MERRY HOLIDAY

They go under wicked! He heeee!

Karen

Happy Holidays everyone. I did my traditional trip to The City to look at the windows. I made a YouTube movie of the windows at Bergdorf and Goodman that you can see here http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=8qXARh9i4wk .

hey! I scored a Godiva Santa from Santa, a nifty pair of metallic sheened driving gloves, lovely earrings, some frying pans (I believe Santa had ulterior motive with these) and two books, each the third book in a trilogy I have been reading. In case anyone wants to know, Brisingr, the third book in Christopher Paolini's Eragon trilogy is out. I have waited years for young Chris to finish this up, and a promise from Santa to go back out to the Smith College Greenhouse in January when we go out to watch my daughter play in the hoop band. Not bad for the day! Only downside was my sweet potato zucchini latkes didn't turn out quite so hot, but this is due to my total inexperience with this recipe. They were OK, but next time will be much better. I have never actually made latkes before, just seen it done. But they were good along with the roast beast and sugar snap peas. We had my daughter's sugar cookies for dessert. A good meal.
Hope you had a great day everyone and that your latkes were crispy and stuck together!
Martha

Gardenmart, I love Chris Paolini's books, and am now re-reading the first two. Finished Eragon and now on Eldest. I was so disappointed with the movie. What did you think? I just felt they left too much out. Were they working on a low budget? I thought it would have been better made into a 3 hour movie like the Lord of the Rings trilogy was. I loved LOTR, and thought they did quite well with the movies. I did like how they made Saphira in the Eragon movie, and I thought the actors they picked worked well.

Karen

Dear Karen,
There is no way that they could have gotten all of those two books into one movie. Even Harry Potter, with a movie for each book has had to leave stuff out.
I just read Gone with the Wind this summer. Amazing what got left out of that, and what made it in.
I thought Saphira was beautifully made also! I loved the first Star Trek movie, long held to be a bomb, because they had great views of the Starship Enterprise. It was like being in the space station hovering above it. but I don't want to divert this thread anymore! I could go on.
Martha

Hi Maria! So nice to hear from you. A very happy, healthy 2009 to you!

Nice video, Cat. That's the first time I have ever seen an 'and' inserted in the store name!

You did pretty well, Martha - must have been good all year!

Did I even spell the names correctly? LOL

I really scored!!!! I got an Earthbox with trolley so you can wheel it around from my mother! I might have mentioned it to her in July or August that I wished I had one!!!! Moms are great, especially when you're the kid for a change! Of course, I was a good mom to my own kids, got them not everything they wanted but enough booty so they know they are loved and wanted and treasured. (New luggage, exactly the blowdryer she wanted, new footie pajamas, earrings, etc.) No puppies or ponies.

Victor, I don't think I have ever heard it called anything but "Bergdorfs"and I was actually great!
Martha

Our one son got Betty and I an electronic starter for the NIT. That was great but if one touches the wrong button the horn and lights do their break in anouncement. To get it shut up one needs a fourteen year old to figure out the correction sequence of button pushing. So far we have learned how to set off the alarm. It's nice to know the dealer demo worked just fine. Tomorrow AM he is going to have to retrain a couple of electronic idiots.

My favorite gift is the special edition Budweiser stein. I've been a collector of the Budweiser mugs for about 30 years, and I am missing just one or two, as funds were kinda skimpy during those years.

I wonder if one (a stein) will even be cast next year, as the company now has new owners.

Candyce, I would think the new owners would keep the tradition going, hopefully.

Karen

Budweiser sold thousands and thousands of those steins. If that was enough to show a healthy profit the practice will be continued.

For what it is worth my set included all of them up to year 2000. Sold them in a good Americana Auction for about half of their retail value and the auction cost was twenty five percent sellers fee.
This was better than what I think I know about the sale of collectable dolls. They usually do not do as well as this. I liked those steins so it got to be a modern collectable.....We ran out of space and interest at about the same time.

That's disappointing, Doc. I wonder what those steins would go for on eBay?

Karen

I did not check Ebay but I doubt very much if any better as a set. Maybe one or two individual items would do better. I quit doing Ebay for things like this. To much work for smalls.

Gee........that's about what I expected. Modern collectables less than fifty to seventy five years old are usually a loser. Sometime after that the whole world of collectables as advertised as limited to so many production days are a jolk. If an item gets hot they go to three shifts a day and even add production lines to satisfy the demand. There is hardly any merchandising that has true limited number to be produced. This completely erodes the value of modern productions. Not even the nationally known advertisers have true limited edition...of anything. Then if an item stays hot or for some reason becomes a real demand they will reproduce in the same molds again. The only persons making a profit are the manufacturers. Sad but true. This however increases the demand for real antiques and honest collectables before their production skams.

Love reading all the cheer that everyone experianced over the holidays. We are still in New Orleans and still opening gifts! Our son had the 25th off, but we let him sleep in and only did some gifts. We mostly visited with my mom and brother who flew down too to spend with our DS and ate and ate some more. Mom made her signiture rum balls and pralines. Her pralines are way better than anything I have found in New Orleans.

DH found for me some great arts and crafts pottery that I collect and my mom went over the top with an amazing Zuni coral and turquoise squash blossom. . I was shocked as she is not one to shop for gifts at 93. My son gave me a set of hand turned olive wood nesting bowls, which I love. My brother does not "do" Christmas, but did tuck some hard cash in to my DS stocking which he got from Mr.Harrah on Christmas Eve. Mr. Harrah was very, very, very good to my DB. He was tickled with getting a stocking and some nice gifts, so he may choose to have Christmas with us again.

But I think Carrie really scored with her mother's gift of an earth box. I will be awaiting a report of how well it works.

We are off to the superdome to watch the Saints and then we will finish opening our gifts which are mostly books to each other.

Happy holidays to all. Patti

Great to hear you are having such a good time with family in New Orleans, Patti. We had a great time here with my nephew from Texas and my sister from Alaska. Too bad my sister from Texas couldn't make it. Maybe another year, or maybe we could go to her house next year. That would be fun! She is building a new house right now, and should be done soon.

Karen

Patti, your gifts all sound beautiful! I especially like the sound of "hand turned olive wood nesting bowls." I am impressed by you folks' ability to let go of the New England Christmas and just up and go to NOLA! I've often thought it would be better to go somewhere and do something instead of just trading junk. (Now if I got an Earthbox every year, that would be different!) But my kids want to "dream of a white Christmas" and visit all the grandparents and cousins (whom they haven't seen since Thanksgiving) and eat all the same foods off the same dishes, etc.

But, DH and I have gone to Oakland for the last few New Year's Eves, but this year for whatever reason the flights are all packed. And DDs BFF got strep throat so she can't go to Times Square on New Year's Eve. Christmas was always MY turn and New year's Eve was HIS turn, which means they're rattling around with nothing to do. So, since our Oakland trip fell through, and DD#1 won't be cavorting with her new college friends, and the flights to San Juan are all empty - guess who is spending New Year's Eve in Puerto Rico?! Woo hoo! Yippee! The most expensive part is the rental car!

Great, Carrie! I would love to spend New Year's Eve anywhere warm, and preferably tropical.

Karen

Holiday Barbies started in 1988 and people did not catch on for about 3 years. A 1988 Holiday Barbie will go for 300 and more easy, of course still in box. I had 88-93 and sold them back in the early 2000. So if you see these at yard sales nab them.

Nice deal Carrie.

I'm so excited! edited because I was responding to the wrong thread. Actually, I'm in the middle of "herding cats" - my mother's term for getting children to act quickly and efficiently.

This message was edited Dec 29, 2008 1:46 PM

Good luck on that one, Carrie!!!!

We made it home to Nantucket to a clear cold night, but had two very excited dogs to meet us. Carrie have a great time tomorrow in PR. Enjoy the heat. I plan on spending all day tomorrow catching up on DG. I just didn't spend much time on the computer while in New Orleans. Too busy eating. Happy last day of the year to all. Patti

Glad you made it home safely, Patti. Happy tails wagging to be sure.

Oh, I wish I was going to PR. Enjoy.

Happy New Year to all.

We went on a cruise one Christmas which left from Miami. It left the Sunday before Christmas and came back the following Saturday, 7 days. My family and I abandoned "the dream of a white Christmas" happily as we toured Mexico, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman and had our Christmas dinner at sea! It was snowing here. I did not miss a single snowflake for a nanosecond. We brought our "Inflate-o-tree" made of beach ball vinyl, which we kept in our stateroom and each had one small present, cause the cruise was the biggie. We stayed the rest of the weekend in Miami before coming home and toured a couple of botanic gardens while we were there. Fairchild Tropical Garden was gorgeous! I would do it again. it went all the way down to 70 degrees, the Miamians had their sweaters and coats on.
Martha

Oh, Martha, that sounds fantastic! That's the kind of Christmas I would like. When it gets in the 70's I'm in my shorts and t-shirt. Hey, even when I lived in hotter than heck Arizona I still had a t-shirt and shorts on.

Karen

I guess I'm one that truly loves a New England Christmas, even if some years, we have no snow to enjoy. I kinda like this year ... cool enough to snow a few days before the holiday, but warm enough on Christmas Day to drive safely.

i'm with you candyce - i especially enjoyed cross country skiing last week - and now this weekend again!!

I'm not one for cross-country skiing, or for any kind of skiing for that matter. But I don't mind a mean toboggan ride or two!!

Gardenmart. sounds like you truly loved your Christmas at sea. Clever doing an inflatable tree on the cruise. Practical too! Glad you didn't need it. The Fairchild garden is such a joy. I was last there a few years after it was so devastated by Andrew and need to go visit it again. That was heart breaking.

We had trouble finding a Christmas tree in New Orleans, but DH saw a little paper flyer on a telephone post for a small nursery in Uptown where we found a perfect little tree with a stand already attached to it to give our DS a little taste of home. We put it up when he was at work as a surprise. Here is the picture. I found some glittery star tags and tied them on with just some little balls and 4 Santa ornaments and two boxes of candy canes. He loved it. I bought a red cyclamen at the nursery for the dining room table and some red place mats which was all the decorating we did.

Now home and excited about seeing some snow. I lived in Hawaii for a year and missed the cold too. But seeing so many plants in bloom in New Orleans has me tempted to think about spending Jan-March down there. Patti

Welcome back Patti! Glad you had a nice time and found a Christmas tree too!!

I'm with Candyce...i'll take the warm trip any time of the year BUT Christmas. Have to be in Maine or at least a place that gets/has snow on Christmas Eve/Day. On the (rare) years without snow....they even felt "off" in some odd way.

Pixie, it did feel "off", but not being with our DS would have been worse.

New Orleans does a good job of making it seem festive with great food and wonderful lighting and decoration of all the historic homes. But no snow and warm. We went to the botanical garden and saw so many roses in bloom, and all decorated with Christmas lights. That was weird. Also all the blooming shrubs with white twinkle lights and the palms all light up along Canal street is odd. I took a picture of DH walking along the Mississippi with a sweet little working tug all decorated for Christmas laying along side the levee. That day was cool, in the 40's. Patti

Nice looking tree, Patti! It's amazing what you can do on such short notice.

We are getting lots of snow today. It started around 9:30 and has been coming down hard ever since. Just keeps coming. If it doesn't stop we'll be snowed in for sure. Wish we'd had this for Christmas.

Karen

yes, my son is out there with his snowblowers now. seems to be a lull in the snowfall at the moment, but as i mentioned before, you can have all of my share. I actually appreciated not having to travel at the holiday this season. It felt good to be home, though I could do without the snow. i got some apples from the markdown rack at the supermarket this morning and i am making my traditional cold weather recipe, cranberry applesauce. warms the place up and smells great!
Martha

This message was edited Dec 31, 2008 3:55 PM