"Auld Lang Syne".

I'm not a New Year's guy. I celebrated more when I was younger but now it's just another eve before a day off. However, I do love this rendition of "Auld Lang Syne". I first heard it when Mairi Campbell serenaded Sean Connery during the Kennedy Center Honors.


So - to 2015! May it bring you health, joy & happiness - and peace. Remember - most of us are just tryin' to crack ye old nut. There's much good in the world. Seek it out!

Christmas Day @ the Ircink's in Waterford!

Merry Christmas! From Dee, Jim, me, Brother Jason, Molly & Zol (in picture).

Christmas Eve @ the Ircink's of Waterford!

The family that drinks brandy old fashioned sweets together stays together - for over 50 years. Jim, Dee Dee, Jeff, Jason & Molly the American water spaniel. 'Twas a wonderful evening. Oh - Molly didn't drink any old fashioneds.

 She sipped port.

My favorite line(s) from "A Christmas Carol"...

"Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world...and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!"

- from Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL

(pic from A CHRISTMAS CAROL - 1951, starring Alastair Sim)

"A Christmas Carol" (1971)

I post this every holiday season on my blog and FB. The BEST animated CAROL of them all. And it won an Oscar. It's 24 minutes. If you're a Scrooge fan, it's worth it. The detail for that time is superb.

A compendium of Santa Claus(es).

Sinterklaas. Father Christmas. Père Noël. Saint Nicholas. Grandfather Frost. Kris Kringle. So many names. So many cultures. Here are a few visions of Santa Claus that I like.

"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (2010)

Probably my favorite Christmas carol. And probably my favorite rendition.
Celtic meets Renaissance Faire! Excellent!

Jammin' @ Christmas time!

I usually make my black raspberry jam in September but never got around to it. Ircink family pierogi gathering this evening and I wanted to get some jam to my aunts and uncle. 23, 8-ounce jars. 32 last year. I swear I had the same amount of quart bags of raspberries. I did have the same amount.

Odd.

Christmas Tree. Glen Mar. 2014.

 

"Now, the tree is decorated with bright merriment, and song, and dance, and cheerfulness. And they are welcome. Innocent and welcome be they ever held, beneath the branches of the Christmas Tree, which cast no gloomy shadow! But, as it sinks into the ground, I hear a whisper... going through the leaves. "This, in commemoration of the law of love and kindness, mercy and compassion. This, in remembrance of Me!"

- excerpt from Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Tree" (1850) 

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Seasons Greetings!

(and anything else I missed)

"Now trees their leafy hats do bare,
To reverence Winter's silver hair;
A handsome hostess, merry host,
A pot of ale now and a toast,
Tobacco and a good coal fire,
Are things this season doth require."

 

- Poor Robin's Almanack, 1684