It's not going to be a cold, cold Christmas!

i love that little angel choir karen

Im hoping for a copy of Stevie's book for christmas.

Enjoy your hot Christmas, Karen.
Do you have some type of Christmas cake ?

They're very sweet, Sticki - I bought them at the beach. It's a wonderful book - this is the quickest I've ever done Xmas! Usually it takes me more than a day to do the tree (lights and baubles OCD - no two shapes colours too close together and all that....)

No cake, TT - maybe that's why I haven't had the right spirit (brandy - some for the cake and some for the cook!) but I do have a duck and some South African mince pies and christmas pudding!

But I think we're going to 'Whispering Palms'...it'll be Jollof rice and chicken again, I should think!

South African mince pies and South African Christmas pudding ?
.... all those, washed down with some brandy, will definitely give you the Christmas spirit ;o)

A very merry hot christmas to you from me . My sister-in-law and nices have just returned to Perth W. Australia to temps of 40+ YOur 30 sound much more pleasant.

I think it's nice how Christmas is different in different parts of the world. We just get used to it being a certain way. I wouldn't mind at all if we had a warm Christmas here :o)
Have a nice time x

South African wine, port and brandy, TT - not to mention Amarula...I'm doing my best... ;)))

Thank you, Kfunsters and the same to you and yours :)

30°C is certainly enough for me - there's something distinctly odd about having barbecues at Christmas with fairy lights in palm trees, well........ I suppose I'll get used to it.... ;)))

Thank you Hywel, I hope that you have a nice time too x

I'm thinking of getting a monkey puzzle tree planted in the garden - not so different to a fir... ;)

I like monkey puzzle trees. There was one in the garden next door to my aunt's house many years ago. They've chopped it down now :o(

That was a crime, Hywel - they take so long to grow... :(

Loving the nativity scene. I know you will have a good time Karen...I really think a Santa on the roof some faux snow is required :)

Not sure where to find the faux snow, Pimpernel...hmm, might have to use sand...it just might work!!

I will have a good time and I wish you the same x

those little figures and the nativity are lovely Karen, have a ver happy christmas xxx

Thank you Pam :)

And I wish the same for you and yours xxx

That's an amazing nativity scene Karen...wooly hats! ;)) lol. A black Christmas...very appropriate...and no Slade...bliss! :))

Heehee, Karen! I was going to finish with something about 'Darkest Africa'...but not sure if it's politically correct these days.... :/

Completely agree about Slade...but we've no Frank Sinatra here.............! :(

IT'S CHRISTMASSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

HOHOHO!!! :))))))

We once spent a holiday just before Christmas in Jamaica, and Santa arrived on jetskis, in the briefest of red cossies. Surreal! But FUN! On the loudspeaker they were playing "Let it snow, let it snow..........!!"

LOL!!! Gattina! I don't even want to think about transmogrifying that to an African situation!

...but, same good fun - and great bodies!!
Oops....did I really say that??? ;))))))

Not try to forget what its all about? I thought that was the Hokey pokey?

Very different Karen,but very nice..enjoy your hot Christmas...show off ! Lol...hope you are settled in your new home by then...have a wonderful time,wherever you are.:o) X

Yes, Karen, you DID say that, and you should be ashamed of yourself! True, though! The fit young Jamaican Santa did look awfully strange with a big white beard and aviator shades, too.

It always amazes me how the gentleman in the red suit seems to get everywhere at once! There you are, saying he's been seen in Jamaica, in Africa, and in Britain, yet there he is in the market down the road! Strange! ;o)

My Santa's just gone downstairs to put the kettle on.....

I hope Mrs Claus doesn't know he stayed over ! :o))

This is my new house, Bloomer! :))
The bathrooms are still a bit iffy but at least the showers work...! lol!

Oooerr........A Rasta Santa, Gattina......! With calypso Chrismas carrolls...?? I'm just taking a few minutes out to contemplate that, hmmmm............. lol! ;))

I think he's coming here last, Nariz...I haven't seen him at all yet...

Unless Pixi's got him doing the Hokey Cokey at her house and isn't letting him out! lol!!! ;))))

Bloomer, you are truly wicked!

well,he does have to get away from the nagging for a while,Gattina..!..all those pressies to deliver...Rudolph to have his MOT,.. move the notch down on his belt..for all the mince pies..MET office weather reports to check..hope he has a home start policy with AA (Antlers Away) or RAC (Reindeers at Christmas) ..A guy has to have a break ,it might as well be at yours ! :o))

He's a bit chilled out at the moment (aka not properly awake). the tea has arrived, brought by SC wearing antlers instead of his little red and white hat.

I'm not surprised...he's probably worn out...what with all he has to do and make the tea. And it sounds as though he's quite confused too - all these outfits he has to wear - he's accidentally put on Rudolph's headgear!!

LOL!

Well,what can I say ? whatever turns him on ! :o)))))

Let's hope he doesn't turn up at yours wearing the skimpy little red number, Bloomer.......!

Oooh lala!

He'd be brrrr-ave man... ;))

A B****y freezing one, too. Hands off, Bloomer!

Would he be called wee willy winkie?

LOL!......or Snowball???

Now listen, Girls, this is my OH we're discussing here! You're probably spot on, though! LOL!

LOLOL!!! ;))))))))))

Aw lololol!

At least you didn't have to deal with a goat-smelling blood-soaked dirty wash load! Neighbour called over to ask Partner to help with dispatching a large-horned goat this morning. Job was done with quiet and respect, but the mess ........! Goat curry anyone?

I would avert my eyes,Gattina..just ignore this lot..so unrefined ! Obviously didn't go to the same charm school as you and I,although it was known to be approved ! :o))
...and definitely not,Nariz !..don't like curry :o)

Urgh! Nariz! Had goat curry last night, strangely enough...prefer not to know how it was dispatched though, especially here...

And, what do you mean, Bloomer???

Happy Christmas from Bonnie Scotland to Sunny Nigeria Karen....
No tree or anything this year....Chinese take away for Xmas dinner! I will make a trifle as that doesn't involve cooking what so ever, just boiling the kettle for the jelly :)

Bloomer, what are you saying? No-one approved of MY old school!
Nariz, I'm surprised your neighbours are allowed to do their own dispatching! When the time came to slaughter our pigs, after filling in reams of paperwork, I even got 'phoned by the local government vet in the middle of a lunch with friends at the local restaurant, to make sure which slaughterhouse we were sending them to, (pigs, not friends) and exactly how we intended to get them there, and the depth of litter in the transporting lorry. Then they checked up on us!
I LOVE goat, and once made a splendid Caribbean curry. Everyone ate it with great enjoyment, thinking it was lamb. I hardly dared to tell them it wasn't, but after copious quantities of pina coladas and rum punches, no-one seemed to care much.

Karen..I just wrote curry..as I tried to put the other picture out of my mind ...

It's no problem at all here, Jan. Animals are dispatched as and when required by our neighbours themselves, then around this time of year the 'lean mean pig-killing machine' (a friend of our neighbour) arrives, does the job - again quietly and with respect - and we get a gift of a liver and onion casserole and a lovely loin of pork for the freezer. There used to be vulture feeding stations dotted around the mountains where whole dead animals or bits of them could be left, but since BSE they've not been allowed to be used and I think THAT'S where the local vet comes in - to make sure the 'bits' are healthy and then sent off to an incinerator somewhere. Since living here and encountering many animals in various stages of life or death I've 'hardened' to the fact that if you want to eat it - someone's got to kill and prepare it. I amazed myself last year when I witnessed - at close quarters - the demise of two turkeys, then happily settled down to an hour of turkey plucking and practising my very poor Spanish on my neighbour, while the dogs sat beside us happily chewing on claws. There's a lot of respect shown by farmers for their animals here and I wish I could have filmed the shearing of the sheep last year when a friend who was much quicker at the job was called in. The sheep were grabbed, one by one, feet tied, and expertly sheared, after which they ran off into a corner, but one sheep stayed close to the shearing table watching and seemingly trying to give comfort, until every sheep - including her - had been sheared, then the shearer stroked her head with obvious love and seemed to say "There - all done, and they're all OK" at which she wandered off to be with her flock. Have I mentioned how much I love living here? :o)
.

Darling, it shows with every word you write.

I admire the way that pig keeping/killing is a community thing there, Nariz...everybody getting together to cook and cure every bit of the animal.
It's the community that I miss in France...

Happy Christmas Scottish from Sunny Nigeria! xxx

Sounds like your day will be just as lazy as mine... :))

Son leaves Scotland tonight and arrives tomorrow morning - can't wait to see him...(and his reaction to Nigeria!!!)

Yes, it IS a great community here - if there's something you can't do - somebody knows a man who can - and he will - willingly! Wish I'd moved here decades ago!

it's like that where I live (used to live?) in France too...that's why I didn't really want to leave, Nariz.

Well listen to you two..What a credit you are! I know a few that live in Spain Nariz.....In English communities where Spanish is never spoken or tasted. Then they come back here and long for the Mediterranean way of life..

It's like that in France too, P. There are British people who have lived there for years and still can only shop in the supermarket where they can read what the bill is on the cash register thingy...

But, if you get involved with your neighbours it's like travelling back in time to a better era... sigh, I miss it...

It sounds like you were well looked after Karen...I always make a point of smiling and welcoming all the new people that arrive on my post round...As I always imagine myself in their place...Mine is a very, very multiracial walk K. I like them and they like me......But I am being moved on.

We got married in our commune, P - invited everybody...and around 1am, someone was sent round with onion soup...(sustainance for (not) so young lovers! lol!
Sometime later, I was elected Secretary of the Comitée des Fetes....but how that came to be is a blog in itself!

I'm sorry that you're being moved on from your community, P...will you be able to be involved in your new one?

They are not telling me where I am being re posted K... I think it will will be temping on another Old duty...I will be fine and catch up with old friends.........or have to make new ones..:0))) Onion soup !

New friends are people we've not yet met, P!
All will be well :-))))))

Yes! Onion Soup!!

It's nice you have time to stop and say "Hello" to people on your rounds, P., I had heard that you were all being timed and rushed and had scarcely time to draw breath. We get to know our posties (2 of them, the second a very attractive young lady called Imma - OH is out of the blocks the moment he sees her van turn into our drive) very well indeed, and I get greeted with a hug and a kiss should we see Valerio in town. They read our postcards and apologise when they bring us bills or summons from the town hall. Oh, by the way, Our bank manager sends us postcards from wherever he goes on holiday. You don't get that with HSBC.

Same here, Jan. Never, in all my life while in Britain, had I been greeted by a waitress in the bar with the continental double kiss! Or been in a bar when our bank manager wandered in for a coffee, then on going to pay our bill, find he'd already paid for us. Or been visited by a friend of our neighbour who wandered around our vegetable garden telling us where we were going wrong then, after sending him on his way with a couple of our leeks, came back through the rain from the next village on his little cab-less tractor to bring us 18 fresh eggs, a cabbage and some bean seeds. Never, until we moved here, had we been invited to a neighbour's Christmas meal; invited to the Easter bash; invited to numerous BBQs; had the opportunity of making friends with families from Madrid and Valencia; answered a knock on the front door to find our neighbour standing there with a whole skinned headless goat as a gift - it goes on and on. It feels as thought we were meant to be here and the community has rallied round with the feeling of "Finally! They're here!" I know times they are a-changing, but I hope nothing changes too much while we live out our lives in this Paradise.

In the UK, before we moved out here, we lived in the same house for 18 years, and didn't really know any of the neighbours except for those immediately next door. Everyone left to go to work in town in the morning, and shut themselves in when they came home at night. Us included. Here, after only 3 months, when we packed up to go back to the UK for Christmas and the bad winter months, Little Maria was aghast! She came out into the road, crying "When are you coming back? You MUST come back! WHY are you going?" threw her arms around me and sobbed. I got into the car with a great wet patch on my sweater, and in tears myself. She waved her apron until we were out of sight, shouting "We'll be waiting here for you". And she was.

Aw bless her heart! :)

A lovely story! "Buon natale, Maria." Same as you, Jan - 11 years in our house in Essex, only knew the immediate neighbours, everyone out at work - us included, then doing their own thing for the evening and, even though my old Mum lived with us for 10 of those years, no-one ever called round during the day to see if she was OK; did she fancy a cuppa and a chat? Would she like these flowers/veggies/fruit from the garden? Did she need a ride into town to change her library books? And this - despite things like thunderstorms which sometimes knocked off the electricity in the area, or the fact that an ambulance was required on several occasions and two burly Paramedics pushing an old lady on a dolly are not exactly invisible but not a soul came by to ask after her! I'm getting angry now, so I'll shut up! Pretty thoughts now......... butterflies and flowers ........ Off on the ferry to Britain tomorrow. Have a very Happy Christmas Jan, and all other GoYers, and I'll be back on GoY sometime around 7th/8th January after raucous New Year festivities with my daughter near Alicante. :o)))))))

I really like the angel.

Merry Christmas Karen.

Karenfranceafrica:

It can be somewhat difficult to get into the Christmas spirit when it's hot, not unless you're used to the warmer weather this time of year.

Typically, here in San Diego, CA. it can be quite warm around Christmas (sometimes up to 85º/30º). Although, this year it's been pretty cool only 65ºF/18ºC. during the day, lately. The prediction for Christmas Day is 72ºF/23ºC...so it'll still feel Christmasy to me. :>)

Happy Christmas Gattina and Nariz, wherever you both are and much more happiness at home in 2012. :)

Alas, Frybo, the angel is no more - Sadie and Satchmo knocked the tree over in a fit of over-exhuberance...I'll have to try to replace it today...

Delonix - I'm getting used to it now...I've hung a string of 'icicle' lights in the window...and if I turn the AC really low with the air swing really high, I can even manage to shiver! lol! Happy Hot Christmas to you too! lol!! :))))

Oh no - a fallen angel. Sorry to hear that.

Satchmo? not another 'Fang'type you have adopted.?.!

Karenfranceafrica:

That's so funny! A few years back it was so hot for Christmas that people who had fireplaces (not a all homes have fireplaces...outdoor fireplaces are more common here) burned them with all the windows and doors open just to get into the Christmas spirit.

It appears now, the temps will be closer to 80ºF/27ºC on Christmas Day. It'll still feel Christmasy to me, though. :>)

I'll bet that that looked strangely wonderful, Delonix! :))

Have sent the driver (with specific instructions on what and where) to find a replacement for the fallen angel, Frybo...now waiting with baited breath to see what he comes back with...! lol! :))

Lol! Bloomer! Satchmo is a (mostly, these days) grumpy old black American Cocker Spaniel who is sorely in need of rejuvenation...a haircut will do that...so a pair of clippers in his stocking this year! :))

Does he sing too,Karen ?Lol..:o)).

Not yet, Bloomer...but when he growls, showing his teeth and flicking his tongue, he does a pretty good impression of a Maori warrior. Of course, Fang has never seen a Maori warrior, so it doesn't have the desired effect... lol! :))))

Outside fireplace in your garden K! THeres an idea? :)

It certainly beats having an electrical fire in the living room wall, that's for sure, Pixi! lol!

Plus we watched the generator houses of a nearby industrial yard burning for a while the other night, from the balcony...does that count??? ;))))

Yeah lol! I used to have one of those horrid gas fires on the wall..then they changed it to a nice real look electric fire and surround..its quite nice.
lol@ last comment!

No, Pix...I mean when the wiring went on fire!!! LOL!!! :))))

Signing off now...back Boxing Day...

A Very Happy Holiday Everyone! xxx