Well in a few short days it will be Christmas so:

Happy Holy Days!
Happy Christmas!
Happy Solstice!
Happy Hanukka!
Happy Kwanzaa!

Hope everyone has a joyous time with their friends and familes!

Mauvais -

At this time of year I give cards to my friends and co-workers (who run the entire spectrum of religions and then some) that say "Happy Winter Solstice Holiday of Your Choice!"

So, Happy WSHOYC to you, as well!
-Solar

That's cool! Did you buy the cards or make them yourself?

All this different celebrations reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where they had Festivus - "Festivus for the rest of us!"

That's great, Solar!

Happy WSHOYC to everyone here!

I few years ago Ben & Jerry made Festivus ice cream. I think it was gingerbread flavored. It was really yummy.

Happy WSHOYC!

Made 'em myself, but given the reactions I get, I probably ought to start printing them up!

Happy WSHOYC back atcha!

--Solarmama

Mmmm... Gingerbread ice cream. Dunno if I could eat something called "Festivus," though - isn't that a small Ford car?

Nah- that car is called a Festiva - mmmmmmm...gingerbread icecream

Solar

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!

I don't get television where I live, but I'm told there's a commercial going around about now that is along the lines of WSHOYC, that wishes you a...

Happy Chrismahannikwanzika!

I had to say it slow for a while, but it still cracks me up.

Hope your holidays were lovely, ladies!
Solarmama

solar - heh. i saw that commercial. it was funny.
So, were there any special gifts out there this year? My hubby is really really good at surprises. I told him I wanted an mp3 player for working out because the cd player is cumbersome and he told me no way, we're not spending that much, etc and I forgot about it. Then what do I find burried under all the goodies in my Christmas stocking??? He's good, he had me totally convinced I was getting nothing and the only thing he put in my stocking was some gormet tea and some sweets. bad boy!
I'm thrilled. I have a strap to put on my arm so I can work out without having to shove it in a pocket or anything. I'm a spoiled little girlie.

Hey Liziness, that's a whole 'nother thread kind of question, but here goes!

The DH is my favorite guy right now - I had asked for a nice knife from Lamson-Goodenough, a super-high-end knife maker that happens to be located in our town. I thought I would get the secondary line (drop forged, but lower quality steel) and only a single knife - I wanted the santoko shape -but that darn DH got three of the best ones! He passes out the presents with our family, and so he 'fed' me the carving knife first - he knew I would be thinking "well, it's the best line, but how could he forget what SHAPE I wanted?" I also got a chef's knife and the santoku. These things are beautiful, and they cut SO nice. All the better for me, since I started SBD Phase 1 yesterday, and that means a lot of veggies will fall under my knife in the next two weeks. Heh.

My FIL was impressed that my DH had given me knives. He said "If I gave your mother knives, I'd be afraid she'd use them on me!" He was kidding, but I have met couples for whom that might be more true than not.

Ciao!
Solarmama

solarmama - hehe. nice to meet you, my name is liz and this is my husband.. oh wait. *LOL* I think that's great. I wish I had nice kitchen stuff. Takes a while to build up to it. And it's funny too because I'll buy stuff for the computer and not bat an eyelash, but it took me 5 years to finally toss my mom's plastic melted utensils for my own (did that last week, xmas present to myself thank you!) I actually used my mom's hand me down spatula until it got so brittle the rubber broke off into my xmas goodies! How sad. I'm going to check into those knives I bet they have a website.

ooooh, nice knives, Solar!
A few years ago, my sister and I asked Dad to get us each ONE good knife. We wanted to each start a collection of knives that would last us for life.
When Dad saw the price of them, he said, "There's no WAY I'm paying 100 dollars for one knife!!" So we each got a toaster and a couple of hundred bucks.

This year, one of my best friends gave me five new Paderno cooking utensils! (ditto on throwing out the melted plastic ones, Lizzi. LOL) They are BEAUTIFUL!!

Mom gave us money for a radio for our kitchen... we got this cool retro one by Grundig. It's awesome!!

And the kids gave me a big stuffed Sponge Bob, SB slippers, and a SB sleep mask. I love Sponge Bob.

So, Ellis - You can build your own Bikini Bottom with all that SB stuff! I'm a Patrick fan, myself - he's so stupid you just have to laugh. Makes me miss having television.

Liziness - here's a link for you... http://www.lamsonsharp.com/ - if there's pics of thier factory, it's about ten minutes from my house, woo hoo!

As for Kitchen utensils, I realized a long time ago that good utensils made me much more likely to cook, and that was good, because it turns out that cooking is pretty much my hobby. I love to do it because I can focus entirely on it and come out the other side relaxed. Even if it's just a salad, it still works. I've also just recently discovered that a clean kitchen makes me even more likely to cook! So now I wash my pots on the same night that I use them, as much as I can. I used to be a "let them pile up until there's nothing to use and no space to put anything," gal, Oy!

Most ironic gift this year: a pasta roller. My delightful Grandfather who bought it for me couldn't know that I would be starting SBD the next week, and I will use it to make homemade whole wheat pasta when I'm free to, but I had to leave it in the box after the Xmas night batch of raviolis.

Well, back to work! Wish I could take one more "just for me day," but I've had a lot of time off lately, even though it was full of rushing around and stress. Sigh.

See ya!
Solarmama