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Community => The Lounge => Topic started by: Ultimate Paragon on December 23, 2014, 01:21:41 pm

Title: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on December 23, 2014, 01:21:41 pm
What are your Holiday plans?
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: Askold on December 23, 2014, 02:06:26 pm
Taking the kids to see their grandparents and enjoying a family Christmas. Starting with my side of the family and then going to wife's side of the family. On new year we are also going to my brother's for the christening of his twins.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: niam2023 on December 23, 2014, 07:26:56 pm
Going to a potluck at my grandma's house with the whole family.

Hope to make my stepdad really uncomfortable, and "tutor" my dear little niece Isabela into becoming like me, due to my discovery that her parents and likely other relatives spank her and use such barbaric methods to "discipline" her.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: Eiki-mun on December 23, 2014, 07:42:51 pm
I'm going to work 2 hours early tomorrow. At 5 AM.

Christmas sucks.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: dpareja on December 23, 2014, 08:20:30 pm
I'm visiting family who live about two hours away by train, but since there's no evening train (or bus) back, I can't return the same day as I would normally but have to spend around $90 on a hotel for the night. (They have dogs, and I'm a bit sensitive to dander, so I'm not about to stay at their place overnight.)

And then the morning train is way too early for me to catch reasonably, so instead of a nice train ride back, I'm taking the bus and seeing the sights of the highway. Blarg.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: rookie on December 23, 2014, 09:38:35 pm
Working xmas eve. Xmas morning presents. Then a big Chinese food lunch. After that I'll probably take the dog for a walk.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: Art Vandelay on December 23, 2014, 09:49:36 pm
Big, traditional Christmas dinner with the family, followed by exchanging presents on Christmas day. Should be a good time.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: Zygarde on December 23, 2014, 10:11:23 pm
Christmas dinner with my grandmother and my nieces (all three of them.)
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: lord gibbon on December 24, 2014, 01:33:34 am
Having the biggest Christmas celebration in years, with my mother's entire extended family in town, 16 all together. There's my parents, me and my three siblings, my grandparents, my uncle, his daughter, my aunt, her husband, her two sons, her daughter, and said daughter's husband. It's glorious.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: ironbite on December 24, 2014, 10:30:46 am
The Day of Spawning is today.

Ironbite-so there's that.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: mellenORL on December 24, 2014, 12:23:32 pm
Military professionals showing their soft side.

NORAD's Santa Tracker. Send it to your favorite little relatives!
(click to show/hide)

They put quite a bit of effort into this. Here's one of several "live cam" updates they made. There's a play arrow on the left of the sat map on NORAD's site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDuasKt-dSg
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: dpareja on December 24, 2014, 03:45:53 pm
Actually, the Santa Tracker got its start from a typo in a Sears-Roebuck ad, apparently.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/norad-santa-tracker-christmas-tradition-began-with-a-wrong-number-1.2883284

Quote
NORAD's Santa Tracker is an annual Christmas tradition that began back in December 1955, when a straight-laced military man decided to be a good sport in response to a newspaper typo that prompted kids to call his top-secret hotline.

As the story goes, Sears Roebuck & Co. had placed an advertisement in a Colorado Springs newspaper telling kids to call a phone number so they could talk to Santa.

However, the number was wrong.

Instead of Santa, the five-year-old child who called the number seeking the man in the red suit got Col. Harry Shoup, the operations commander at the Continental Air Defence Command in Colorado.

The colonel realized what had happened after getting more calls and had his staff give the kids updates on where the unidentified flying object that looked like a sleigh was.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: Second Coming of Madman on December 24, 2014, 07:02:38 pm
Just unloaded the presents from the car. Christ, I wish I didn't have a huge family sometimes.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: Sigmaleph on December 24, 2014, 07:24:45 pm
Got together with my parents, my sister and brother-in-law at the beach house. Should be fun.
Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: MadCatTLX on December 25, 2014, 01:22:00 am
Well my night went about the same as it does every year. Family from my dad's side of the family came over and we had dinner and opened presents. Most of what I got was cash, which will likely get spent on tools for various projects. Maybe use it finally get around to restoring my lathe.

Happy Heath's Warming Eve everyone.

Title: Re: 2014 December Holidays
Post by: rookie on December 25, 2014, 10:39:12 pm
Well as December 25th winds down I'm sitting on my big beautiful front porch smoking a, uh, cigarette and enjoying a very nice scotch. Xmas was a success. Santa came (details are NSFW) but more importantly the kids really enjoyed the presents from each other. For  9, 8, and 6 year olds they really put thought into each others gifts. The Chinese food was as good as Chinese delivery can be. And while taking the family dog on a walk through the woods (which we had pretty much to ourselves) I was able to avoid any family visits. Everyone won!

The only drawback is the shot resistant flu. #s 1 and 2 have it with 3 &4 possible. But honestly there are ten people in my family (myself,  Mrs. Rookie, and our 8 kids) so the odds of everyone being healthy at the same time during the height of cold season are remote enough to want a Professor Frink style explanation why it's a fools hope.

Anyways, happy Dec. 25th from me and mine to all out there.