General Chat

aw its sounds wonderful, i cant imagine swimming in a pool on christmas day, im going to ask my cousin to send me a OZ christmas card this yr haha littleman would think it was brill if santa had shorts on

thank you all for adding its brilliant to read how everyone else does chrstmas
we have ice this morning so snow is definitly on its way,
the mums at the school said its my fault for puttingmy chrstmas decorations up early lol,

stray V the decs, tinsel was attacked during the night lol,:)

lol! Janey

....... at the Whistler remark!


We paid $27 thou for our house in 1972. Spent $25 thou on an extension in 1977

It's now valued at close to $700 thou....... the house is worth about $32,000, rest is value of the land.


Problem is ....... if we sell it, we will find it difficult to find anywhere else in Vancouver because prices are so high



Oh ................. news tonight, the "s" word was mentioned as possible for higher parts of V by the end of the week

I know just what your house looks like, Sylvia -- my grandmother lived in one for nearly 50 years from the early 1950s, until she was 95. ;) Slightly bigger - two bedrooms on the right with the bathroom in the middle at the back - but no hall, had to go through the little living room to get to the little central hall with the bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen off it. That's in London Ont, monster houses aren't as much of a problem there. Not like here, where I have the six three monster doubles in my backyard now ... where the cat poisoner lives ...

I wonder whether they'll decorate for Christmas? Not likely. You pay nearly half a mil (normal houses in this neighbourhood run under $300G; I paid $45G for mine 25 years ago!) for a sterile, hideous pile (cheapest grey brick, no style at all) in a crappy neighbourhood, you probably spend Christmas skiing in Whistler!

I'm wanting it to snow now so we can turn on the lights (also left up year round). Stop me!

That's actually what I pictured in my mind! Having done quite a bit of travelling around Ontario towns.

Yes, our houses are almost all wood .......... which bothered me when we first came here. I just couldn't understand how a wood house could last, and be worth the money! Took me about 4 years of living in an apartment to decide a wooden house was worth it!

Mind you, I had to give up a wonderful view over the harbour to the North Shore mountains for the house!


and, just like your friend, I just marvel at all the old brick and stone houses back east.

Of course Vancouver only really dates back to about 1860 or so!



Our house is what is commonly called Veterans houses ..... some of which now count as Heritage houses. They were built in 1943-45 for returning soldiers. Basically a one-level bungalow with a basement. Ours started off as a 4 room house .............. almost central front door, living room on one side, bedroom to the other, bathroom and kitchen behind. But it has been extended backwards twice! Lot size is 33' wide by 120' long.

I can't find a "looks like" picture ..... but I'll send you one of our house, along with the monster that was built right next door, replacing a similar house to ours.




s

Sylvia - you reminded me of what I forgot! We have white icycle lights around the 2nd floor balcony too; that's the finishing dazzle on the otherwise low-key decor. ;)

My house actually only dates from the 1940s. It's all brick, "in-fill" on a street of smaller much older houses, half originally wood houses and half brick houses. Some are peaky-roof and some slightly less old have flat roofs, which were mandated after a huge fire that spread roof to roof and wiped out much of this part of town a century ago. The flat-roofed ones look more like 19th century urban English houses, although overall it's much more jumbled, not as neat and uniform as an English street. We went back to peaked roofs because of the snow load, of course.

My friend from Vancouver visited here a few years ago to tour the fall colours, but spent most of the time getting me to drive around old neighbourhoods here and marvelling at the red-brick houses. Houses are wood out west (as they are in most of the US, as soon as you cross the border here in eastern Canada).

My house looks sort of like the mid-section of this double (with just one door on each floor, and one balcony, and a little bit taller and statelier with a three-part rounded window up top).

http://www.buyandsellwithmichelle.ca/images/properties/2009519163211.jpg

Much of the neighbourhood looks kinda like this.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3594/3290693908_1b0c94e93a_z.jpg?zz=1

;)

Janey's house at Christmas sounds so wonderful!!

I do know the style of her house, it's a common one over here as well. I'm guessing about 100 or so years old???


We always have Christmas crackers after the turkey but before the Christmas pudding ............. they're sold in all the stores here, some much better than others of course!!

OH makes rum sauce for the pudding, we pour brandy over the pudding in the kitchen, set it alight, and bring the flaming pudding into the darkened dining room.


Then we set out a jigsaw puzzle on the dining table to be done after we've finished eating, and anyone who wants to can sit there, or sit in the living room and chat ..... the living room is separated from the dining room by a wide archway, so communication is easy. And any kids can play with their toys.

We then put out Christmas cake and mince pies, plus some cold turkey and rolls at about 6 pm, in case anyone feels peckish!

We don't often put up decorations now, what's the point if we are going to be away? This year it's the daughter's turn. And grandson's first Christmas.

If we do stay home, inside decorations do not go up until the weekend immediately before Christmas, and they come down on January 6th, Twelfth Night. All the swag greenery is burnt in the fire place, and the tree goes out the door into the back garden.

We started to do the late set-up to keep our daughter calm, and the second because that is what we were both brought up to do ...... my mother in particular was very superstitious ..........decorations still up after 12th Night was very bad luck.


My birthday is January 7th, and I used to beg and beg her to let them stay up for my birthday party! Never ever succeeded. Even when I suggested we took them down, then put them back up again. I even tried "January 7th is Greek Orthodox Christmas .........".


Like many Canadians we are lazy about outside decorations ............... we have lights (LED ones) around the eaves of the house, and they stay up all year. OH plugs them in in early December. We do put up icicle lights around the balcony railing, and then take them down again.



We started the "pick up friends" for Christmas that very first Christmas in Texas ...................... we'd got married in the August, and moved overseas 3 days after the wedding. No family there ......... only friends. So it just made sense to us to celebrate with friends.


Then we carried it through after coming up here the following August. We had some friends who came every Christmas for years and years. Others came only the once or maybe twice.

OH's sister emigrated over here in 1970, then married 2 years later. But they live 15 hours drive away, and so we only managed to get up there a couple fo times when the children were young, and they never made it down here for Christmas ...... part of it was timing, most was the cost.

It cost as much to send my daughter on the 2 hour flight to visit up there this past August as it had cost for her to come all the way across the country ................. and we can very often fly to the UK for cheaper than it costs us to go to the daughter's!


We had 2 Christmases and 1 Thanksgiving where we had so many people that we took most of the furniture out of the living room and put it in the dining room. The dining table was extended to its limit and set up down the centre of the living room, and we added another table to one end! We moved another side table into the living room, and OH carved the turkey on there because there was no room on the table. I think 15 was the maximum we had.

We don't serve out in the kitchen ............... everything is put on the table, OH carves and gives people their preference, and then they help themselves to all the rest.


Last Christmas we went to OH's sister, her married daughter had just moved back to town (literally one month before!), and insisted on doing Christmas dinner. Their dad was Swiss, so their Christmases always had a lot of Swiss traditions ................ and A followed through with ALL of the British and Swiss ones from her childhood. Including a special yeast bread (not stollen) that is eaten usually after midnight church service ...... sis-i-l had long adapted that to Christmas morning while opening the stockings! It is made the night before, braided and left to rise overnight, then baked in the morning, and eaten with lashings of butter and possibly jam.

Her poor Canadian husband and his parents didn't get too many of their traditions!! But she did the flaming pudding. She put on dinner for about 16 people.

Hi Stray.

Of course i was joking..lol

I guess......our hot Aussie Christmas dinner is similar to what you have in the U.K
After all, the majority of Australians had Brit immigrant ancestors, so for most a traditional hot roast. We ( our family ) have 3 meats. Pork, Ham, Chicken and veg... (Roast Potatoes, Pumpkin, Cauliflower, Peas & Beans ) followed by traditional home made plum pudding with custard or cream.
On occasions, pending on the weather ( Hot ), its the same meats,( cold or hot )... but with salads rather than Veg. Seafood is also very popular...crab meat, shrimp, tiger prawns..ect. A few people do prefer an outdoor BBQ, and we might have a night time BBQ on the odd occasion on Christmas day, and my grandies swim in our pool. This also depends on the weather. Cooking a full roast in Australia inside, on a 40c plus day is not fun....lol


Our weather prediction plays a big part of what Aussies do on Christmas day.

Each State has there own Carols by candleight. Carols at the Domain Sydney.....and Carols at the Myer music bowl Melbourne, are the two that are popular.


Most suburban houses are decorated with lights and sundries, and people walk the streets on a warm or hot evening viewing them.

Our decorated tree is the Aussie Pine ( tradition) and about 6ft in height.... or some may have the Fir tree. Normally purchased at a pine tree plantation or local greengrocers or scout hall......for about $45 -50 As a kid in the 40-50s my father used a Gum tree branch that we decorated.

The song i posted is played on our radio's throughout the festive season, along with many other Aussie Christmas songs, but we get both traditional Christmas songs, and Aussie of course.

Our Christmas cards are mostly standard..... depicting winter snow fields, with Santa and reindeer ect,ect...but you can also purchase Aussie Christmas cards that may have Santa in red shorts and a summer floral shirt on a sled, pulled along by six white boomers ( kangaroos ).....Santa at the beach lying on a deck chair drinking a beer or cocktail.....A Kookaburra....or a Koala up a gum tree chewing on a gum leaf, with baby Koala clung to its back wearing tinsel and a Santa hat. There are quite a few Aussie varieties.

Naturally, Christmas is summer over here, but at a guess i would say, that a small majority of us Australian born peeps, would love to experience perhaps just one white Christmas. It would be a novelty.

Merry Christmas from Australia.

Janey. If you want to hear that song.
http://silver-mg.com/Xmas/Aussie_Christmas.htm



Tony...:>))

Just to add to Uzzi - posting

The Christmas holiday season here in Granada region is a magical affair. - Although it doesn't get going until seemingly the last minute, as it the norm for Spain !

The true mark of the beginning of Christmas in Spain is the Spanish national lottery draw held December 22nd.

'El Gordo' or the - fat one,- is so called because it is the largest national lottery in the world with the total prize fund running into billions and it also has the best odds of winning.

The draw takes place throughout the whole
morning and the whole nation tunes in to watch the very elaborate drawing of the numbers by children who ·"sing out " the numbers drawn

Every village buys blocks of numbers - and add 3 euros to the price of the ticket - for charity or church

It is on every radio and TV channel - and is played in every shop and business - even in my lawyers office last year.

The lottery draw is the moment when Christmas comes to
Spain,

Once the lottery draw has been made, the festivities really begin, Uni s and Schools close for the holidays and lights and decorations suddenly appear overnight.

The traditional Christmas decoration is the 'Belén' or nativity scene. Just like other countries across the world, where a Christmas tr take centre stage in town and village squares, here each town and village has its own Belén,

Some of these scenes are breathtakingly beautiful and elaborate and can be visited in town halls and churches across the land.

Even personal ones can take over whole rooms in the house and just with the Christmas tree -- it is a special family time spent putting it together and adding all the
little touches. working - water wells - streams - neighing donkeys - lights crowing cockerels - every house will a Belén, of some size -

As well as the traditional religious characters and
popular local scenes, one special character is paramount to the Belén,

He is known as 'el Cagón' and to be polite, he is a
figure in a squat position doing a poo! ( quite familiar to me as my old neighbor - to my land - quite often fertilised his land this way - as no doubt our Ag Lab Ancestors did)

His presence symbolises the fertilisation of the land for the coming year but of course provides much amusement for the children.

Although an important and historical figure in the Belén, he has been banned - I understand - from public nativity scenes in many towns by local governments so as not to cause offence . . .

Christmas celebrations in Spain are fantastic - but
walking thru towns and villages in the middle of December, you would hardly notice that Christmas is round the corner, there are very few Christmasy adverts on TV and it seems ages before any lights and/or
decorations go up.

However once the fever takes over, you are spoiled
by the generosity of Christmas spirit bestowed on you by the locals, you get free gifts in the shops and free tipples every where, even in the town hall, lights and decorations appear as if by magic, there is music to be
heard and people seem to suddenly take to the streets and squares just to wish you well and enjoy the atmosphere which goes on right until 6th
January.


Irene In Spain

Oh yes, Tina, snow. Lots and lots of snow. Although maybe once a decade we do get a green Christmas, sometimes mild, sometimes just cold and dry. Snowfall varies quite a bit year to year, but we almost always have a full cover by Christmas.

The first snowfall is our cue to switch on the outdoor lights. If it's early we may not have them on from then up to Christmas, but the snow just cries out for them, to make that snug and peaceful "coming home" feeling when it's dark by 4 pm.

We do, however, keep our outdoor lights going for a while after Christmas, just because they offset the cold and snow some, and we also keep the indoor decorations up a while. My mum usually visits in January, and it's nice to enjoy the warm glow together when it's bitter cold outside, no matter what month it is!

its begining to look a lot like christmas
everyone is stressed skint and full of snot! lol x

aw thank you peirs and you too, xxx

iv edited it for you joan.

xxx

"blushes" yes me and littleman have just spent the last few hours, decorating the front room hahaha, i culdnt help it, i just love christmas and had to do me decs, cant do me tree till they go on sale lol, x

great thread this ! I`ve really enjoyed reading it all !
The Oz "Jingle Bells" is so funny, I loved it !
and Janeys house sound so nice I can picture it in a really traditional Christmassy setting...Snow ?? that would complete the picture !
Tina x

STRAY i heard a rumor

youve got your Christmas decorations up already

Please tell me its just a rumor

Nice to see you Piers. Have missed you posting.
Julia in Derbyshire

i remember a few yrs ago a friend off mine did some travielin & was in oz at xmas time.she said it was strange haven a "xmas" barbie on the beach & the weather was hot instead off cold/snowin lol

I usually spend Christmas out of town with family - parents (now mum) and sibs who all live in different places. But back around 1980, I stayed in town one year because I was birth coaching a friend who was due at New Year and had to stick around.

I invited a bunch of my clients for dinner, students and others from all over the world who were on their own. And the pregnant friend.

Just as I was about to take the turkey out of the oven, she announced she was in labour. I told her to call a taxi (neither of us had cars) and I'd meet her after I fed the multitude!

I then appointed someone to take over for me, and got to the hospital, and waited, and slept in a chair in the waiting room, and was awakened early next morning to be told it was false labour and they were sending her home ...

Your mum sounds like one of my aunts who emigrated to Canada years ago. We went to spend xmas with her when I was small..... It was chaos lol. Open house to everyone. Xmas can be a lonely time for those without family - so it's nice when people are able to share. If I don't speak to you again Stray - wish you and all your family a happy and healthy xmas :)

aw piers thats very nice of you, and them, i love sharing our day, im used to it all the waifs n strays mam has took in over the years hah,


janey, i love dressing my tree, silver n lilac, but this year im thinking of changing it, depending on money,
i dont have outside lights yet, but im thinking of buying some in the sales in january for next year haha, cat/kittens and chrtmas is always fun, i love watching stray on chrstmas day jumping in and out of all the wrappign paper littleman piles in the middle of the room lol, x

Hi Stray,

I work for a company and am based in London/Amsterdam. This xmas I will be spending xmas in Amsterdam - just like last year. I've found the Dutch people to be very hospitable and as a single guy, always receive lots of invites to xmas lunch. Guess they must feel sorry for me :) Last year I enjoyed a meal with a colleague and his family. We had roast turkey and veg, but no xmas pudd lol. This year I'm taking them out for a meal in a restaurant - started saving up last xmas :)