The Amazing Truce: Christmas in the trenches

Peace.

Happy Christmas to all!

I've missed so many conversations this month between getting a bunch of dental work done this month and all the things that lead up to Christmas in my household. I just finished making the sweet potato/apple/pecan casserole (dice apples and peeled raw sweet potatoes into 1/2 chunks. Toss in casserole dish with 1/4 cup of pecans, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of real butter. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of apple cider over all. Cover casserole dish and bake at 375F for 30 minutes or until the sweet potato pieces are fork tender. If you like a more caramelized flavor, remove the lid from the casserole dish and broil for 1 to 2 minutes. This is especially good when you use Honeycrisp apples. :) You can add a handful of dried cranberries to it if you wish.

Time to make sure Santa eats his oatmeal-walnut-cranberry cookies and drinks his milk...

Feliz Navidad Y Prospero Año Nuevo!
Happy Holidays.... Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyful Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa ... whichever one or all you celebrate, may it be lovely for you all and in case I don't check in for a while, a Happy New Year !

If the Great War had a truce at Christmas, how about a truce of a permanent kind in The Long War?

Iraq will return to the entropy whence it came. The Afghan war is unwinnable, and has turned into a de facto war against Pakistan.

Islamism (not Islam) is a meme, and it is infectious, and it ignores and transcends national boundaries. We need disinfection, not bloodshed. We need deracination, and we need the "repressive tolerance" in American life so well described by Herbert Marcuse. We need to disabuse ourselves of the idea that we can and ought to meddle with impunity in the affairs and tribulations of the rest of the world. Manifest destiny still seems to have currency in the American political psyche, and it is no longer a relevant notion.

This is a free forum, and eggs and tomatoes may be lobbed at me with impunity. But before you do so, please read the books on this subject by the fabulous Stephen Coll, which are all data and as objective as it is possible for a person to be.

I wish Prince Philip well. For this to have happened to him at age 90 is medically unusual. I wish the British media would stop referring to him as having "surgery."
He had a percutaneous coronary intervention for a severely stenosed LAD coronary artery. I am sure there is some media embargoing on the full details.

For the interested, the current Vanity Fair has a very nice article on the original romance between Elizabeth and Phillip.

In 1978, I actually got to see Prince Philip at the World Three-Day Event championship (an equestrian thing) in Lexington, Kentucky. His ability to affect the entire audience with just his stride and a wave of his hand is the strongest example of personal charisma I have ever witnessed. I know well of his gaffes, and his portrayal in Stephen Frear's film "The Queen." But let whomever is flawless among us cast the first stone.

Off subject: but this topic has come up in the village before.

A new study shows clear and compelling data for liver and kidney toxicity in rats consuming any of Monsanto's three varieties of genetically modified corn.

Looking through my bedroom window, out into the
moonlight and the unending smoke-coloured snow, I could see the lights in the
windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them
up the long, steadily falling night.  I turned the gas down, I got into bed.  I
said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I
slept.
 
from A Child's Christmas in Wales  -- D.
Thomas
 
Merry Christmas Y'all,
Paolo

Love and Peace and Kindness to all you, my friends,,,,you have made my life better. Thanks again Mr. Peterman and Merry Christmas to you all !!!

love,

Deborah

Merry Christmas all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this forum; it makes me happy, makes me think, makes me hungry, makes me mad, makes me laugh, & sometimes makes me weep............................May all of you have a wonderful day.........................

Happy Holidays of all sorts to this eclectic group. Staring at the fireplace I realized that I have morphed into a giant Christmas stocking stuffed full of memories and the proverbial nail that holds me up is strained but is still keeping me suspended in time/space. Speaking of being stuffed, today is traditional Xmas brunch ala Paula Dean French Toast soaking in half and half et al and awaiting the Praline topping along with the egg and sausage & hash brown casseroles all washed down with fresh Mimosas. Give life a big old hug. It's a precious commodity.

Decades ago,  jaded by my unprepared immersion into the world of cruelty, violence, and cynicism about the power of love.  Finally an epiphany, and the power to accept the true significance of history. Love is there,  waiting patiently for us to lose our jaded perspective, and  reach out for it with an open heart.  Hoping that "War Horse" will be everything that meets my expectations.  Today may be the WRONG day to tackle the chain movie theatres in the mall,  but patience trumps cynicism & impulsive behavior..... " Merry Christmas everybody! "  {Tiny Tim to the "new" Scrooge, paraphrased}.

聖誕快樂 - Merry Christmas - Nadolig Llawen - Feliz Navidad - Joyeux Noel - Fröhliche Weihnacht - С Рождеством.  However you say it, the best of everything today to all of you.  May we all find peace and prosperity in 2012.

It asked "What do you think?"  I think all of you are so special and am so glad that even if we disagree, have strong feelings about something or need to "vent" there is a beautiful truce among us that is part of the generosity Peterman's eye has generated over time and trial and error.
 
   May Peace abide for all you fine folks

What is the significance of a shiny new penny? I found one in my driveway this morning; right in the place I put my ladder to fill my bird feeders,and scatter my 'critter grits' for the squirrels and black birds...a brand new shiny 2011 penny... it definately was not there the last time I looked out of the kitchen window last night to see if the fat white faced possum was eating the leftovers from the critter grits....very thought provoking,indeed...   .  So may I wish All Y'alls prosperity and health,upcoming...

My kid tells me the Treasury Department would like to phase out pennies, because they cost 2 cents each to mint & distribute. Now I learn that the same entity had given the green light to halting production of the 50 varieties of state memorial quarters, citing some suspicious financial argument. It can't cost more than 25 cents to mint & distribute a 25 cent coin, regardless of the number of states in our republic. Road Yacht, can you assist us? Along the same line of discussion, after Ecuador's economic crisis (15 plus government officials simultaneously fled in the dark of night, right after wire transfering 60% of the assets in the national banks to their anonymous accounts in the Cayman Islands), the country was close to revolution & possible Communist takeover, similar to Cuba, circa 1959. So the United States did the right thing, agreeing to support the Ecuador currency, 1:1. Now. Ecuador's dollar circulates alongside the local dollar. And indigenous natives of rainforest extraction are convinced that American women look like the image of the golden U.S. dollar original coins,

Bert, I may be of little assistance in the  world of finance,but as I have the talking lamp (TV) on in the background,and I hear the wannabe's talking about how business is the most important role of Government, I pause...isn't there more to life than business?  I think you might just ask any youngster at an endeavor with a parent missing to attend a meeting...

A beautiful Christmas to all and all the best of life in the new year.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/b4_EdJ-XkUA?rel=0

I'm hours ahead of most of you and absolutely stuffed. My mysterious gold-wrapped gifts were indeed books and DVDs - I won't be off the sofa 'till April. Big surprise this Christmas was my son who on a ski holiday in France announced on Face book that he has got engaged. He 'phoned this morning as happy as a butcher's dog. This is a second attempt at married bliss - hope it is triumph of optimism over experience - so I get a new daughter in love and a handsome young grandson. Hope you are all having a wonderful time.

Merriest of Christmases to you all!  A Christmas feast with all y'all (Ivan's particular phrase) would be a pleasure indeed, but virtual will just have to suffice. ...............................Perhaps the truce was possible in a war where you could see the whites of their eyes and "they" were still a real human person.    Facelss missiles and bombs launched at facelss multitudes lose that.   Nothing has ever nor ever will make war 'humane', but when it's anonymous.......????

Wishing a warm and huggy Christmas Day to all Eye Villagers! As many here have said, it is a pleasure and I count it one of my gifts under the proverbial lighted tree to log in here and read your comments, reflections, philosophizing, grousing, celebrations, and foodie suggestions!

Congratulations, Hazel, on your soon-to-be "daughter-in-love," to Bert on braving the cinema hordes on C-Day (one of the busiest afternoons of the year for films), and to Rhyselle for your new dental work and yummy-sounding sweet potato casserole. Also thanks to KSS for words of wisdom on world peace, foreign policy, and medical explanations about Mr. Elizabeth II's condition.

My granddaughter cried this morning, when she raced down the stairs at 6 am to find.....no unwrapped surprises as if Santa had visited. She knew the facts, but somehow hoped that we'd all keep up the pretense for her sake and the joy of those blatantly non-wrapped surprises that had greeted her every Christmas morning for 9 years.

(We had consulted, decided she surely knew the parents are Santa by now, and had wrapped everything ahead as adults do. So sad to see the little girl have to suck it up and put on a brave front as she wiped her tears and played the elf, handing out everyone else's by name tag, and then perch close to her mom to open hers and thank each of us profusely.) I can feel her pain, and I think even tho' we all know the red-suited one is a myth, we may revert to the element of the unwrapped gifts next year just for the smiles of joy on the young one's face as she first descends the stairs to see some grand surprise! Not a bad trend for each of us adults, either.

Well, what a well-mannered lot we are, family Chritmas is indeed a truce in the trenches.

My total surprise was a Kindle with all accompanying cords....I had previously replied when asked, "No, I am not interested in those gadgets. I like to read my books in the old fashioned way." But, the grown children decided I needed to join the current generation, and daughter put me right into the techno-book world with a Kindle. It will be a while until I can really navigate in it, but I am pleased with the challenge!

Son surprised me with P.D. James' (Austen-linked) "Death Comes to Pemberly," which will keep me enthralled turning real pages and delay my orientation to Kindle. Lots of good, useful and thoughtful gifts have made my day special. Being with extended family is a kind of truce in what could be a domestic "war" here, as I was surrounded by ex-husband (kids' father, a good guy), kids of second husband (also good people), and kids and grandkid, as well as current significant other. In some family scenes that would be a recipe for social distress, but we managed it without a single casualty. More for which to be thankful.

Ok...I just realized that if the granddaughter is 9 now, she would have only celebrated Christmas with us 8 previous times....duh! My brain just does not automatically think in mathmatical terms...so, you get the drift...she liked the surprises out in the open to start her C-Day, as done in the past, but has also learned to deal with disappointment in a big girl fashion. She was most grateful for her gifts, and I left her engrossed in "Harry Potter" on Wii.

On topic, I had read of that very truce in the newest Ken Follett book, "Fall of Giants," which deals with 4 families during WWI. The characters in his book make the truce personal when you see the English and German behavior in his plot. A rare occurrence of human spirit transcending political and military protocol. Let's have more of that spirit and see if humans can make peace as well as we make war. (Fingers crossed in hopeful anticipation, but not putting any bets on it.)

RY - Thanks for the video of the baby goats! Made me LOL!

I loved the baby goats video too.
I wonder why among the generous heap of books sent by my son, there is one titled "Gangsta Granny" by David Williams. ISBN 978-0-00-737144-0.

Probably a bit of information too far, but one of my Christmas gifts is a beautifully knitted cardigan made of yak's wool or something. As soon as it was unwrapped, my cat, who should be old enough to know better, was totally in lust with this item and was behaving disgracefully.

Nos da time in Wales.

Daughter's cat. Momo, for some reason, behaved not lustfully, as Hazel's kitty, but insanely, by literally diving INTO all the bags.....sacks of others' gifts got trampled by this strong neutered Tom who went entirely into the open bags around the tree, already searched, and those cast aside. Apparently, to a cat, the inside of any sack is the most enticing world! We have pictures...funny critters....Wonder if Floyd and Fiona act silly like that!

Floyd seems to be exhausted- - and dehydrated- - seems he is a self appointed 'tree inspector'.....

Where is PL with his "Peace Out."?