Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Waiting for Santa


Get One At - Friendster Comments
I love this!  What a smart dog. As with all of these music e-cards and videos, you will have to pause my music player so you won't hear two different songs playing at the same time.


http://petpictures.onsugar.com/Pet-Pictures-Santa-18959171

My Christmas Wish For You

I was reminded today that Christmas time is not a happy time for all. There could be many reasons, loss of a loved one, loss of a pet, divorce, family problems, money issues, health issues, soldiers who are keeping freedom for us, who are away and won't be able to spend Christmas with their loved ones, homeless families, and for whatever your reason is, my heart goes out to you and I hope you will be able to find some peace in your life at this special time of year. God Bless. 

GreetingSpring.com

Monday, December 21, 2009

Pudding Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding 2 eggs 1 tsp. baking soda 2 cups flour 1 pkg. (6 squares) BAKER'S White Chocolate, chopped   HEAT oven to 350°F.


BEAT butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add dry pudding mix; beat until well blended. Add eggs and baking soda; mix well. Gradually add flour, beating after each addition until well blended. Stir in chocolate.

DROP tablespoons of dough, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets.

BAKE 10 to 12 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 1 min. on baking sheets; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.    
Webfetti.com

Pecan Snickerdoodles

2-1/2 cups flour 1 cup finely chopped Pecans 2 tsp. cream of tartar 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, slightly softened 1-3/4 cups sugar, divided 2 eggs 1 tsp. ground cinnamon


PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Mix flour, pecans, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in large bowl; set aside.

BEAT butter and 1-1/2 cups of the sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat until well blended. Add dry ingredients; beat on low speed until well mixed. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Mix remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Roll balls in cinnamon sugar. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets.

BAKE 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Another favorite.           Webfetti.com

Mexican Wedding Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1 cup powdered sugar, divided 1 tsp. vanilla 2 cups flour 1 cup finely chopped Pecans

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Beat butter, 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour and pecans, beating on low speed after each addition until well blended.

SHAPE dough into 1-inch balls. Place, 1-1/2 inches apart, on ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE 14 to 15 min. or until bottoms of cookies are lightly browned. Cool 5 min. on baking sheets. Roll warm cookies in remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar until evenly coated; place on wire racks. Cool completely. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.

These are my favorite cookies at Christmas time.
     GreetingSpring.com

Peanut Blossoms

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 2/3 cup peanut butter 2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 egg 2 Tbsp. milk 1 tsp. vanilla 1-1/2 cups flour 1/3 cup PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts, finely chopped 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 48 foil-wrapped chocolate kisses, unwrapped


PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Beat butter, peanut butter, 1/3 cup of the granulated sugar and the brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat until well blended. Combine flour, peanuts, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended after each addition.

SHAPE dough into 48 balls, each about 1 inch in diameter; roll in remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Place, 2 inches apart, on ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE 9 to 10 min. or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate piece into center of each cookie. (Cookie will crack slightly around edge.) Cool on baking sheets 1 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.             
GreetingSpring.com

Snow, Snow, Snow


Well, it snowed all last night and looks very pretty this morning. Surprisingly not so cold as yesterday....only -2C. We went for a walk through St. Wolfgang, unfortunately the Advent Market isn't open today, but I took some photos anyway so you could see the snow.
Go here to see the snowy pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Colin.Jen/AdventMarket2009#

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Snowman Punch


There is a mute button in the lower left corner if you don't want to keep listening to the music. Have fun.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Our Local Library

After living in St. Wolfgang for nearly 2 years we decided to join the local library. We hadn't done so before because our German was hopeless and thought that they would only have german books. How wrong! Our friend told us that not only do they have some english books but also rent out DVDs and.......games!! Ah...well, I thought, that would only be 'Spiele für Kinder', you know Bob the Builder and Spongepants whotsitzname. Wrong again, they had a few 'games'. Keltis, Tikal, Fossil, SoC, Carcassonne and Mississippi Queen to name a few. Only a few titles admittedly but how many libraries in the UK would have even heard of any of them.

Tikal is a game that I played many years ago and liked. I have played a few online games at SpielbyWeb but nothing recently. So I thought I would rent it out for a couple of weeks at the outrageous price of 1 Euro and reacquaint myself with it. A discovery and treasure hunt game that looks good and plays well. I'm sure Tina will like it. I have been looking at Tobago, another treasure hunt game that looks impressive. Oh, by the way, it's snowing as I write this, the weather forecast for next week is warmer so I don't if we will have a White Christmas or not. Be ironic if the UK is white and we aren't.....

Happy Gaming!!!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

A Magical Christmas Eve



Santa Claus meets Krissy the Spider as he brings presents to a house where she lives. Krissy is a 7 year old little girl spider. From her home in a corner of the ceiling she gets excited watching a family decorate their Christmas tree. After a lot of asking, she convinces her parents to let her go visit with the angels. "But only in the night!" - they say. In the excitement she forgets about her webs and spoils the whole tree. Santa arrives, sees the mess, and blows Krissy a big red kiss turning her webs into tinsel and giving her a silvery coat, which, in later adventures, she finds out has magical powers. Everyone rejoices!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Caylus finally arrives along with the Krampus

Well the postman finally brought last game I had ordered from Spiel-Offensive, Caylus, I have been playing this online and can't wait to tear off the shrink wrap. I played the game I think 2 times when it first came out and wasn't too impressed, but now I think it's a great game.

We went for a walk round the Advent Market yesterday, I had some gluhwein, hot spiced wine and it was quite strong. As we were standing there we heard a bit of a commotion, all these bells and shouting.....well, the Krampus had arrived. It is a tradition in parts of Austria that the young men of the village dress up as Krampus and terrorise the local young ladies (officially supposed to be virgins), they would put sacks over the girls heads and drag them away. Then at some point a chap dressed up as St. Nicholas would come and banish the Grampus and save the village’s virgins.

The Frightening Face of the Krampus!

I grabbed the camera to get a few shots of the great costumes but didn't get out of the way quick enough and got whipped with birch twigs......great fun.

You can see more on the Krampus here......http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus

And I've put some more shots of the Krampus on my Advent album on Picasa here

http://picasaweb.google.com/Colin.Jen/AdventMarket2009#

Must go now, got some shrink wrap to destroy!

Happy Gaming!!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Reindeer, Elves, Mrs. Claus

The common names given for Santa's reindeer in modern culture are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner/Donder, Blitzen, and Rudolph. Eight of these names are taken more or less directly from Clement C. Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas," and the ninth from the song "Rudolph the Red  Nosed Reindeer" and the TV special based upon it.

Santa Claus has many elves. They speak all different languages just like Santa Claus. If there is an average of one present per child, there needs to be a lot of elves to make all of those toys. Most children even get two to three presents from Santa Claus. Name a name, and at least one elf probably has that name.

Jingle and Jangle are the names of the two elves who help Mrs. Claus in the movie, "The Year Without A Santa Claus". Elisa, Aaron, Roger, Miley, and Taylor are a few one of the known names of elves. You can find more by searching the internet.
 
Mrs. Claus is the wife of Santa Claus. Unlike Santa Claus, however, she does not have a counterpart in folklore or mythology, but was the creation of American authors. She was popularized by poet Katharine Lee Bates in Bates' poem, "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride" (1889). The character has since appeared in story, film, television and other media. Since 1889, Mrs. Claus has been generally depicted in media as a fairly heavy-set, kindly, white-haired elderly female baking cookies somewhere in the background of the Santa Claus mythos. She sometimes assists in toy production, and oversees Santa's elves. She is sometimes called Mother Christmas, and Mary Christmas has been suggested as her maiden name.
GreetingSpring.com                             GreetingSpring.com
From Wikipedia
Enhanced by Zemanta

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

A Looney Tunes Sing-A-Long Christmas

  


Go ahead and sing! You know you want to! Aww...c'mon...!

Legend of the Poinsettia




    The plants' association with Christmas began in 16th century Mexico, where legend tells of a young girl who was too poor to provide a gift for the celebration of Jesus' birthday. The tale goes that the child was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar. Crimson "blossoms" sprouted from the weeds and became beautiful poinsettias. From the 17th century, Franciscan friars in Mexico included the plants in their Christmas celebrations.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The True Meaning of Christmas by Brian K. Walters



GreetingSpring.com

In todays' day and time,
it's easy to lose sight,
of the true meaning of Christmas
and one special night.

When we go shopping,
We say "How much will it cost?"
Then the true meaning of Christmas,
Somehow becomes lost.

Amidst the tinsel, glitter
And ribbons of gold,
We forget about the child,
born on a night so cold.

The children look for Santa
In his big, red sleigh
Never thinking of the child
Whose bed was made of hay.

In reality,
When we look into the night sky,
We don't see a sleigh
But a star, burning bright and high.

A faithful reminder,
Of that night so long ago,
And of the child we call Jesus,
Whose love, the world would know.