Thursday, November 17, 2011

stars and balls

X has once again kindly let me post her art with my bum in it.  At least this one has L's too! 

Calliope wanted to know: how about your favorite wintertime activity: snow angels, snowman building, decorating, making baked goods, etc.?


Eating the baked goods? Is that an option? Well. The decorations, maybe. I always liked doing the tree, even though Harry and I had some truly absurd (and loud) arguments over who got to hang which ornaments and who got to do the star. The favoured ornaments were the glass birds and the the hand-painted glass balls so we usually traded (after extended negotiations) two birds and a ball for the star-hanging rights.

Mum always put the lights on herself the night before, because she was (and is) convinced that none of us do them right. She stores them wrapped carefully around the cardboard tubes that wrapping paper comes on and lays them all out on the floor before she starts. We were generally not allowed past the threshold of the living room till she was done.

The tree was all we did in the way of decorating, and last year it was all we did here too, but I'd like at least a wreath this year as well, and I want to take the boys to pick out ornaments. I don't have any, and while their mum did find a small box of family ones, the tree was a little sparse. And they hadn't got to pick any of those, and they should have some say. L, do you have ornaments in any of those boxes you haven't unpacked?


134 comments:

REReader said...

OTOH, it's a definitely non-wobbly bum. :)

Decorating (trees and homes) sounds fun--we don't have anything like that. Although my sisters both have menorahs for everyone in their families, which is very pretty when they're lit--if rather hot (and perhaps a bit of a fire hazard) by the eighth day of Chanukah!

Greg Lestrade said...

Nope. Since I always worked them I haven't bothered with decorations the past few years. We'll go on a shopping trip sometime.

Anonymous said...

I love to decorate for Christmas. Even when I was in Korea and living in the barracks, I managed to find a tree and haul it back with me on the bus.

I still have some of those ornaments, and ones my mom and dad gave me from when I was a kid. We used to have so many ornaments that the tree would be absolutely covered.

Greg Lestrade said...

Of course, Danger would have to pick the busy time of year to get ornaments. I mean, Harrods has only had its Christmas department open since July...

REReader said...

Who wants to buy holiday ornaments in the summer?

Desert Wanderer said...

:D Pip. We made one of some plywood we liberated from the Civil Engineering compound and decorated it with reflective belts.

I was so excited to buy my own ornaments when I moved out, John. And nothing says RAMly like mixing ornaments on a tree.

Desert Wanderer said...

Family! I don't know what says ramily.

John H. D. Watson said...

You can't buy Christmas ornaments in summer, it's not the same!

Anon Without A Name said...

RR - the best time of year to buy Christmas deccies, apparently, is January, when they're ultra cheap. I say "apparently", because I'm never organised enough to buy stuff then.

And most of our shops - certainly the supermarkets - put their Christmas stuff out sometime in September. October if we're very lucky.

Lestrade - You're planning to buy your deccies from Harrods? 0_o

Greg Lestrade said...

I wasn't, but I'm not choosing them, the boys are. Sherlock, as we know, has expensive tastes.

DW - I frequently don't know where my phone gets its ideas from.

REReader said...

Nameless, I thought the best time to buy Christmas etceteras (decorations, gift wrap, cards, etc.)--at least for getting bargains--was in January?

Neighborhoods in New York put up holiday decorations in the streets (to help businesses by encouraging excessive spending ... er, I mean the holiday spirit), and my neighborhood put them up on Nov. 1. It's not even Thanksgiving yet!!

REReader said...

I frequently don't know where my phone gets its ideas from.

I assume my iPod Touch gets its ideas from the spirit of Steve Jobs. He must be very bored without Apple to run.

REReader said...

(Nameless, ignore me. I read your comment wrong. *needs nap*)

Greg Lestrade said...

I feel like I'm in a parallel universe...RR, when did you think Nameless said was best to buy decs? Or did you not mean to put Jan? I'm confused.

REReader said...

L--see comment right above yours.

*embarrassed*

*still needs nap*

Calliope said...

Thank you for answering my question, John. :)

We've been thinking about actually putting up a tree this year for the first time (after 9 years of marriage). We were planning to wait until we had kids, but...well, no luck there, and I'm tired of waiting. I know I have some decorations somewhere. I declare Mission: Decorate shall begin at the end of the month.

Anon Without A Name said...

RR - no worries. Have a nice nap :-)

John, Lestrade - perhaps Sherlock and Mycroft could make a decoration each? Sherlock seems to enjoy being creative, maybe he could make something out of fimo, or whatever you call that stuff that's a bit like clay that you bake to set? And I know Mycroft might be too old for that sort of thing, but I'm sure he'd be able to create something quite wonderful, maybe origami?

Expensive is nice, homemade is better :-p

REReader said...

Ooh, nice idea, Nameless!

Or maybe they could make baked ornaments? There's one possible recipe here, but I'm sure you can find any number online. And after all, Lestrade has all those cookie cutters, I bet there are some that would make awesome ornaments!

Jessie said...

You don't have to buy ornaments. You can make them! There are some you can bake (gingerbread is good for that), some you can craft, have him mount pictures to shapes cut from cookie cutters out of Fimo clay (the kind you bake to make it hard). String popcorn and cranberries and cheerios. My boys love to help make the ornaments, and they're a great memory maker year after year.

(We still have fights over who gets to put the Yoda Tree Topper on the three though...)

Jessie said...

(Oops, by "him" I was talking about Sherlock. Sorry!)

Greg Lestrade said...

we will definitely make some.

And why am I the only Pony...err...Stallion with stubble?

Desert Wanderer said...

Does the Doc even grow facial hair? I wanna know why you look so coy. Definitely fluttering your eyelashes at him...

Greg Lestrade said...

DW - you wouldn't believe it, he looks so innocent and youthful, but he has passed puberty and does get a bit of bumfluff stubble (No, I shouldn't say that, because he might threaten to grow a moustache again)

I'm not coy. Just shy and retiring.

My Little Danger Stallion looks anything but coy, with his tail cocked like that...

John H. D. Watson said...

Do the baked ones last?

L's stubble must be to go with his jacket and general image.

John H. D. Watson said...

he might threaten to grow a moustache again

It was a very fine moustache!

Greg Lestrade said...

I believe that any part of you could be very fine.

You don't have to grow it again to prove it.

John H. D. Watson said...

I'll stick to making a moustache ornament for our tree.

Greg Lestrade said...

Excellent. A big twirly one?

(I notice you've said nothing about your cheekily cocked tail.)

John H. D. Watson said...

Of course a big twirly one. Maybe in red. Or gold.

I'm sure it's just...mildly uplifted, from having just bent down to drink my tea.

REReader said...

Do the baked ones last?

I don't know from personal experience, but that recipe says to spray them with clear polyurethane on all sides to preserve them, so maybe?

And if they don't all keep so well, you can make more next year.

Greg Lestrade said...

Hmm. I think you're making me look away bashfully with your mild uplifting. I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked. Your pose is positively brazen.

Greg Lestrade said...

Danger...Do the baked ones last?

Even if it were possible for baked goods to last in the sense of not going mouldy...when has anything baked survived than a few hours in this flat?? I'd be amazed if the entire tree hadn't been eaten before Christmas eve.

John H. D. Watson said...

I'll set the dogs to guard it. Popcorn strings sound like fun too.

You're the one with the handcuffs!

REReader said...

Lestrade, once those things have been hardened all rock-like, painted with poster paints, and sprayed with polyurethane, not even the dogs are going to want to eat them. I hope.

(Which is one reason I didn't bring a link for cinnamon-applesauce ornaments, which I have read about in the past and which sound like they'd smell wonderful, despite including ingredients like glue.)

Greg Lestrade said...

The Dogs. The four legged hoovers. Riiiiiight.

Want to do quality control on a swirly biscuit?

Rider said...

your cheekily cocked tail

It took me a moment to realise L was talking about the picture and not any other tails that might have been recent additions to the objects in the flat.

Greg Lestrade said...

He's currently refusing to model his other tail.

REReader said...

At least for the interwebs.

John H. D. Watson said...

Who says the other tail is mine?

Want to do quality control on a swirly biscuit?

Always. Several, even.

Greg Lestrade said...

I'm sure it's yours. It would need to be grey to be mine.

I've posted a picture on my blog to prove we did have swirly biscuits, even if you eat them all before Mycroft gets back.

John H. D. Watson said...

Maybe they don't come in grey. It's sort of the colour your hair used to be.

I won't eat them all! Not when you've made the other kind as well.

Greg Lestrade said...

I very much doubt they come in khaki...

It's definitely yours. The note said you were my Stallion. ergo.

John H. D. Watson said...

...Hmph.

Greg Lestrade said...

Now you just seem like you're making that horsey snorty noise of disapproval and going to be scraping the ground with a hoof any second. I would say tossing your mane, but I know what this lot'll start thinking if I say tossing...

John H. D. Watson said...

I haven't got enough mane to toss anyway. DId you ever have long hair?

Greg Lestrade said...

When I was young it was long-ish. But not properly long. And obviously the Met don't exactly encourage that sort of thing.

John H. D. Watson said...

The spikes suited you better anyway.

Greg Lestrade said...

X seems to have drawn Lestallion with a slightly hogged mane, so spikes it sort of is.

Whereas you've got cute little curls.

Rider said...

Lestrade, if he's your stallion he's already got a tail. So clearly that one's for you so you match.

Greg Lestrade said...

Nah, he's only a stallion with the help of the tail.

Usually he's more Shetland Pony...

(I have to go and hide now before he's mean to me)

Desert Wanderer said...

I am grinning so hard my cheeks hurt. The two of you are adorable. :D.

Lestallion
*endem* classic

Anon Without A Name said...

Lestallion

OMG. I am laughing so hard now.

John H. D. Watson said...

You'd be in a lot more trouble if I could stop laughing at 'Lestallion'...

Greg Lestrade said...

...I suddenly wish I'd never said it.

REReader said...

Now, now, when genius strikes, what can you do?

:D

Greg Lestrade said...

Erm..not cross the picket line? ;)

REReader said...

Ha!

No, don't you know that genius cannot be denied?!

Calliope said...

Oh God, I'm trying to giggle quietly here at work, but thank you. I needed that...Lestallion.

Oh, has anyone mentioned making paper chains as decorations?

Greg Lestrade said...

Paper chains are brilliant. We used to make them as kids. We'd cut up magazines and scraps of wrapping paper and anything colourful and pritt-stick them together.

RR - When the genius is called Mycroft or Sherlock it can be denied, I assure you.

REReader said...

Not A genius, genius-the-external-spirit-or-inspiration. Quite different.

Greg Lestrade said...

I was clarifying for the 6yr old type, given we fairly frequently refer to him as a genius, and I didn't want to give him that line as ammunition in future disagreements.

Such as the earlier one about him going to school tomorrow, not going to fetch Mycroft from Harrow.

Desert Wanderer said...

Hm. I don't know. Sherlock's using Lestallion as a transportation method started the whole "My Little Pony," and what's more inspired than that? :D

Sherlock, did you ever figure out how to put a giraffe in a fridge?

Greg Lestrade said...

I'm not sure he did, DW. But he's in bed now, grumpily and with much protest.

Desert Wanderer said...

Ah. Not my joke to tell, though, so probably for the best. :)

Life's tough when adults are reasonable. I bet Mycroft's excited to be coming home.

John H. D. Watson said...

DW - he wanted to know how big the fridge was and how big the giraffe was.

Hey, Lestallion, are you almost ready for bed?

X said...

L -- no slight was meant to you for including stubble, or to Danger for omitting it. I just happened to be looking at your profile pic while deciding what colours to use for My Little DI, and thought a bit of scruff wouldn't go amiss. ;) No real excuse for My Little Danger not having it, so I'll just claim artistic license....

Greg Lestrade said...

X - I was just teasing Danger really. I seem to grow 5 o'clock shadow about 30 seconds after shaving. Danger can stay fresh faced for hours.

I am about ready for bed, My Little Danger. Going to cock your tail to entice me, like in the picture? My Little Danger - The Porniest Pony.

REReader said...

(No probs, L--that little potential for misunderstanding did occur to me, but only after I posted it. :))

Too true about reasonable adults, DW!

John, maybe he ought to ask how alive the giraffe is. Or that could just be my sick, sick mind... :D (Actually, I think the answer nothing to do with respective sizes at all. Heh heh!)

John H. D. Watson said...

L - only if you stop making insinuations about my pony's...tail! That is the most ridiculous sentence I have ever written, and it's all your fault.

X said...

Hah! And only after I posted that did my browser refresh with the whole tail/mane/pose debate.

John!pony's pose was picked because while browsing through google images for MLP poses, that one struck me as being calculatedly innocent when we all really know better. ;)

I tried to do Danger's mane as short as Lestallion's but the angle of the head ended up looking odd without some hair over the neck -- that's the reason it's like that. The tail being so swirly, I confess, was just for fun. ;).

Clearly Little Danger is a pretty and well behaved pony being corrupted by Lestallion. What's that saying about art imitating life...? ;)

X said...

Hah, L, I imagined you were just teasing, but a) it was a valid question, and b) I like to chatter. See above long winded comment as well, which also takes the very not serious discussion too literally. And overuses emoticons.

REReader said...

Here's a hint for the giraffe in the refrigerator, Sherlock (when you see this in the morning)--you'll need to use the freezer.

Greg Lestrade said...

Danger, don't get frisky, I'm only teasing you about your tantalising tail. :) And thank you for being so wonderful. Tonight has been lovely, and just what I needed after a horrible day.

Little Danger...pretty and well behaved? I don't think so!

It's all a cunning ruse to get innocent Lestallion into trouble, I reckon.

Desert Wanderer said...

And yet, who's the one with the handcuffs?

John H. D. Watson said...

Not sure about pretty, but he looks well behaved to me. He's not the one with the stubble and the leather jacket and the handcuffs.

Greg Lestrade said...

Lestallion is doing his duty to prevent an outrage to public decency with that tail. He's about to slap the hoofcuffs on Little Danger for lewd behaviour and take him down the pound.

I mean...incarcerate him in the animal shelter.

John H. D. Watson said...

The pound! You would never.

REReader said...

Sleepy time, gentleponies...er, gentlemen! You have a busy weekend ahead of you. :)

(And I used to be such a nice girl...)

Desert Wanderer said...

Seems less duty and more like unbridled enthusiasm to me...

Greg Lestrade said...

Pound you? I assure you I would...

Come on, bed. You can stroke your fingers through my mane the way you do that makes me all relaxed. Then maybe I'll let you have your oats and a salt lick.

Greg Lestrade said...

DW - don't bring bridles into it. Enough trouble with tails and crops!

John H. D. Watson said...

DW - unbridled

Not for long if he keeps on like this...

L - an offer too good to pass up.

Greg Lestrade said...

It's not my fault you have smutty blog readers!

Bed. Now.

John H. D. Watson said...

Yes, Lord Lestallion, on my way.

Anonymous said...

You guys are too funny!

Sherlock, the answer to the giraffe question is: open the door, take out the food, and put the giraffe in.

Now, how do you put an elephant in the fridge?

Anonymous said...

You don't, there's no room, 'cos there's a giraffe in there.

How can you tell if there is an elephant in your fridge?

REReader said...

Well, at least the sleeping went well!

I had an entirely different answer to the giraffe in the refrigerator--you put the second "f" in the freezer. (I actually remember that from my childhood as being the answer--I guess I heard different riddles.)

(It doesn't work for elephant, though. :))

I guess you can pick which answer you like best, Sherlock!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, actually, you can put the elephant in the fridge...if you take the giraffe out first. ;-P

Desert Wanderer said...

See, I've never understood that part of the set of four. If your fridge is big enough for a giraffe, surely it's big enough for both?

Anonymous said...

True. But I don't think the giraffe and the elephant would like being shoved in together. Perhaps the giraffe just doesn't like to share?

John H. D. Watson said...

If your fridge is big enough for a giraffe, it's not a fridge! It's a walk-in cooler.

Anonymous said...

Or a TARDIS.

John H. D. Watson said...

The TARDIS is pretty cool.

REReader said...

I still like mine better. So there. :)

(Of course, I like word games better altogether.)

Greg Lestrade said...

I feel a need to plea for no animals or animal parts in our fridge, apart from those purchased from a butcher or supermarket. Thanks.

And leaving work now, Danger. With you shortly.

Desert Wanderer said...

I thought that be with you shorty and was going to laugh at your bravery. Clearly, you've conditioned us to your mind. Lord have mercy. ;P

Pip, are you going to finish the riddle?

Anonymous said...

Lol! Sorry, DW!

The first part is, How do you put a giraffe in a fridge? You open the door, take out the food, put the giraffe in, and close the door.

The second part is, How do you put an elephant in a fridge? You open the door, take out the giraffe, put the elephant in, and then close the door. ;-P

There's actually 4 parts to this, but I don't know if you would all like me to inflict it on you, so I'll stop, lol.

Sherlock said...

But it wouldn't fit and the elephant wouldn't fit even more. And John told me before in the summer that I couldn't get in the fridge because there wouldn't be enough air so there wouldn't be enough air for the giraffe and it would die.

REReader said...

Sherlock, when I was asked that, it was a riddle:

How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator? You have to put the second "f" in the freezer. (All the other letters in "giraffe" are in the word "refrigerator".)

It's not as silly/funny, but it is a riddle, not a joke. Pip's version is a joke, not a riddle. :)

Greg Lestrade said...

Speaking of fridges - Sherlock, now Mycroft's back home, would you like to go ice skating somewhere this weekend? We could go to the one by the Eye, or the Natural History Museum...Hyde Park, Tower of London... any of the ones open, basically.

Desert Wanderer said...

Sherlock, have you read "Mr. Popper's Penguins?"

Sherlock said...

No I haven't, Desert Wanderer.

Lestrade, YES the Natural History Museum, I want to see the dinosaurs again. Or the Eye one if we can go up to the top, only I think it should go faster because it takes a really long time to get around.

I heard a joke in school today. What do you get if you stick a hairdryer down a rabbit hole?

REReader said...

John is right, by the way--a person or animal that got stuck in a refrigerator would suffocate. That's why it's a law in many (possibly all, I'm not sure) parts of the US that if you throw away a fridge, you have to take off the door first.

Greg Lestrade said...

You can ask Mycroft which one he'd like to go to, and John.

And I don't know, what do you get.

I heard a joke today too - a science one I actually understood!

REReader said...

Fluffy rabbits?

Sherlock said...

HOT, CROSS BUNNIES!

What joke did you hear, Lestrade?

REReader said...

Hee hee hee--I like that, Sherlock!

Greg Lestrade said...

It's because of the news coming out of Cern...

Neutrino! Knock knock. Who's there?

REReader said...

LOL! (Because I did.)

Anonymous said...

That's a wonderful joke, Sherlock! It made me laugh after a very hard day, thank you!

I agree, normally a giraffe and an elephant wouldn't be able to fit in a fridge, but it does make a silly image, doesn't it?

And John is right, you should never, ever go into a fridge and close the door.

Calliope said...

Now I'm laughing out loud at work. These are my kind of jokes. Does Mycroft have any?

Here's my favorite:
Q: What is brown and sticky?

Sherlock said...

I don't know, what?

Calliope said...

A: A stick.

:)

Sherlock said...

Sticky!! I'm going to tell that one at school!

Greg Lestrade said...

Sherlock, what's blue, pink and sparkly?

Mycroft said...

I think I heard this one from someone on the blog, but...

Two neutrinos walk into a bar. The bartender says, 'We don't serve your kind here.'

The neutrinos say, 'We're just passing through!'

Sherlock said...

what's blue, pink and sparkly?

What?

REReader said...

(Careful, L! :) )

8 minutes to candlelighting, so I'll wish you all a Shabbat shalom--and an extra-special and wonderful weekend. Have a happy!

Ha! Funny, Mycroft!

Greg Lestrade said...



what's blue, pink and sparkly?

What?


John Danger Sparkles.

(John just pinched my ankle for that. And gave me a Stern Look.)

Anon Without A Name said...

Just FYI, I'm telling my husband all these jokes - we're laughing and groaning in equal measure :-)

Mycroft said...

Was it a Grade 2 look?

Greg Lestrade said...

Grade 2, possibly increasing to Grade One after he reads this.

John H. D. Watson said...

You there, Mr Asking for Trouble, get me another swirly biscuit.

Small Hobbit said...

I presume Pip that the answer to how do you know there's an elephant in the fridge is that there's a giraffe outside the fridge.

On a part with how do you get four hippos in a mini?

Greg Lestrade said...

ooh, I love it when you're all demanding.

But you'll need to get off my leg if I'm to get you a biscuit.

John H. D. Watson said...

I keep telling you to develop psychic powers...

Desert Wanderer said...

Sherlock, here's a joke Lestrade might have told me I could tell you, but you have to ask John, Lestrade, or your mother to tell it to other people.

What did the fish say when he ran into the wall?

Greg Lestrade said...

Hang on, what am I getting blamed for now??

Rider said...

What did the fish say when he ran into the wall?

"where did these legs come from?"

Desert Wanderer said...

Ha! I like your answer, Rider, almost better than the actual one.

Dam. (after which, if you're at church camp, you have to immediately say "I mean beaver-water-holder-backer")

Anon Without A Name said...

DW - I'm really not sure whether beaver-water-holder-backer is actually less rude than dam. In my smutty mind, it's considerably worse :-)

Greg Lestrade said...

Nameless - I wasn't going to say anything, beavers not really being my area of expertise...

Desert Wanderer said...

lol Fair point, Nameless. :D

Anon Without A Name said...

DW - :-p

Lestrade - I believe the latter half of that sentence. Not the first half :-p

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