An Evening At Brian and Jan's Home (Page Two)
We arrived first and then everybody else came along soon thereafter...
Walking up the street
Did you know? - In England the day after Christmas is called Boxing Day because boys used to go round collecting money in clay boxes. When the boxes were full, they broke them open. In England Boxing Day celebrated on December 26th, is traditionally a time to give gifts to tradesmen, servants, and friends.
It originated in medieval times, when every priest was supposed to empty the alms box of his church and distribute gifts to the poor. Wealthy people indulged in huge Christmas feasts, and when they were finished, packed up the remains of feasts in boxes and gave them out to their servants. It didn't become widely celebrated though until Victorian England.
This is really going to be a party
Jan says "Oh oh, what have I done??"
Remember: Try to keep your soul young and quivering right up to old age. - George Sand
Brian put Donna to work!
Did you know? - A disco ball, mirror ball, glitter ball, ball mirror, or specular sphere is a roughly spherical object that reflects light directed at it in many directions, producing a complex display. Its surface consists of hundreds or thousands of facets, nearly all of approximately the same shape and size, and each having a mirrored surface. Usually it is mounted well above the heads of the people present, suspended from a device that causes it to rotate steadily on a vertical axis, and illuminated by spotlights, so that stationary viewers experience beams of light flashing over them, and see myriad spots of light spinning around the walls of the room.
What are now sometimes called "disco balls" were first widely used in nightclubs in the 1920s. They were already in existence and use before then, appearing in a description of a ballroom dance in 1897 in Boston. An early example can be seen in the nightclub sequence of Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt, a German silent film from 1927. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, these devices were a standard piece of equipment in discotheques, and by the end of the 20th century, the name "disco ball" had grown quite popular~ Wikipedia
Checking out the telescope
Back rubs are now a requirement!
Hang on.... Herb is on his way!
Remember: Today is the yesterday you worried about tomorrow. Author Unknown
"Are you sure it's no the other end you open?"
"OMG! Look at all this food! Jan must have worked all day!"
The wine has been located... All is well!
Brian shows his works of art
B-28 returning home on a wing and a prayer
Did you know? - Wing and a Prayer (also known as The Story of Carrier X) is a black-and-white 1944 war film about the heroic crew of an American carrier in the desperate early days of World War II in the Pacific theater, directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Dana Andrews and Don Ameche. Although arguably a classic propaganda movie, it was appreciated for its very realistic portrayal and was nominated for the 1944 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
The movie title Wing And A Prayer was borrowed from a number one hit song on July 3rd, 10th, and 17th of 1943, Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer (listen)~ Wikipedia
Amazing artist
Bob steals the prize for best shirt!
It's like no one has seen each other for months...
Did you know? - In England, the only thing that people ate on the day before the feast was Frumenty, which is, was a kind of porridge made from corn. Over the years the recipe changed. Eggs, fruit, spice, lumps of meat and dried plums were added. The whole mixture was wrapped in a cloth and boiled. This is how plum pudding began.
Herbie is 'splaining something
Vance found the food... We are in trouble now
Did you know? - In England also they elect Boy Bishops in commemoration of St. Nicholas compassion for children. These mock bishops were allowed to do the duties of the ecclesiastic except deliver the Mass.
They need Vance's assistance
Zot! The food is disappearing!
z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-
Did you know? - Christmas in England began in AD 596, when St Augustine landed on her shores with monks who wanted to bring Christianity to the Anglo Saxons.
Did you know? - Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especially a pig. Most ham is cured and may be served cooked or uncooked. In the United Kingdom, South Africa, the Isle of Man, and Ireland, cuts of ham cured on the bone like bacon are known as "gammon". The word ham is derived from the Old English ham or hom meaning the hollow or bend of the knee.
"Hey Leon... Can I come back for seconds?"
It's great that a table has four sides or we cold have had a riot on our hands
Just look at all the colors! Wow!
Did you know? - In 1792, Theodore Pearson of Newburyport, Massachusetts, made a cracker-like bread product from just flour and water that he called Pearson's Pilot Bread. An immediate success with sailors because of its shelf life, it also became known as hardtack or sea biscuit. This was the first cracker bakery in the United States, and produced crackers for more than a century. Crown Pilot Crackers from the same recipe were made and sold in New England up until early 2008, and used in traditional clam chowder recipes.
But the real revolutionary moment in the life of the cracker came in 1801 when another Massachusetts baker, Josiah Bent, burnt a batch of biscuits in his brick oven. The crackling noise that emanated from the singed biscuits inspired the name - crackers - and a bit of ingenuity, as Bent set out to convince the world of the product's snack food potential. By 1810, his Boston-area business was booming, and, in later years, Bent sold his enterprise to the National Biscuit Company, which now does business under the Nabisco name.
In 1999, the cookie and cracker industry in the United States employed 37,857 people, with sales exceeding $10 billion.[ ~ Wikipedia
"Herb, what is that?" "My dear, that is real tomatoes!"
Did you know? - Christmas Crackers have been a part of the traditional British Christmas since1847, when almost by accident, Tom Smith invented the cracker. They are used to decorate the table at dinner. In it's simple form a cracker is a small cardboard tube covered in a brightly coloured twist of paper. When the cracker is 'pulled' by two people, each holding one end of the twisted paper, the friction creates a small explosive 'pop' produced by a narrow strip of chemically impregnated paper. Inside the cracker there is usually a tissue paper hat, a balloon, a slip of paper with a very corny joke on it (for example: "What does Santa call his blind reindeer?" "No-eye-deer!" / "Where do fish wash?" "In the river basin!" / "What do you get if you cross a sheep with a kangaroo?" "A wooly jumper!" /" What lies in a pram and wobbles?" "A jelly baby!" ) and a small gift (usually a little cheap plastic thing e.g. a plastic ring or nail clippers).|
The family will pull each other's crackers before the meal starts, this often involves crossing arms and pulling two crackers at once. The person who gets the "big end" keeps the plastic trinket. The paper hats are donned, and the jokes read out, accompanied by moans and groans at how awful they are. Then, and only then, can the meal begin.
The elders of the tribe in deep contemplation
Did you know? - Elder is a surname that means "older than you".
The pants are a giveaway... Ever see size 15 Triple A's
Be afraid, very afraid!
Collars up!
Remember: "We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language." - Oscar Wilde , The Canterville Ghost, 1882
Ah.....
It's Someone's Birthday!
Happy birthday Jan
"So Marcia... should I go back for my thirds?"
"Here is to ya girl! 60 years young!"
Remember: George Carlin - I'm sixty years of age. That's 16 Celsius.
Maurice Chevalier - Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative.
Bernard Baruch - To me old age is always fifteen years older than I am.
William Butler Yeats - From our birthday, until we die, is but the winking of an eye.
Joan Rivers - Looking fifty is great… if you're sixty.
Mark Twain - When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.
I almost asked him for some Good Humor Ice Cream
Did you know? - The Queen's Christmas Message (or King's Christmas Message in the reign of a male monarch) is a broadcast made by the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms to the Commonwealth of Nations each Christmas. The tradition began in 1932 with a radio broadcast by King George V on the British Broadcasting Corporation Empire Service. Today, the message is read by Queen Elizabeth II and broadcast on television, radio, and the Internet via various providers.
The message typically combines a chronicle of that year's major events, with specific focus on the British Empire originally and later the Commonwealth of Nations, with the sovereign's own personal milestones and feelings on Christmas. It is one of the few instances when the sovereign speaks publicly without advice from any ministers of the Crown in any of the monarch's realms. Planning for each year's address begins months earlier, when the monarch establishes a theme and appropriate archival footage is collected and assembled; the actual speech is recorded a few days prior to Christmas. ~ Wikipedia
Please listen to the first TV broadcast of The Queen's Message which aired in 1957!
"Glass and plate empty... Must do something about that!"
Serious conversations now underway
How come the birthday girl has to do all the work??
If Prince Charles had a five pound gold piece for
his 60th, what are we going to do for Jan?
Jan has friends....