Occasional Reader 12/24/2021 6:30:07 AM

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Happy Christmas Eve!  And may the, er, Yuletide Tank bombard you with many gifts.

lucius septimius 12/24/2021 6:44:29 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 1:

Merry Christmas!  And "tanks" - we already got our presents.

Kosh's Shadow 12/24/2021 7:09:52 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 2:

Modern picture would have Putin with Crimea (and eyeing Ukraine) and Khamenei with Iraq.

Occasional Reader 12/24/2021 7:27:21 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 3:

… and Xi hungrily eyeing Taiwan.

doppelganglander 12/24/2021 7:30:26 AM

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Occasional Reader 12/24/2021 8:05:33 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 5:

For a long time, my mom favored baked lasagna for Christmas Eve. Great minds think alike.

Kosh's Shadow 12/24/2021 8:28:42 AM

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In #4 Occasional Reader said: and Xi hungrily eyeing Taiwan.

An hour later he'll be hungrily eyeing the Philippines.

Occasional Reader 12/24/2021 8:42:09 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 7:

Heh.

lucius septimius 12/24/2021 8:44:53 AM

9

I have no memory of any special "Christmas Eve" dinner.  Sometimes we had dinner at my grandparent's house. Not sure what we had, though I have been told that they usually had goose -- the old world tradition.  

What I mostly remember of Christmas eve is having to take a bath, dress up in my best clothes and then go out with wet hair and scratchy woolens into the bitter cold dark night to attend church while I dozed in the pews.

doppelganglander 12/24/2021 9:19:17 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 9:

I don't remember my mom making any special dinner either, just something easy, I'm sure. Baked ziti became a tradition just because I did it a couple of times and everyone liked it. I used to make it the night before Thanksgiving and Easter too. I don't recall going to church on Christmas Eve or Day when I was little. My dad loathed crowds. We attended 8am Sunday Mass for years, and then 7am, which is just cruelty to teenagers. 

lucius septimius 12/24/2021 9:34:39 AM

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In #10 doppelganglander said: then 7am, which is just cruelty to teenagers. 

The time we went to church when I was in high school and college was directly proportional to the time (and condition I was in in) when I came home Saturday night.

Occasional Reader 12/24/2021 9:52:38 AM

12

Me, I have long been fond of Christmas Midnight Mass; kind of odd for an atheist, I know.

And when I was a teen, mom favored roast duck for Christmas Eve dinner, which I loved.

I’m now curious what my parents are doing for dinner tonight.  Will talk to them later.

buzzsawmonkey 12/24/2021 9:55:46 AM

13

In #9 lucius septimius said: I have been told that they usually had goose -- the old world tradition.  

Never tasted goose.  I've wondered, now and then, where one would even obtain one; goose seems to have been wholly phased out of the American diet in favor of turkey.  Even duck is not something you see that often.

A couple of years ago, NYC was butchering the Canada geese that mostly lived in various city park areas, like the Prospect Park lake and some wooded areas near the Rockaways.  Seems that the geese were interfering with takeoffs and landings at Kennedy and, perhaps, LaGuardia airports.  Sadly, the Goose-Stoppo  merely rounded up the birds, gassed them, and tossed the carcasses.  You'd think they'd re-purpose that much edible meat for the homeless, or something.

lucius septimius 12/24/2021 10:08:14 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 13:

My local Publix usually carries goose this time of year - enough of us Central-East European types around to create a market I guess.

As for the Canadian geese, the ones that are found in parks usually taste awful, I'm told, because of all the pesticides and fertilizer they consume grazing on the park grass.

lucius septimius 12/24/2021 10:09:20 AM

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In #12 Occasional Reader said: Me, I have long been fond of Christmas Midnight Mass; kind of odd for an atheist, I know.

I like it too -- did even then -- but when you're five it's all a little overwhelming.

Occasional Reader 12/24/2021 10:43:04 AM

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In #14 lucius septimius said: As for the Canadian geese,

CANADA geese, not Canadian!  [Patting self on back for this moment of pendantic triumph]

In #13 buzzsawmonkey said: Never tasted goose.

I have, and I'm not a fan.  I far prefer pretty much any other ordinarily-consumed fowl.

lucius septimius 12/24/2021 10:45:51 AM

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In #16 Occasional Reader said: CANADA geese, not Canadian!  [Patting self on back for this moment of pendantic triumph]

That's right -- it's Canadian Club to go with the Canada Goose.

Occasional Reader 12/24/2021 10:50:30 AM

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In #17 lucius septimius said: it's Canadian Club to go with the Canada Goose.

Well, that's one way to dispatch them, I guess, but it sounds rather messy, all that blunt-force trauma... 

Kosh's Shadow 12/24/2021 11:04:05 AM

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Occasional Reader 12/24/2021 11:36:52 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 5:

So, dopps, I just talked to my parents, they are indeed having the “traditional“ Christmas Eve lasagna for dinner, but they were supplementing it with… baked ziti!

Occasional Reader 12/24/2021 12:26:24 PM

21

And here’s why I was in no rush to get on a plane for Christmas:

https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/aviation/587239-more-than-3000-flights-delayed-worldwide-as-airlines-cite

lucius septimius 12/24/2021 12:42:33 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 21:

I've been thinking -- with all the mom stuff I've wracked up a bunch of miles.  And I have no idea where I would want to go.

Alice in Dairyland 12/24/2021 1:17:49 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 12/24/2021 3:18:53 PM

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I won't give them the traffic by linking to it, but PJMedia has an article on "Kentucky Fried Jihad". I commented on it, about how the Islamic Society of Boston is know to produce terrorists, with a link proving it.

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