LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS GIFT SUGGESTIONS

"Light" pictures are here

If ever you don't have all your Christmas gifts yet and you suffer from a lack of ideas, I found some very nice articles for you.


This ear warmer is absolutely perfect for your husband or partner


Your aunt, cousin or friend live alone ? Here is the perfect cushion



Need some practical suit for your baby ? It cleans your floor at the same time



A decorative scarf for both male and female family members



Somebody very carying for her shoes ? The perfect solution



There is certainly somebody in your family who complains about too hot food this would be an adequate gift !



A nice gift for your dog and partner



End the bathroom battle of the sexes ! Lights up the bowl when the lid is up and turns off automatically when the lid is lowered ! Avery nice gift for each couple !




A toilet tune ! Are you guilty of running the faucet, because of eventual noises ? Installs on your existing toilet and is easy to operate… just flip up the lid to start tunes, and close to stop.



Vanity PC
For a family member with a discerning taste and a passion for technology will appreciate the ability to hide unsightly computers within a multitude of furniture designs.

A CHRISTMAS PARCEL+ FRIDAY FEAST

Yesterday evening at 6 pm the door bell was ringing. That was quite unusual and Mr. Gattino asked me immediately "who is it ?" I told him that I am not yet able to look through the walls and the door. He sighed, grumbled and I heard him open the door. Then : "Are you expecting a parcel from the States ?" I looked at the big parcel and said "No" Ah he said you probably ordered something without knowing ! I told him that so far I had never ordered something on the net. The man from Taxi Post asked me to sign a paper and handed over this parcel to me.

I was really surprised, last time I had got a parcel I had to pick it up myself from the post office and now they have a special delivery service ! Snail mail in progress !



I looked at the sender and it was MELLI !! What a surprise !! I took a knife and worked on the parcel. Mr. Gattino asked me what was in it. I said that I don't have X-ray eyes yet. I cut and cut and cut and then came this :



I digged through and found a smaller parcel wrapped in bubble paper. I cut and cut and cut again and finally found a little parcel. Meanwhile Mr. Gattino was wondering if the parcel had been packed to play football with it (soccer) or if it should go around the world.



and finally I found these two little ceramic cats ! So beautiful and special, I couldn't believe that it was for me that somebody so far away had taken time to choose a present for me, had wrapped it so carefully and send it to me. I really was very touched. And then I thought I had to take pictures and to really point out the beauty of the cats I was looking for a white background. There was none in the whole house.



So I choose Arthur, he is white and anyway he doesn't care what I do when he sleeps. Even behind his back. Aren't they cute ?



and before I will find them a special place in my cat collection I put them on the mantel together with Santa.

Thank, you, thank you Melli !!

FRIDAY FEAST SPECIAL EDITION


Appetizer



Soup


Salad


Main Course



Dessert

THURSDAY THIRTEEN

13 things I remember on Christmas

1. When my 3 year old son got an electric train and put his guinea pig in a wagon to have him "travel" ! Pitsou (guinea pig) liked to turn in circles !

2. When my darling 7 year old son put firecrackers in our open fire because he wanted that we had fun, we had fun indeed but not as he expected.

3. When my father (mother always agreed) grumbled about the electric candles on the Christmas tree instead of real once, the fact that we had a 1 year old boy who had just started to walk wasn't an excusable reason to him.

3. When he (mother agreed) also grumbled about the Christmas tree decoration because it was colorful and had a lot of funny cute little things for little son, to him it looked too common and not sober enough.

4. When I spend Christmas eve with my parents pretended to be sick at 8 pm and hurried home to (not yet) Mr. Gattino where we had a cute little tree and spend our first Christmas together.

5. When I saw Mr. Gattino's Nativity scene for the first time and thought it would take the whole living room when he started to put up alll the houses and figures !

6. When during the Christmas eve supper my mother always cried and left the table because my father showed his "caring love" by insulting her.

7. The face he made when my little son told him that he is very very naughty

8. The Italian swearwords I learned when Mr. Gattino put up the tree

9. When at the first Christmas in our new house the heating broke down and we were freezing and waited for somebody to come to repair it on Christmas Eve ! But somebody came !

10. When our dog ate Baby Jesus in marzipan every day and we didn't know who it was !

11. When I was wearing a long dress, stepped on the seam and fell in the tree.

12. When I saw the first Christmas tree my son had made up in London and pushed a scream when I saw it. It was the biggest and tallest tree I had ever seen in a private home !

13. The faces my men made when they stormed in to see what had happened to me !

A CHRISTMASSY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

COMPILED NEWS

The Duchess of York: Bravely going without make-up as she met Prince Andrew

Fergie braves dinner date with ex-husband Prince Andrew - without her make-up
If there were ever a time to pay extra attention to your appearance, you'd think dinner with your ex-husband would be it. Certainly not ! If it is my ex why should I make an effort I don't want to take him back !

Zeffirelli offers Pope a makeover
Franco Zeffirelli, the Italian film, stage and opera director, has said Pope Benedict XVI needs a makeover of his "cold" image and "showy" clothes. That will be a big job ! In fact it's less work to just take another pope.

Jennifer Aniston's Christmas with the Pitts

Jennifer Aniston has reportedly been invited to spend Christmas with her ex-husband's family.
Brad Pitt's mother Jane has retained a close relationship with her former daughter-in-law and wants Jennifer to come to the Pitt household in Springfield, Missouri, for the festive season. Ah ! that's the dilemma with ex DILs, suddenly you have to consider them as the awfullest persons in the whole world !

Obsessive'David Beckham reveals: 'I even have to hoover in straight lines'

David Beckham revealed the extent of his obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) on the last episode of Parkinson. He said: "In our house in Spain we used to have this big rug that when you hoovered it, you could do it in lines like Wembley. I don't care if he hoovers in lines or circles the most important thing is that he hoovers ! Posh is a lucky wife !

So reindeer really can fly through the clouds

Could that be Rudolph soaring through the southern skies?
Alan Blacklock, a photographer with the New Zealand Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, was certainly surprised when he looked into the afternoon sky from his home in the capital city, Wellington. Oh ! that is really a miracle ! From now on I will walk with my head up and looking for cats in the sky !

Why one Muslim girl became a born-again virgin for her wedding night

To disguise the fact that she has had sex, she has paid for painful surgery to "restore" her virginity. The horror and outrage that would ensue if it was discovered she had already slept with a man would be so damning that her own strictly religious relatives might kill her rather than face public shame. Crazy ! The lucky husband !! not only he thinks he is the first one but is also happy to discover a natural talented sex bomb ! If he would know that she can compare .... (hehe)

Rome : Two dentures found in Trevi fountain

The famous Trevi fountain where people toss coins over their shoulders into the fountain and make a wish, doesn't only content coins but also messages and even two dentures which had been found lately. I wonder what these people were thinking when they made a wish ? That their teeth grow back ??

FUN MONDAY - MY HOUSE

For MANIC MONDAY please scroll down !




Kitten's Homeschool is hosting Fun Monday and thinks it would be neat to hear about the story behind our homes and the road we live on. It doesn't have to be historical, maybe just something that stands out.

Anyway there is nothing historical about my house except the town where I live which had been the battle field of Napoleon, Waterloo.

My house story is rather short. After 4 years of marriage and the baby's arrival, we decided to buy a piece of land outside Brussels where we lived in a flat. It had to be not too far from our working places and we started to look around on each weekend. From all suburbs we visited around Brussels, we liked Waterloo the best. It was a cute little town with a lot of farmland around and not far at all, only 15 km (9 miles) from our offices.

The first one we saw we immediately felt in love with but then we thought we have to look at other available places too because there could be something nicer. But nothing really pleased us and we returned to the first one we had seen. It was not big, rather small and we could have had a bigger one for the same price, but we wanted this one and nothing else.

It was in a very quite street with a big corn field behind a little wood and a field with cows ! Without hesitating we bought it. I don't tell you the troubles we had then with the house building, not so the house itself but with the basement and with all the necessary installations. Instead of 6 months delay to move in, we finally moved in after one year and that was in 1975.

Our street still is very calm and our house still looks the same. The only things which have changed are the surroundings. No field behind our garden anymore, but houses, the little wood was reduced to make space for other house buildings. The cows had disappeared and on the field other houses had been built too.

I am quite sad about this but then I tell myself that for 30 years I enjoyed the corn field behind our house which was an ideal playground for the children and also the cow field which had a hill where during winter the children could go sliding with the farmer's agreement. We had had a country life while being very close to Brussels. Today Waterloo had become an international little town and has all shopping malls, shops or boutiques you want. I don't have to go to Brussels anymore for shopping.



Our house hasn't changed only the bushes, trees and the hedge grew a lot !


The backyard. This wheeping willow had been a tiny little stick not even 1 m high ! See the result in 32 years ! There behind had been the cornfield.


Our street towards Waterloo center where the cows had been.




and on the other side




MANIC MONDAY

I never learned Carols in english. I know them in German and french. Not even "silent night" besides that it is followed by "holy night". But my favourite carol is this :

Silent Night ....




and it is understandable for everybody !