The Drop in Centre

[Reader1810]

1 hour ago, mollyhousemouse said:

morning all!

Merry Christmas to you and yours,

may your days be filled with peace & joy!

 

Thank you, molly.   Merry Christmas to you and yours. 

[Reader1810]

3 hours ago, dughlas said:

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL 🎄

Thanks, Dugh.  

 

Merry Christmas to you, Mum, and wee Thistle.  

[Reader1810]

6 hours ago, Backwoods Boy said:

🎄  Merry Christmas to Everyone 🎄

🎅 I hope Santa has treated you all well 🎅

Merry Christmas BB  

[Reader1810]

6 hours ago, Thorn Wilde said:

Good morning, and Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you all enjoy this day. And Happy Birthday, @Mikiesboy!

All the love from me to you!    

Merry Christmas, Thorn.  

[Reader1810]

2 hours ago, Parker Owens said:

The bells are all rung,

the sweet carols sung,

the stockings now hung;

so joy I give tongue:

 

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Merry Christmas, Parker. The poem is wonderful.  

[Reader1810]

3 hours ago, Kitt said:

Good morning all and a very Merry Christmas to you all!

Merry Christmas Kitt.  

[Reader1810]

35 minutes ago, BHopper2 said:

Good Morning.

Merry Christmas, Merry Yule, Merry Saturnalia, whatever you celebrate or not, may today be a joyous occasion for all

Good morning and Merry Christmas, A.  

[mollyhousemouse]

time for cinnamon roll pull apart bread & gifts

back later

love to you all!

[Mikiesboy]

1 hour ago, BHopper2 said:

Good Morning.

Merry Christmas, Merry Yule, Merry Saturnalia, whatever you celebrate or not, may today be a joyous occasion for all.

Visited Mom this morning, she sends her Merry Christmas to everyone.

 

Happy Birthday, tim. I know I've said in other places, but wanted to say it again.

 

 

To all, hug someone, tell them you love them, and hold them to you with everything you got. 

Good advice, A! xox  and thanks for the Birthday and Christmas greetings xoxo

[Mikiesboy]

My Husband says, i'm to lie down for an hour. So i will do as i'm told. Have a wonderful day all. 

 

Merry Christmas...xoxox

[Parker Owens]

8 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

My Husband says, i'm to lie down for an hour. So i will do as i'm told. Have a wonderful day all. 

 

Merry Christmas...xoxox

 

Snooze and rest; and I will raise my midday glass to celebrate your birthday! 

[Thorn Wilde]

1 hour ago, BHopper2 said:

Good Morning.

Merry Christmas, Merry Yule, Merry Saturnalia, whatever you celebrate or not, may today be a joyous occasion for all.

Visited Mom this morning, she sends her Merry Christmas to everyone.

 

Happy Birthday, tim. I know I've said in other places, but wanted to say it again.

 

 

To all, hug someone, tell them you love them, and hold them to you with everything you got.

 

Merry Christmas! Fun fact: The Pagan yule (or jól) as celebrated by the Norse, actually took place in January (around the 13th or 14th), once the sun had begun to visibly return, rather than around the solstice when it was darkest. They sacrificed to the gods as thanks rather than as prayer. Legend goes a Christian Norwegian king low key moved it to around Christmas time, before he 'came out' as a Christian, so he could appropriate it for Christmas later. Another theory is that most people didn't much care, and that when the Norse were Christianised, people just called it jól because it took place at roughly the same time of year.

 

Okay, I'm a nerd, lecture over.

[Kitt]

11 minutes ago, Thorn Wilde said:

Okay, I'm a nerd, lecture over.

But you are an INTERESTING nerd!

[Thorn Wilde]

6 minutes ago, Kitt said:

But you are an INTERESTING nerd!

 

I blame my mum. She's the biggest nerd. The nerd to trump all nerds.  Taught me everything I know. Including the bit about yule.

[Defiance19]

Merry Christmas afternoon 🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dughlas]

22 minutes ago, Thorn Wilde said:

 

I blame my mum. She's the biggest nerd. The nerd to trump all nerds.  Taught me everything I know. Including the bit about yule.

Mums can be that way.

[Kitt]

Doing the new tablet happy dance!

[mollyhousemouse]

hi friends!

gift giving was a big success, a few naps were taken, and giggles were heard

now the ham is in the oven, the potatoes on to cook, and the house is quiet

hope all your days were good and full of love!

[Thorn Wilde]

Oh! This is such a golden opportunity to ask about Christmas traditions! What do your families eat for Christmas dinner? When do you decorate the Christmas tree (if you have one)? Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? We can compare notes!  

 

We eat roast pork rib. Slow cooked, put in the oven in the morning. Then turn the grill on to get crackling at the end. Served with potatoes, various kinds of pickles, red sour cabbage (it's kind of like sauerkraut, but the seasoning's different), mustard, rowanberry jelly. No gravy, just let the fat melt off the rib while cooking it into the cooking tray that has water in it, and pour that over the potatoes. Christmas is not supposed to be healthy. Dessert is vanilla ice cream with cloudberry jam.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Thorn Wilde

[Kitt]

Tradition starts with breakfast here. Sausage gravy over biscuits. Mine are made with well drained ground sausage and beef stock to make the gravy, making it a tad healthier than gram's version using the sausage drippings.

 

Lunch is catch as catch can while cooking up a storm for dinner.

 

Originally dinner started around 2 with an antipasto, (Yes I am Italian)  followed around 4 ish with fresh pasta, home made sauce and several different meats. Break time to wash dishes and around 6 ish out comes turkey, gravy done with chicken stock instead of bird drippings,   home made cranberry relish, mashed potatoes and swede, sauteed broccoli with olive oil, garlic and lemon. Another dishes break,  then coffee and deserts.  A tray with Gorgonzola cheese, apple and orange slices, figs and dates, and rice pudding made from my Norwegian mother in laws recipe, and there is usually pumpkin pie as well.  Bear in mind this was when we had anywhere from 15 to 30 peeps in for dinner and we took turns what house, with everyone helping with the cooking and clean up.

 

Now that we are a much smaller crowd we do the pasta another night, and stick to greatly reduced amounts of the bird and trimmings.  It's tough to find a turkey to feed 5 without a megaton of left overs!

[Thorn Wilde]

1 minute ago, Kitt said:

Tradition starts with breakfast here. Sausage gravy over biscuits. Mine are made with well drained ground sausage and beef stock to make the gravy, making it a tad healthier than gram's version using the sausage drippings.

 

Lunch is catch as catch can while cooking up a storm for dinner.

 

Originally dinner started around 2 with an antipasto, (Yes I am Italian)  followed around 4 ish with fresh pasta, home made sauce and several different meats. Break time to wash dishes and around 6 ish out comes turkey, gravy done with chicken stock instead of bird drippings,   home made cranberry relish, mashed potatoes and swede, sauteed broccoli with olive oil, garlic and lemon. Another dishes break,  then coffee and deserts.  A tray with Gorgonzola cheese, apple and orange slices, figs and dates, and rice pudding made from my Norwegian mother in laws recipe, and there is usually pumpkin pie as well.  Bear in mind this was when we had anywhere from 15 to 30 peeps in for dinner and we took turns what house, with everyone helping with the cooking and clean up.

 

Now that we are a much smaller crowd we do the pasta another night, and stick to greatly reduced amounts of the bird and trimmings.  It's tough to find a turkey to feed 5 without a megaton of left overs!

 

I can only imagine. That sounds amazing, though, the bit with the pasta and everything! Yum! ❤️ 

 

We do this baked swede mash, only it has some more things like egg in it, when we celebrate in Finland. Then we have ham, which is traditional there, and eat it on Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is fish, usually Lutefisk (which is a lot less gross than people say it is assuming it's actually prepared right). But in Norway we eat the big dinner on Christmas Eve. Then we have leftovers and other tasty stuff for Christmas Day brunch.

[dughlas]

Recently we have been going to a nearby German gasthaus with friends and neighbors. I order jäger schnitzel, roasted potatoes and red cabbage. My mum had weiner schnitzel, spaetzle and red cabbage. Growing up we went to my maternal grandparents on Christmas Eve to celebrate with aunts, uncles and cousins.There we would have a buffet with baked ham, roast beef, pickles, bread rolls, cheese, cookies etc. On Christmas day we opened our stockings before a breakfast to toasted english muffins and hot chocolate. After breakfast we opened presents. At mid-day we went to my dad's parents to celebrate with another group of aunts, uncles and cousins. The meal there was roast turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, beans, etc.

[Kitt]

2 minutes ago, Thorn Wilde said:

we eat the big dinner on Christmas Eve

That is a whole other set of traditions in an Italian family. No meats at all, pasta dressed in olive oil with seven different kinds of fish. Anchovies are cooked down into a paste in the olive oil, and there are 6 other types, usually including cod or flounder, calamari, shrimp, smelts, crab cakes and squinguilli.  Other Italian families I know use different fishes, but its always 7 types.  Last night we only did three, since it was just me and hubby. Seven would have had us knee deep in left overs and fish does not keep well!

[Thorn Wilde]

Just now, Kitt said:

That is a whole other set of traditions in an Italian family. No meats at all, pasta dressed in olive oil with seven different kinds of fish. Anchovies are cooked down into a paste in the olive oil, and there are 6 other types, usually including cod or flounder, calamari, shrimp, smelts, crab cakes and squinguilli.  Other Italian families I know use different fishes, but its always 7 types.  Last night we only did three, since it was just me and hubby. Seven would have had us knee deep in left overs and fish does not keep well!

 

There's a very natural explanation for traditions with fish on Christmas Eve. In the old days, you'd have a Christmas fast, much like lent, where you wouldn't eat meat, only fish. Christmas Eve was the last day of the Christmas fast, with Christmas Day breaking it. So people would eat fish on Christmas Eve. For Orthodox Christians this is still the case. Most Catholics have long since stopped observing it, but traditions remain.  

[Kitt]

21 minutes ago, Thorn Wilde said:

 

There's a very natural explanation for traditions with fish on Christmas Eve. In the old days, you'd have a Christmas fast, much like lent, where you wouldn't eat meat, only fish. Christmas Eve was the last day of the Christmas fast, with Christmas Day breaking it. So people would eat fish on Christmas Eve. For Orthodox Christians this is still the case. Most Catholics have long since stopped observing it, but traditions remain.  

I may not have been to church in over 30 years, not since the parish priest threatened to excommunicate me ( Long story for another day), but I still do not eat meat on the eve.  Don't even cook the meats for Christmas day, that starts after mass at midnight, or in my case while others are at mass.

 

I would bake a fresh ham for the non Italians that have married into the family, but I would not eat it myself, nor would my mom.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Kitt