IRCLE
OF 
RIENDS
elcome
to our December 17th, 2004 and thank you to Jeanette from the Land Down Under for the beautiful graphic you see at the top of this newsletter.
(Bigsis Original Design)
Online Newsletter
Hello everyone!
I was chatting with Annie from Nova Scotia, Canada last Saturday on MSN Messenger and she told me the Nova Scotia is the Christmas Tree Capital of the World. How cool is that!
I would like to start this week's issue off with something Spiderlady, from Paradise Island sent in. This is an article submitted to a 1999 Louisville Sentinel contest to find out who had the wildest Christmas dinners. This won first prize.
Christmas With Louise
As a joke, my brother used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before Christmas. He said all he wanted was for Santa to fill them. What they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true because every Christmas morning, although Jay's kids' stockings were overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty.
One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses and went in search of an inflatable love doll. They don't sell those things at Walmart. I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown. If you've never been in an X-rated store, don't go. You'll only confuse yourself. I was there an hour saying things like, "What does this do? You're kidding me! Who would buy that?"
Finally, I made it to the inflatable doll section. I wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute as a passenger in my truck so I could use the car pool lane during rush hour. Finding what I wanted was difficult. Love Dolls come in many different models. The top of the line, according to the side of the box, could do things I'd only seen in a book on animal husbandry. I settled for Lovable Louise. She was at the bottom of the price scale. To call Louise a doll took a huge leap of imagination.
On Christmas Eve and with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came to life. My sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning hours. Long after Santa had come and gone, I filled the dangling pantyhose with Louise's pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. I went home, and giggled for a couple of hours.
The next morning my brother called to say that Santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him VERY happy but had left the dog confused. She would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more. We all agreed that Louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional Christmas dinner.
My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door. "What the hell is that?" she asked. My brother quickly explained, "It's a doll." "Who would play with something like that?" Granny snapped. I had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut. "Where are her clothes?" Granny continued. "Boy, that turkey sure smells nice Gran" Jay said, to steer her into the dining room. But Granny was relentless. "Why doesn't she have any teeth?" Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It was Christmas and no one wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, "Hang on Granny, hang on!"
My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to me and said, "Hey, who's the naked gal by the fireplace?" I told him she was Jay's friend. A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to Louise. Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized this might be Grandpa's last Christmas at home.
The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had died, who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a noise like my father in the bathroom in the morning. Then she lurched from the panty hose, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa. The cat screamed. I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and Grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. My brother fell back over his chair and wet his pants. Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car.
It was indeed a Christmas to treasure and remember. Later in my brother's garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of Louise's collapse. We discovered that Louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh. Fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape, we restored her to perfect health!
- Messages from members
- News and Announcements
- Lets Do Lunch
- The Argentinean Chapter
- Ruby's Journal
- Tips & Recommendations
- Fun Tests & Quizzes
- Swaps
- Recipes
- Crafts
- Members Questions & Answers
- Fun
- Featured Sites
- Mystery Member
- Member of the Month
- Department of Vital Statistics
In this issue...
Messages from Members
- Seasons Greeteings from Jeanette from the Land Down Under
- Great Newsletter!! Pami from Marlboro, New York, USA
- Anita from the USA sends us this Christmas Gift and she would also like to share this Teach the Children page with us.
- Christine from Delaware, USA sends us this delightful Christmas At Our House.
- Well, we had my son's Presentation, it was very well done, all five of them worked in perfect coordination, showing the programme they had done, for tourism in a neighbouring city, how they made it, how long it took, the drawbacks and positive points. We even had one of the lads sleeping here the last few days as he came in from another city. At the end they were all declared new computer engineers. YIPPPEEE!!
After the official presentation of their work, all five of them changed into something old and were attacked by their companions and those of the year behind them and showered with oil, flour eggs, mayonase, cheap wine etc ,some of them also had their hair cut off in chunks, my son among them, his close to the scull... and he had recently had his hair cut. HAHAHA
He had to go to the hairdresser again, later to sort it out and now has it closely cropped, one of his companions just came for him, and started literally rolling about with laughter, I'm not sure, he might be the one who welded the scissors in the first place!!!
Fortunately the only girl among them, who also happens to be Ruben's girlfriend, didn't get her hair cropped, but she sure had a hell of a time getting that mess out of her hair.
They all had to return home standing up in the back of a truck, then they washed each other down in our garden with a hose, before taking a proper shower. Then a lot of the families turned up here to celebrate our new engineers. I hope to have some pictures soon, but funny thing is I rarely get to see the ones taken on Romy's new camera.
I have just been reading the newsletter, I loved David's Christmas joke about the office party.
Tonight we are going to a folk show, and tomorrow we have the Salta residents end of year do, where we have to work for that.
Hope all is well with you. Love from Daphne from Argentina -- Be sure to email Daphne for some pictures of this!!
- Maxine from Ontario, Canada sends us a Christmas Countdown
- I would like to send out my best wishes to everyone in the circle for the holidays and hope that everyone stays safe. I know myself will have a great holiday as my family and I leave on December 27 for Cuba. Merry Christmas from Belinda from Ontario, Canada.
FEATURED SITES
Arlene from the USA has sent in these sites for our enjoyment!
Arlene is now visiting New Jersey for the Holiday Season and while she will be missing everyone in Arizona and California she looks forward to seeing everyone in New Jersey and New York.
Do you have a favourite site that you would like to share with the members. Please let me know and I will be happy to put it in the newsletter.
Crafts
The WWWCOF Craft of the Month is coming our way January, 2005. Crafty Jayne from Kansas, USA and Loretta from Texas, USA are hard at working putting this together for us and I can't wait to see it get started. What fun we will have! Keep your eye on this section for updates.
Be sure to check out all the wonderful craft ideas in the WWWCOF Craft Site and add your own favourites or email Crafty Jayne who will be happy to add them to our ever growing collection.
Recipes
on the subject of Diets
Crystal from Kansas, USA would like to share this article with us!
TOO MANY CARBS IN YOUR DIET? Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 11:18:39 -0700
For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting medical studies.
- 1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
- 2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
- 3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
- 4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
- 5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
Do you have a recipe for us to enjoy? We would love for you to add it to all the wonderful recipes being collected in the WWWCOF Cookbook or email The Recipe Lady aka Claudia who will be happy to add them for you.
Members Questions & Answers
Send in your questions to be posted here!News & Announcements
From the Correspondent from Argentina, our very own Daphne comes the news that they inaugerated their summer saeson last weekend. Please enjoy this article by © Deutsche Welle
You know it's time for Christmas when Jack Frost starts nipping at your nose. But in the southern hemisphere, Christmas is celebrated in high summer.
When the mercury drops down to the lowest digits, when mittens and scarves are pulled out of cupboards, and when the first snowflakes fall it's time for Christmas. In Germany, it's hard to believe Christmas is only two weeks away. With temperatures averaging between 5° Celsius in Cologne, 2° in Berlin and 0° in Munich, it's still too warm for the festive season. Meteorologists are even forecasting mild 10° weather for the 25th - so a white Christmas is definitely out of the picture. South of the equator, though, it's even less likely.
When Europe freezes, or at least sneezes, South Africans enjoy balmy 30° weather. Air-conditioned shopping malls in Cape Town are about as far as you can get from the chilly Christmas markets in Germany, but the South Africans, just like their fellow sun gatherers in Australia and Brazil, try to keep up the spirit of a winter wonderland during the weeks leading up to Christmas.
"Dreaming of a white Christmas"
Despite the heat, snow abounds in the southern hemisphere. It glistens in the store windows, leaves frosted etchings on buildings and coats tropical trees. It's all fake, primarily processed from spun plastic and white spray paint. But if you're standing next to an air conditioning vent in just a T-shirt and shorts, you'll get the sense of a cool white Christmas.
Although many people in Germany yearn for a beachside holiday under palm trees, not everyone is ready to completely sacrifice the typical winter atmosphere of a European Christmas for sun and warmth. This is especially true the further south you go.
There seems to be a direct correlation between the chances of snow fall and the desire to keep old world Christmas traditions alive. The less likely snow is, the more likely it is for people to simulate a winter wonderland.
In Australia, as elsewhere, shopping malls tend to drum up the season for the sake of profits. They blast Christmas carols like "Dreaming of a White Christmas" and "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" over loudspeakers until people actually start believing the bright sunlight on the beach reflects off a snowy landscape.
"Dashing through the snow"
In the southern hemisphere, temperatures peak in December, so the first thing on most people's mind is swimming and barbecuing - not sledding and roasting chestnuts. In Europe, Christmas Day is usually spent with the family, sitting around the fire or the Christmas tree exchanging stories and eating rich foods - the perfect pastime for unpleasant weather. In South Africa, Australia and Brazil, it's far too hot to stay indoors, so families engage in what are otherwise summer activities up north.
South Africans meet for a big barbecue or scuttle brie on the poolside. The food is light and summery. The traditional turkey is baked and left in the fridge to chill for a day, making a cool main dish accompanied by fresh salads. People drink "sun-downers", refreshing cocktails at sunset, taking it easy until all the Christmas lights go on late in the evening.
In Australia people meet on the beach for a pick-up game of cricket and a seafood barbecue. Even Santa sheds his velvet cloak in favor of Bermuda shorts and shades. And his sled is pulled by a team of kangaroos.
Brazilians go to church and then spend the afternoon of the 25th on the beach with family. Because it's the start of the yearly "summer" vacations, most people spend the holidays at their beach houses. In the city, the houses are aglow with bright colored lights, Santa Clauses on rooftops, and reindeer grazing on front lawns. It doesn't matter that these Nordic creatures prefer snow over tropical heat, the Brazilians import them anyway and compete for the brightest, most colorful light display.
"O Christmas Tree, how are thy leaves so verdant"
The Christmas tree, the focal point of all seasonal decorations up north, is traditionally a fir tree. In the southern hemisphere, however, temperatures are too high for fir trees to grow.
In South Africa, the summer sun forces people to look for different types of Christmas trees. Plastic "evergreens" imported from Asia are popular choices, especially as they can be used year after year without losing their needles. In Brazil, pine trees are a favorite natural alternative. And in India people rely on banana and mango trees to "spruce" up their houses for the holiday season. Hawaii residents can't quite get used to palm trees in place of conifers. Year after year they eagerly await the arrival of the Christmas Tree Ship from Matson Navigation Company, an import company specializing in bringing hard-to-get products to the islanders. On Thanksgiving Day, when the company unloads its annual shipment of Oregon firs, Hawaiians line the docks to get a good first pick.
Mele Kalikimaka Feliz Natal! Geniet jou Kersfees! Whether you wish someone a Merry Christmas in Hawaiian, Portuguese or Afrikaans, the sentiment is the same. And no matter where you are - lounging on a beach or walking through a snow covered landscape - the taste, sound and feel of Christmas is shared throughout the world, at least as long as imagination and good quality plastic are around.
Mystery Member
Clue: This week's mystery member is from the United States of American, she is married and has one son.Remember, at any time you think you know who the mystery member is please email me!
The clues can be found throughout the Circle of Friends Members site and elsewhere on the many online sites.
If you think it might be you..........you never know it could be!!
Good Luck and.........
Have Fun!
If you have not completed your WWWCOF Survey yet please take a visit over to the Survey Page where you can easily complete and submit it online.
Tips & Recommendations
Spiderlady, from Paradise Island would like us to read this. Good to know if you are thinking about changing your password. Be sure to visit Ann'sBeadspiders website.
Add an Air of Mystery to Your Password
How complex does a password have to be in order to provide a sense of security? The answer to this question really depends on the possible characters that comprise the password, and how many characters the password contains.
If you only use the 26 characters of the English alphabet and your password is only 2 characters long, then you have only 676 (26 to the power of 2) possible passwords. A password-cracking computer program can guess any password of this length that you create from two letters in a fraction of a second.
If you choose your password from both lowercase and uppercase characters, numbers, the ten number keys, and the 32 special characters on your keyboard, such as the comma and the asterisk, then the number of distinct passwords increases to 9,216 (96 to the power of 2), which is still a low number.
However, if you make sure that the password consists of at least 7 characters, then the number of possible combinations increases to over 75 trillion, or to be exact — 75,144,747,810,816 (96 to the power of 7). It would take a hacker over 2,300 years to try every possible combination if the password-cracking program tried 1,000 possible passwords every second.
Using a very powerful computer that tried one million passwords every second, it would still take 2.3 years. If you change your password every month or two, the password will most likely be different by the time the hacker has cracked it.
DISCLAIMER: Tips reflect member suggestions and are not verified by the WWWCOF.
Fun Tests & Quizzes
This is so funny that it will boggle your mind. And you will keep trying at least 50 more times to see if you can outsmart your foot, but you can't.
- 1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.
- 2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction.
The Argentinean Chapter
Coming one day soon, a basic Clay Oven Recipe!
You can read more about Argentina, the country I adopted here
Love from Daphne
Member of the Month Nominations
Nominations are arriving for the December Member of the Month so be sure to cast your ballot here today!
Swaps
Keep your eye on section of the newsletter for our International Swap Information. Questions? Need additional information? Email our Swap Queen, Ruth. These exchanges are a lot of fun, they are inexpensive and are a great way to get to know the fantastic people who belong to this wonderful circle.
Have a wonderful time doing these swaps!!!
Newspaper Articles
Department of Vital Statistics
Click here to get to the Photo Albums.Use the following instructions to login:
You'll see three grey tabs just below and to the left of the My Photo Album logo: ALBUM LIBRARY; LOGIN; and HELP
Click on LOGIN
Another screen will popup that says "Login to Gallery "
Beside Username type: bigsispat(all in lowercase)
Beside Password type: circle (all in lowercase)
Then click on the Login button below.
Once in the Gallery you will find the following six albums on two pages:
- Reunion Photos: Food
- Reunion Photos: Fun
- Christmas
- Reunion Photos: Meetings
- Members Families
- Members
luv & hugs BigSisPat from Ontario, Canada
Do remember to visit the Vital Statistics Department December Celebrations Gallery.
Birthdays and Anniversaries for December include:
- Justine Broatch (Brit Pat’s daughter) on the 25th
- Erika Fryer from the USA also celebrates on the 25th
I wonder if these two young ladies are the same age. Rumour has it that Erika is turning the big 16 -- how old will Justine be on Christmas Day? - Harve Skaines on Dec 28
- Cosby Wilson on Dec 31
- Kathy Newport also on Dec 31
- Haley Mathena (Loretta’s granddaughter) also on Dec 31
Haley is in the same age bracket as our two Christmas Birthday members Justine and Erika). Looks like we are going to have to get the next chapter of the WWWCOF in the works soon - the 13 - 25 age group. Any volunteers to organize this chapter? - Jayne & Darrell Melstrom will be celebrating their anniversary on the 16th
- Mary & Bill McWhinnie will be celebrating their anniversary on the 30th
Grab a coffee and enjoy the updated Trivia Page.
From the Trivia Page you can link to the Countdown Page where I’ve included only Christmas Trivia
And from there to the Holiday Recipe Page where you can find a few not so usual Holiday recipes I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone one of you a Happy, Healthy and Joyous Holiday Season as well as a prosperous 2005.
I hope you enjoy the December Trivia pages as much as I did putting them all together.
Luv & hugs BigSisPat from Ontario, Canada
| Member Albums |
Our Travelling Mascott
Read all about our globe trotting mascot in her journal by clicking on the picture of her logo!
Email Ruby and don't be surprised when you see your message in her online journal! I know she would love to hear from you.
RUBY HAS ARRIVED!!! at Becky's home in Ocean City, Maryland, USA. WOOHOO!!!. Now for her next adventure.***
If you want to get your name on the list for Ruby to visit you, just drop a line to Daphne from Argentina and she will add you. Who knows, yours just might be the name little Agos picks out.... as she is the one in charge of the draws.
Let's Do Lunch
A picture "strictly behind the scenes Team" taken at last Sunday's end of year do for the Salta Province Residents club. At the back, Miguel the BBQ cook, Front left to right, Edith my sis-in-law, Charito, me and Leo. love from Daphne from Argentina.
Just for Fun
Be sure to visit our Computer Humour site! Email Daphne with any computer jokes you have and she will happily add them to this collection.
I do hope you have enjoyed this week's issue which I would like to close with the following which I received from TerryLynn from Paradise Island, Canada:
Twas the Night Before Christmas
'Twas the night before Christmas and Santa's a wreck...
How to live in a world that's politically correct?
His workers no longer would answer to "Elves".
"Vertically Challenged" they were calling themselves.
And labor conditions at the North Pole
Were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.
Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,
Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.
And equal employment had made it quite clear
That Santa had better not use just reindeer.
So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,
Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!
The runners had been removed from his sleigh;
The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.
And people had started to call for the cops
When they heard sled noises coming from their roof-tops.
Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened.
His fur trimmed red suit was called "Unenlightened."
And to show you the strangeness of life's ebbs and flows,
Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose
And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,
Demanding millions in over-due compensation.
So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,
Who suddenly said she had enough of this life,
Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,
Demanding from now on her title was Ms.
And as for the gifts, why, he'd ne'er had a notion
That making a choice could cause so much commotion.
Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,
Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.
Nothing that might be construed to pollute.
Nothing to aim. Nothing to shoot.
Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise.
Nothing for just girls. Or just for the boys.
Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.
Nothing that's warlike or non-pacific.
No candy or sweets...they were bad for the tooth.
Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.
And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,
Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.
For they raised the hackles of those psychological
Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.
No baseball, no football...someone could get hurt;
Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt.
Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe;
And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.
So Santa just stood there, disheveled, perplexed;
He just could not figure out what to do next.
He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,
But you've got to be careful with that word today.
His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;
Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.
Something special was needed, a gift that he might
Give to all without angering the left or the right.
A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,
Each group of people, from every religion;
Every ethnicity, every hue,
Everyone, everywhere...even you.
So here is that gift, it's price beyond worth...
"May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on earth."
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