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20 December 2008 / Saturday -- I added a number of newly found animated and other Christmas images that you might want to download to your own computer for use on personal web pages / blogs / emails --

the snowflake in this years banner is my 2008 addition [ flake # 7322450 ] to the SNOW DAYS website -- my first one was made back in 2004 [ flake # 346275 ] -- you can search for my flakes by the numbers I just provided -- make your own and be sure to write down your very own snowflake number so you can send it to friends and allow them to add comments about it and your personal message. I decided to save server space and reduce the loading time of this page by adding the following in place of larger images of gifts, etc. -- -- you click on that image to see the photo, which opens in a new browser window so you don't have to be clicking back and forth all the time.

31 December 2008 / Wednesday -- New Years Eve -- my darling kittys know where their food comes from and who cleans out their litter boxes -- they love to be creative, fashioning cat sculptures out of the litter

they really surprised me with several gifts -- four new white t shirts to replace the graying ones I have been wearing for centuries already -- -- on the left is a box of a half dozen new WHITE OUT stuff that I use when I make a mistake in a mailing label or whatever, sitting on top of a cute pair of leisure pants to wear around the apartment [with dogs on them! How could they? Maybe they still miss Tracey, the Doberman they used to play with] -- added to this there are a pair of fleece lined slippers that I have always wanted -- -- top view on left / bottom view on right -- I hope that I can squeeze into them size 12s because I wear a 13 -- and wouldn't you know, they also presented me with several types of yummy fruit cake -- -- the one pound Hostess is the easiest to gobble up -- I usually eat about a third of the bar at a sitting -- another kind is Entenmann's, with hard crusted nuts on top -- -- it is extra work to scrape the nuts off then slice the stuff -- -- Denise sent me a cyber restaurant gift certificate --- now I have to figure out where I shall go and what to eat -- --

Marge, an online friend I never met, and her family shocked me with a monster box full of goodies -- -- Amaryllis bulb to plant indoors or outside / a holiday reed diffuser, Gingerbread scent, to spice up my study / a box of assorted Holiday chocolates / a metal lidded holiday stocking tin to stash things in / a large fleece blanket for me and the kittys to stay warm with in bed [when they let me sleep with them, of course / they usually jump around for at least an hour at which point I go to the sleeping bag setup in my study to get some shut eye] -- thanks a lot Marge, and God bless

Bernar provided me with two cases each of two different red wines / six 750ml bottles per case -- XAIREL * 2007 * Vinho Regional Ribetejano Portugal / Santa Inés * 2004 * Cabernet Sauvignan * Maipo Valley, Chile -- -- the twenty - four bottles usually last me, on average, about fifty dinners / days -- thanks again Bernar for your kindness

I did get my catty friends some stuff too -- a heated thingy for under the lower box apartment in the kitchen because it really gets cold in there during the winter due to the old windows / no insulation [an older one I had for over seven years / the outer covering split and made it dangerous to plug in] -- three new fleece padded nest pads to use instead of the old toweling I usually put in for them

3 January 2009 / Saturday -- another surprise gift arrived today, this one from, Tony, a former student from when I was teaching at the American School in Spain who lives / works / plays the harmonica in Australia -- -- thanks, Tony, I cannot wait to listen to it before the night is out

4 January 2009 / Sunday -- Twenty - nine snail mail Christmas greetings have been received thus far -- as usual I have NOT counted any and all related email / cyber holiday messages, even distantly related / plus photos, that are all stashed in the Xmas 2008 folder on my desktop -- it now contains a total of one hundred and twenty - two entries

below you can see my 2008 Christmas card display over the windows above / to the right of my desk -- see if you can find the one you sent me among them -- it does not come down until the end of 2009 when the first new greetings start coming in

I do not know where the kitty cats found all the money for gifts or where they hid them, but they presented me with yet three new edible treats -- a one pound Entenmann's Fruit Stollen in a nicely decorated kinda large holiday box -- it is in an aluminum pan -- -- it is powder sugar dusted / moist / not dry / tasty, BUT they seem to have forgotten to add very much fruit, which was a disappointment -- in contrast, the heavier than a pound The Baker Marzipan Stollen comes in a smaller simpler package, sealed in plastic -- -- as are most if not all Christmas stollens, it has a powdered sugar dusting / is moist / and is chock filled with chunks of marzipan / glazed fruit -- I can eat this in two sittings -- the unfortunate thing about these seasonal stollens is that they appear perhaps in two deliveries at the shop, disappearing as quickly as they appeared on the shelves. The last surprise is a three pound box of Old Fashion Claxton Fruit Cake, containing three one pound individually wrapped rectangular bars -- the package states, Over 70% Fruits and Nuts -- -- each portion appears EXACTLY as the one pound Hostess [noted above] -- if you put one bar of each brand side by side you would not be able to tell the difference -- this I gobble up in about three snack hunger attacks -- I keep all of these yummy delights in the fridge -- of course I thanked the kittys profusely for their unexpected generosity

14 January 2009 / Wednesday -- my birthday is here again, sixty - nine biggies -- the Christmas 2008 folder has a final count of one humdred and twenty - five thingys in it -- the new Birthday 2009 folder has twenty items in it at this point -- Ben sent me an animated interactive eCard puzzle early this morning -- Sharon's animated eCard -- Care2 is nice enough to send to those who sign up for their various virtual InterNUT services, which I did a couple years ago, an animated eCard on their birthday.

With this I close this special Christmas page -- thanks for grazing -- I wish you all an awesome 2009

Stay tuned for future updates until my birthday on 14 January 2009

Larger GIFs / images may be found on a separate IMAGE PAGE

Christmas -- Me / - 2008 eCard * interactive -- Me / - Mary Did You Know * uTube Carol -- Me / - Christmas Eve in Sarajevo * uTube Story & Carol -- Bertie / - Disco Dancing Santa * animated interactive fun -- Me / - Trim a Tree * interactive game -- Me / - A Cat's Favorite Carols -- Bertie / - eCard * interactive -- Bertie / - Celtic Holy Night * uTube Carol -- Me / - Santa Coin Drop * interactive charity game -- Williamson / - Jesus is Invited to Party -- Ben / - Breast Wishes for Christmas * XXX --

Bertie / - eCard2 -- Bertie / - Tic Tac Santa * interactive game -- Flin / - Bing & Bowie Carols * uTube Carols -- Flin / - Hallelujah * uTube Carol -- Thom / - Judy Garland * uTube Carol -- Sherry / - eCard -- Horacio y Inma / - eCard -- Darlene / - New Years Scripture Tree v interactive -- Bertie / - Sock Bells * uTube Carol -- BebB / - New Years eCard -- Bertie / - Happy 2009 * uTube eCard -- Bertie / - Year End Carols * Political uTube Carols -- Andy / - Fireworks Display * MOV of fireworks display he designed for the Grand Rapids hockey team in Van Andel Arena [Michigan] --

BannerView / - Greeting * from my web site server -- MercadoLibre / - Greetings * from a South American online auction I used to list things on -- Celsia / - Ukranian Christmas Song * uTube -- Celsia / - About Russian Orthodox Christmas --

Countdown to Los Reyes Magos

Please visit my special page MIDI audio files of 22 Traditional Christmas Carols have now been added !

God Bless !

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