Happy Missmas!

Happy Missmas - let me explain. My wife and I are what is commonly known as retreads. In other words this is our second marriage and we both have three kids from our previous marriage. Traditionally all six of our kids spend the 25th December with their other parent and so we celebrate Christmas at a different time. Add in the complications of Boxing Day on the 26th, one childs birthday on the 28th, New Years Eve on the 31st and New Years Day on the 1st and we finally settled on the 30th as the best day for our celebration. This had the advantage that the 29th was also free. This event was first christened Missmas by my wife a few years ago and the name seems to have stuck ever since. So yesterday was Missmas Eve and today is Missmas Day. My wife and I, our six children and two of their partners will be sitting down to a meal that as far as I can tell will consist of five different joints! Happy Missmas.

Merry Christmas everyone

Sawadee Pee Mai

or Merry Christmas to my English readers. Todays Guardian advent link is here. This take you to a part of a site called santa.net. This part tells you how to say Merry Christmas in loads of different languages. Have a good one.

Guardian advent 23rd December

Todays link is here. This site tells you all about the history of Christmas Cards. Apparently the first commercial Christmas card was made in Britain in the 1840s but it was not until 20 years later that the greeting card business was established. In the Victorian era when a person paid a formal call on a friend, it was customary to leave a visiting card as a reminder of the visit. These cards were typically small, about 2 by 3 inches. In 1860, Charles Goodall & Son, a British publisher of visiting cards, began mass producing cards designed especially for visits at Christmas. These Christmas and New Year's visiting cards were the forerunners of greeting cards and were decorated with simple designs such as a twig of holly or flowers.

Guardian advent 22nd December

Todays link takes you here to the Guardians Christmas film Quiz.

Guardian advent 21st December

Todays link takes you here. It is more mistletoe only this time you can send an electronic sprig of mistletoe to someone else.

Guardian advent 20th December

Todays link takes you here. Believe it or not this takes you to the MySpace page for Father Christmas.

Guardian advent 19th December

Todays link takes you here. This is a site with hints and tips on Christmas recycling. Sadly the tips on food, drinks, presents, decorations and wrapping may come a little late for some. It would have been better had the Guardian picked this for an earlier date but some of the other sections on recycling Christmas Cards and Trees will still be helpful.

Guardian advent 18th December

Todays link is here. This takes you to a page with a quiz about Dickens Christmas Carol. See what you can remember - I scored 4 out of 10. Not good.

Guardian advent 17th December

Todays link is here. This takes you to a site with a picture showing you how to use Furoshiki. According to Wikipedia Furoshiki are a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that were frequently used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods. Although possibly dating back as far as the Nara period, the name, meaning "bath spread", derives from the Edo period practice of using them to bundle clothes while at the public baths.

Guardian advent 16th December

Todays link takes you here. Crazy Frog cover of Last Christmas on You Tube. Nuff said!

Guardian Advent 15th December

Todays link takes you here. It is a list of all the Christmas Number 1s since 1945

The track at the top of the singles chart on 25th December is an annual source of speculation and intrigue. The winner tends to be thoroughly soppy, wonderfully nostalgic or utterly jingoistic!

A technical note; the Christmas Number One does not always synchronise with the dates elsewhere as they refer to 'week ending' chart dates. These are the real Christmas Number Ones!

The singles chart did not begin until 1952. The Christmas Number Ones prior to 1952 are based on sheet music sales. The artists listed for those hits are the ones mainly responsible for popularising the song .

Guardian Advent 14th December

Todays link takes you here. This takes you to Ontario Farm Grown Christmas Trees and everything you could possibly want to know about Christmas Trees including the history of Christmas trees and some great educational stuff about how the Christmas Tree Farm operates.

Guardian Advent 13th December

Todays link is here. It takes you to Santa Con UK. Apparently UK Santacon 2006 is on 16th December and the meeting place will be announced soon!

Guardian Advent 12th December

Todays link is here. It takes you to a quiz where you can answer some questions to determine your Christmas Style. It turns out mine is : Boringly Normal.

Christmas is all about Christmas. Sometimes that means enjoyment, sometimes that means survival. You pick the bits you like and get through.

You think about presents in terms of the recipient, and try and be a little bit original and creative, or at least get them something you know they'll actually use. Your gifts make perfect theoretical sense but sometimes go underappreciated.

You tire of the excessive consumerism of the season, but you contribute your bit - you spend more than you expect, but you don't see yourself as adding to the problem. You think you aren't influenced by advertising or media, but you are (a bit).

You are probably middle class. You probably own a jumper. You may well read the Guardian. You have straight hair. Your children write thank you letters, and if you don't have any, you do it yourself.

Guardian Advent 11th December

Todays link is here. The BBC Gardening website gives you a step by step guide to making your own wreath.

Guardian Advent 10th December

Todays link can be found here. This is a link to the Poinsettia pages. Amongst which can be found the legend of the Poinsettia.

A charming story is told of Pepita, a poor Mexican girl who had no gift to present the Christ Child at Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked slowly to the chapel with her cousin Pedro, her heart was filled with sadness rather than joy.

"I am sure, Pepita, that even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes," said Pedro consolingly.

Not knowing what else to do, Pepita knelt by the roadside and gathered a handful of common weeds, fashioning them into a small bouquet. Looking at the scraggly bunch of weeds, she felt more saddened and embarrassed than ever by the humbleness of her offering. She fought back a tear as she entered the small village chapel.

As she approached the alter, she remembered Pedro's kind words: "Even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes." She felt her spirit lift as she knelt to lay the bouquet at the foot of the nativity scene.

Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into blooms of brilliant red, and all who saw them were certain that they had witnessed a Christmas miracle right before their eyes.

From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the Flores de Noche Buena, or Flowers of the Holy Night, for they bloomed each year during the Christmas season.

Today, the common name for this plant is the poinsettia!

Guardian Advent 9th December

Todays link takes you here. This is a website all about Mistletoe. You can find out all about the Tenbury Mistletoe Festival. I was amazed to read that there was loads of mistletoe, and all very-heavily berried. I was led to believe that Mistletoe was in such short supply that anyone buying was almost criminally guilty of killing off a plant that was in severe decline.

Apparently not so. The site goes on to say that with the glut of mistletoe prices are low - normally they expect in the region of 700 - 800 entries at the first sale... this year they received 1,100 lots. Quality mistletoe was selling at 50p - 70p per pound - about half what it makes in some years.

There is even a specialist Mistletoe Consultancy called Mistletoe Matters which provides information on all aspects of mistletoe in the UK.

Guardian Advent 8th December

Todays Link is here. My favourite so far! It takes you the website for The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. Great story and the best animation of all time.

Guardian Advent 7th December

Todays link is here. This takes you to the website of the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre and tells you all about Britains only herd of Reindeer. You can even adopt one if you so wish. The one above is called Crann.