This is all we’ve got.
Really, that’s it for Christmas here. We didn’t put up a tree, we didn’t decorate, we didn’t get presents, and no way in hell are we going to church. We’ve got a few trees in the yard with snow on them.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I woke up the other night to take a leak, and saw 2 or 3 inches of snow outside. I had a WTF moment, as it was nowhere near cold enough for snow to stick. Then I ACTUALLY woke up, and of course there was no snow.
It’s much the same here. I still shake my head at the balloon kitsch in people’s yards. I know most are going to the land-fill eventually. It might make an interesting archeological layer someday.
Thanks for the snow shot. No snow here, just rain which may become your snow in a few days. I woke up this morning to “we have stuff to do.” Lots of stuff. I love my little family, but they add a lot of activity to my life when I would rather lay in bed and hope away this pain in my hip.
When I go outside on a quiet snowy night near christmas, I can treasure my neighbors Christmas decorations by listening to the soft leaf-blower whine of the little fans that inflate Jesus and the rest of the creche. BTW, a single blow-up figure runs about $200-$300.
My neighbors down the street have created Jesus of the Sewers by aligning their hefty ceramic figurines around a massive storm drain at the street at the corner of their property. I guess the idea is to pretty-up a flat slab of concrete. In past years, Jesus was a light bulb but they’ve got a little ceramic white boy in there this year.
Framing that in a more positive fashion, you didn’t cut down a tree.
Here in Australia no snow at all – just, as usual, fire and rumours of fire.
But best wishes for a good holiday to you and Mary, PZ.
Re: Blow up ornaments
(An Xmas classic)
I don’t go to church or sing carols, but I do celebrate Xmas as a secular tradition, because peace on earth and good will toward men is a tough concept to argue against.
Got myself my usual Christmas depressions.
At least it’s not snowing. The mud outside fits my mood much better.
Neighbor is again to cheap to by new decorations, that ugly crap looks like it’s from the 80s.
No snow here in Victoria British Columbia. Vancouver Island is lined up for a series of wind storms with rain and daytime highs in the 5 to 10 Celsius region. No frosty mornings until at least the New year. Windstorm moving in for Christmas Day. I can at least hope the wind will blow all the outdoor decorations around here away.
I like it like this, with perhaps a tad less wind.
If you celebrate, Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, whichever you prefer.
Here in the west of England, the Christmas Day temperature is forecast to be 11 degrees. Centigrade. The early afternoon temperature was 15 degrees the other day. We probably won’t see snow, not without migrating to Aviemore.
No snow here. But judging by the roofs, you only have old snow. Either that or the insulation is really lousy.
Toronto’s having a white Christmas. Shovelled four inches of the crap this morning. The magic’s gone.
Christian “love” has long since squeezed any kind of fun and festive feelings out of the holidays for me. IMO, no tree, no decorations, no presents, and no church/religion is precisely the BEST way to “celebrate” Christmas (okay, sometimes I also watch “Life of Brian”). Generally, the only thing that changes around my house during this mandatory societal holiday season is, inevitably, someone will verbally speak the word “Christmas” or “Thanksgiving” in front of whatever we decided to eat for dinner that day. This year we had “Thanksgiving” pizza, and tomorrow we are having “Christmas” meatballs and spaghetti.
When I celebrate, I want to choose the day, the reason, and the meaning that best fits me and my clan. For example, I find celebrating my loved ones’ birthdays far more pleasant, meaningful, creative, fun, and worthy of such celebratory effort. After all, my people are all living and real, and what the hell did this Jesus clown do for anyone I know? While I find a lot of humor in, say, “May the Fourth…be with you”, its hardly something worthy of a national holiday. Same can be said for JC’s b’day.
North Scandinavia is pretty good in terms of snow. And the temperatures around my place have been moderately cold.
I have personally boycotted Xmas, apart from mailing (physical) cards. I think the news from USA sucked all energy out of me.
Here in the Adelaide hills (which is part of & included in the Mt Lofty Ranges) we get a Total Fire Ban day with dangerous, extreme bushfire conditions predicted and 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit) forecast. It might get even hotter than the forecast of course.
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-24/christmas-boxing-day-fire-weather-forecast-sa/104759970
Fire fighters here and in other states notably Victoria prepare to risk their own lives defend homes and lives and everything from potential deadly blazes in the worst conditions since the Unprecedented Bushfires of 5 years ago..
In my garden the Christmas Bushes (Bursaria spinosa) that I[‘ve planted years ago are now out in white flowrers attracting bees (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bursaria_spinosa ) Hopefully even some native blue-banded bees.
Out in the Bush specifically in Stringybark (Eucalyptus baxteri & obliqua) woodland aided by underground mycorhyizzal fungi networks the Hyacinth orchids (Dipodium.roseum) are flowering..It’s so dry and so much has yellowed off in a hot dry year with a worse Summer than usual predicted. But then Global Overheating means future Summers are likely to get ever worse and worse now. Last night I went out and gave my garden a good soaking hoping to charge the soil with water and coolness to keep “my” plants alive.
I’ve got a family lunch planned catching up with good people, good food, good company at my brothers place in Strath. A relaxed Christmas hopefully staying cool inside. Insid e I’ve got a fake plastic conifer fullof decorations and lights a tacky nod to pagan solstice yule traditions since kidnapped / synthesised with Christian mythology and traditions, a small nod to the day and I guess social pressure to conform with it.
Meanwhile in Ukraine and Gaza and so many other places.. For so many other people, things are far worse. (Understatement.)
^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipodium
Christmas trees and pressies for loved ones. Lovely. Nothing to do with Christianity for me.
Visiting relatives in Colorado, where it is currently pretty mild and well above freezing during the day. Back home in the northeastern US, it’s quite a bit colder and it looks like they got a little snow this morning.
I generally like Christmas- it helps a lot that I get along great with most of my family and love spending time with them, and that I feel no competitive pressure regarding gifts, decorating, etc. To me it makes sense to brighten up what is literally the darkest (longest night) time of year with a holiday.
I’m in my mid-forties and I’ve only had one white Christmas in my entire life and it wasn’t here in Maryland. I had to go to northern Michigan to spend the holiday with my dad to have a proper white Christmas. I wish for it every year, but it’s completely futile and it’s the same again this year. Though, at least it’s properly cold and I’m not having to run the A/C like last year. That’s one of many reasons I’m moving to Anchorage, Alaska within the next couple of years. I need snow during the Christmas season or it just doesn’t feel right. I want to live somewhere where I can take something like that for granted.
When I first moved up here to Pennsylvania 22 years ago, the winters were pretty crappy. We usually had a run or two of days in the -5F to -10F range, and it was frozen solid from early December until March. Now, it’s bouncing between just around freezing and 50F. I have to admit I don’t so much miss winter because it makes my acreage much more valuable for crops, and I don’t like being cold as much as I used to. Last summer was bad – a couple runs over 90F and a few days just below 100F. We are so fucked.
Christmas, Easter and the August Bank Holiday are the three times in the year when my brother comes back home for a week, and the family is together again, so I am very keen on this season. I like to think of it as Saturnalia, though we don’t have any slaves to swap roles with. If you take the other two as Cerialia and Consualia that’s all three of the major Roman harvest festivals, so it’s consistent at least. I’m still trying to get the family to sing the Saturnalia carols I wrote for the occasion, but their Latin pronunciation is awful, so there’s plenty of work there yet.