A2K time zones: What's the time where you are & what are you up to?

nearly 5 p.m. on December 24th in Toronto

got brussel sprouts and corn for our Christmas meal

doing laundry

contemplating another mug of chai

We're gonna have ham, ribs, with some salad and desserts with our meal tomorrow.

4:25 p.m. Christmas Eve ...

Just waiting for folks to start arriving. Dinner under control and appetizers ready to go for anyone who's peckish. Dinner won't be 'til 7:30 p.m. Only eight for dinner today.

After that, clean up and get ready to do it all over again tomorrow with the same folks as tonight plus a few more. Different food, though.

I'm going to prepare a ham for the first time tomorrow. I really have no idea what I'm going to do with it. It'll be interesting. I know that I'll enjoy the veggies, mashed sweet taters and the dressing. We'll see about that ham.

3:00 pm here and I should go to the groceries as I forgot something. I dread
the hassle though - have to get my elbows sharpened. I better go before it get's too late.....

We'll have duck tomorrow and today my daughter wanted all German stuff -
for breakfast "Apfelkuechel" (apples in pancake batter) and for lunch she
wanted "Currywurst" (German sausage with curry and ketchup).

Lovely to see you here, Jane.
I was wondering where you'd gotten to!

You, too Mackenzie.
Always good to from you, too.

Thank you for your Christmas greetings to Oz, all who posted them.
On behalf of the whole nation I graciously thank you for your kind thoughts.
And will reciprocate when it's your turn, tomorrow ...


11 am, Christmas day, Melbourne:

Been up for a few hours now.
Lovely, peaceful morning ... best time of the day in summer. I love it!

Bells are tolling as I type ... the nearby church announcing it's 11 am & time for the Christmas service, I guess.

I had rather an uncomfortable time of it, for a while there last night . My cat, Poppy, is terrified of thunder & lightning (or any loud noises) & decided that sleeping on my chest was the safest place to be, following last night's storm. I sympathised with her, poor thing, but it was so hideously hot!!!!
So guess who's having a long sleep-in this morning, as I go about my business?

Off to Christmas lunch in a couple of hours ... 1 pm.
I will restrain myself, not eat too much ... yes, I will!
.. or I'll try too.

Wishing those of you who are stuffing turkeys, preparing hams, welcoming family members & all the rest of it, the stamina & fortitude to get through it all ... Good luck!

-

11.20am Christmas Day.

Finally a warm day, after some cool wet weeks.

Beautifully clear and sunny at 6am, now starting to cloud over.

Getting dressed to go out for lunch. My local rowing club
http://www.sydneyrowingclub.com.au/index.php
is putting on a special Christmas lunch in the restaurant overlooking the harbour. I'm carting the relatives there, rather than eat at home.

Merry Christmas, all!

I forgot that your Aussies are so much ahead of us...

Merry Christmas, MsOlga and Margo!! I hope you have a great Christmas day in shorts and sandals while you bake in the summer sun

5:25 pm here and the store was packed, really packed and strangely enough almost all guys ......I think they loaded up on booze !

it's 11 pm in eastern ontario - and i'm just munching on a muffin .
ebeth , john , cleo and bailey will be visiting on monday .

sending you christmas greetings from rockaway rest home !

http://www.familytreesmaycontainnuts.com/2009/12/christmas-at-rockaway-rest-home.html

a little fine-tuning, but I've been having fun playing with this

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/XypCgZ02YtwIE2vV?cmpid=jj_fb_self_holidays

2040 Christmas Eve, getting ready to make the run all the way up to Seattle for caroling and Mass, this one not starting till midnight for the first time for us in many years. All of the parishes that we have been a part of for over a decade have started at 2300 to make it easier for the families with kids. This should be an experience, good or not I do not know because we will not get back till 230.

Both daughters live in Seattle and say that the service is much better than in Olympia or on JBLM (nee Fort Lewis).

6:45 pm, Christmas day, Melbourne:

Home again.
That was a great lunch. Good company, good food, good conversation ....

... and now I have a fridge groaning with left-overs ... roast pork, roast turkey, salads, trifle, rum balls, plum pudding ..... I think I might have to force some of this onto my neighbour ... or else I'll be very sorry!

But the star attraction of the afternoon was the weather!
I can't recall a Christmas day quite like this one.
Sultry, almost tropical weather to start, then during mid-afternoon a bit of everything!
Dark looming clouds, distant thunder & lightning getting closer & closer ...
Then the skies opened. Really heavy rain &, would you believe, hail stones ... whoppers .... (in December? )

We all sat on the back veranda & watched, mesmerised. Very exciting!
But ours were not quite as big as these:


Tornadoes, hail as storms lash Melbourne:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/tornadoes-hail-as-storms-lash-melbourne-20111225-1p9au.html

Have had another smaller hail/mass downpour since returning home. Looks like there may be more to come!
I wouldn't be surprised if some parts of the city have been flooded.

So that's another Christmas day over.
Can't say it wasn't exciting!

-

It's 8.19pm.
I just got off the phone from Boida!

Prior to that I decided to spend some time putting my bedroom to rights.....turned the mattress, decluttering, stuff like that. Need to have my room serene and orderly for the new year......except, of course, woollies keep cluttering it.

All my bedding is wet from the machine except mattress and pillows.


Ah...ritual cleansing!

I need to cleanse aspects of 2011 bigtime. NOT a good year in many ways. Of course, it had its good bits as well.

Glad you had a good time.....and a display from the weather gods!

10.34 am UK

Been up a while, still in my PJ's, spoke to little fella on the phone, on my second cuppa and going to sit by the river for a little bit. Thinking of those who are near and far.

Merry Christmas To The World Wishing you all a wonderful time.

7:30 am Christmas Morning in the Great White(well green actually ) North

getting something organized for breakfast, cranberry orange french toast with a side of bacon

7:55 a.m. Christmas morning in Toronto

colouring my hair (caramel kiss I think)

kettle's on - should it be chai or hot cocoa

still playing with the Jib Jab application

9:20 am at the Days Inn. Watched a "Littlest Hobo" rerun while eating breakfast (maybe a new holiday tradition...). Will pick up youngest son soon and head to Toronto to spend day with oldest son. If he hasn't made arrangements for a meal (hahahahahaha) it'll be Fran's or Caplansky's I guess

Merry Christmas everybody!

10:42 a.m.

just pulled some meat off the chicken I've been poaching in broth and salsa - had a breakfast snack of the poached salsa chicken on sun-dried raisin bread

awesome

if the other food turns out this well, I'll be very happy

Ten fifty eight still morning.
Chicken livers soaking in milk.