-complained-last-year unofficial start of the winter season. 15 inches... it never seemed so big... oh well! Mo chose a theme word once more this week, a word in keeping with Christmas (for those of us who think in the obvious way). Well, finding the inspiration for this edition of Manic Monday was easy... Last year, my daughter spent quite a bit of her free time at school practicing for the school's Christmas choir. She practiced in the washroom, in the car, humming in her classroom I was told, at the dinner table, she sang to her doll, she practiced in her bed... basically, she sang Christmas carols all over the place. Considering what our family was faced with she managed to bring JOY and the magic that comes with Christmas into our lives. For the not so long time reader... my mother was in the terminal phase of what was a losing battle with cancer. They recorded a lovely song written by a man named Jean Naty-Boyer about the children of the world... and the wish for a peaceful Christmas. Thankfully, Mom got a chance to hear it. Noël Des Enfants du Monde (with a so-so translation by moi... my apologies!) Enfants de Palestine (Child of Palestine) Ou enfants d'Israel (Or child of Israel) D'Amérique ou de Chine (From America or China) En ce jour de Noël (On this Christmas Day) Que ton regard se pose (Whether you should look) Sur la terre ou le ciel (Upon the earth or up to the sky) Ne retiens qu'une chose (Remember but one thing) Il faut croire à Noël (You must believe in Christmas) Matin couleur de cendre (Be it an ash colored morning) Ou matin d'arc en ciel (Or morning filled with rainbows) Qu'importe il faut attendre (No matter, you must wait) En ce soir de Noël (On this Christmas night) Que les fusils se taisent (For the guns to fall quiet) et répondent à l'appel (And answer the call) De cette parenthèse (Of the spirit) Qui s'appelle Noël (That is Christmas) Un jour viendra peut-être (Hopefully a day will come) Un jour au goût de miel (A day as sweet as honey) Où l'on verra paraitre (Where we'll see appear) Un oiseau dans le ciel (A bird in the sky) Aux plumes de lumière (With feathers of light) Un oiseau éternel (An eternal bird) Colombe pour la terre (A dove for the Earth) Un oiseau de Noël (The bird of Christmas) As we prepare our houses for the coming of Christmas, as we grocery shop for the Christmas dinner, as we plan what type of cookies we'll bake for Santa... some children may not have enough to eat. The United Nations World Food Programme manages the funds raised through Freerice and numerous other donations, and they have distributed rice in many countries... Myanmar... Nepal... Cambodia... Phillippines... Sri Lanka... Bangladesh... Cote d'Ivoire... India... Madagascar... Ecuador... May your holidays be filled with love and laughter... and may their stomachs be filled. May the guns fall silent and may we all find PEACE. As a quick note... I received a wonderful e-mail late Friday and have had a few exchanges with the author since... more about this is another post. My thanks to Turnbaby who promoted Freerice once again on Turnbaby Talks. SMOOCH! Love you all more than my luggage! Hugs, smooches and gropes!

blue tea, squirrels, the X-mas tree and trouble

You might think by the title of this post that someone spiked my tea as I was trimming the tree with chestnuts roasting on an open fire and a squirrel ran in and tried to get them and it all got me in trouble... That would be an excellent supposition... but no. You see, apparently I’ve been tagged by Mimi Queen of memes, and in the spirit of positive foreign relations I decided to break down and do the deed… because apparently she’s been hearing this a lot lately and she’s in no mood to be trifled with (like THAT would stop MOI!). This meme comes from The Blue Tea person (hello, pleasure to meet you, I hear from Queen Mimi you are quite nice)… Mimi was tagged by Lee and according to Mimi we should all go and say hello to the brave chap… Hello Lee, how’s the moat? Rules: Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It's more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you'd also like to take. Tag five. Here goes... my personal improvement plan. 1. Squirrel training – Master class: It’s always been my ambition to get a squirrel act together and cross over into Ohio to serenade Matt-man with a band of happy and clever squirrels in an effort to cure him of his unreasonable hatred of the bushy-tailed creatures. We’d pile in the Jeep and take a drive (I think I saw Travis and Songbird in there…) We might want to stay away from Neil Diamond songs though… seriously. So far, I’ve had success with Chipmunks, so I’m encouraged. 2. Hydroponics for beginners: I believe it might assist me in growing rice so I can keep feeding the world. Although… playing this game not only enhances one’s vocabulary, it too feeds the world (did you think I was going to put up a post without Free Rice in it? HA!) and I actually wouldn’t need to flood my basement to build a rice paddy. I might look cute in the hat though... don’t you think? Speaking of hats… 3. Knitting 101: being Canadian and already having had to scrape the car windshield off because of snow and ice, I’m letting “practical Anndi” choose this one… plus combined with my wicked Be-Dazzler skillz I could make some stunning outfits for the squirrels. Presentation is everything. Plus, it’ll come in handy for … 4. Holiday decorating – Christmas semester: As I patiently wait for Queen Mimi to authorize tree trimming, I thought I’d take a class. You can never know enough about de-squirreling the tree… maybe Matt-man would like to join me in this one. 5. Downhill skiing: As I’ve already stated, I’m Canadian. You’d think I could do this… but no. I used to, but I sprained my ankle a couple of times and it feels like I’ve lost the strength needed to avoid crash-landing up a tree staring at a squirrel's nuts. Maybe I'll stick to sledding... 6. Foreign Affairs 303: I’ll join Mimi the Queen in this one… you see, although I have some skills when it comes to entertaining peaceful foreign relations I still have a long way to go. I mean, I’m doing the meme so as not to cause a rift between Bloggingham Palace and Canada, but I still posted too many versions of this: Oh.. I forgot one more class: 7. 1001 ways to escape dungeons and moats… You asked for it Mimi... Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I tag: Travis, Songbird, Bud, Matt-man and Julie… good luck! Love you all more than my luggage! Hugs, smooches and gropes!