Madness In The Middle Kingdom

With much anticipation Christmas arrived at the Ma-Brown clan but unfortunately the Ma-Brown boys were quite a bit under the weather and struggled to put on their game face. After the first couple of presents though the boys got into the spirit and tore into the presents without abandon.

Coughing #1

Coughing #2

A rare shot - no one coughing or sneezing

I wanna be a cowboy!

Who would think an immigrant would have a pony?

Da Boys and Baba

With Carter and Nathan back in bed for the first of 3 naps this day it was up to Mom and Dad to put this wooden house together. Closest we will get to home reno’s for a long time.

Yes the Christmas was successful and Alice did an amazing job in organizing and planning our holiday festivities even though she did not grow up with this holiday. Carter and Nathan spent most of the big day asleep and we only hope their health improves for New Year’s Eve.

Alice and I were fortunate en0ugh to be the hosts of this year’s kids Christmas party where a very special guest made a visit … Santa Claus. The kids were so excited to see Santa and get a present from him that it almost brought a tear to the eye.

Alice was tireless in her preparation and it showed in the great time everyone had. Carter had a good time but was still a little timid about the jolly old elf although he stepped up and got his present and even high fived Santa .. he just didn’t want to stick around too long to get pictures taken. Nathan was still in the midst of a 2 day fever and was not in his best spirits. He wasn’t sure what to make of Santa.

Some snapshots

Carter and Dad making a stocking

Abandoned by our children we carried on the father’s tradition of “doing it for them”

Nathan and LaoLao

Carter about to high-five Santa

After the tears Nathan stepped forward to get his gift.

Carter was pretty curious about the old elf.

Someone else was a little curious about Santa too!

Santa take note … Carter wants a medium sized red car and some blue, green, and red Playdough. Not very lofty ambitious considering the world is your oyster when making requests to Santa but hey .. he knows what he wants.

Nathan wasn’t very clear on what he wanted for Christmas but based on his limited vocabulary he either wants a cat (he says mao which is Chinese for cat) or a new mother and father (mama and baba in Chinese).

Some photos below of the editing and writing process.

Love that Dr. Hook song ..

Rolling Stone
Wanna see my picture on the cover
Rolling Stone
Wanna buy five copies for my mother
Rolling Stone
Wanna see my smilin’ face
On the cover of the Rolling Stone

Thanks to Carol at Cafe Catharsis for providing the inspiration and the link. Wanna get on the cover of the Rolling Stone or Seventeen magazine … head to MagMyPic.com

Cheers

You know the tune .. sing a long
“All I want for Christmas is my blog unblocked
My blog unblocked, my blog unblocked.
Gee if I could only have my blog unblocked
Then I could post a Merry Christmas”

Tune #2 “The Grinch”
“You are mean ones … Net Police.
You really have some clout
You’ve blocked the server that hosts this blog
You really knocked it out
Net Police
You have all the manners and sensibilities of a drunken Christmas lout.”

Tune #3 - White Christmas
“I’m dreaming of an unblocked blog
Just like the one I used to know
When I could freely post
On an unblocked host
And see a Youtube vid - e - o!”

Tune #4 - Winter Wonderland
“I use proxy just to write this
The net censor gives it the death kiss
A terrible plight
I’m so sad tonight
Getting blocked in old China land.

Gone away is the freedom
Proxy servers man I need ‘em
I will not dissuade
From my plans to evade
Gettin’ blocked in old China land.”

Well .. felt good to get that off my chest!

This just in from the CBC website .. take heed boys and girls.

A University of Alberta researcher is calling on Canadian beer drinkers to go green and toss their energy-guzzling beer fridges, found in one of three households across the country.

“A reduction in the use of ‘beer fridges’ or a movement towards the use of newer and smaller energy-efficient models in Canada would lead to lower levels of energy use in the residential sector and, in some regions, lower emissions of greenhouse gases,” says researcher Denise Young in the November issue of the journal Energy Policy. The study was commissioned by Natural Resources Canada.

According to the Canadian Appliance Manufacturers Association, a 1985 vintage fridge uses about 1060 kilowatt-hours of energy annually. By comparison, current Energy Star refrigerators use 380 to 440 kWh annually for large models and 275-300 kWh for smaller units.

However the following story offers a solution

Blast from the past? Coldest winter in 15 years, Environment Canada says

Not since the grunge era and Brian Mulroney’s days as prime minister has Canada experienced a winter quite as bitter as the one expected to creep in this December, Environment Canada forecasted on Friday.

Conclusion - Turn off the beer fridge and stick the bevvies in the snow hosehead!

Saturday Dec. 1st marked the first day of the holiday season at the Ma-Brown household. Despite chills and a fever I was up for decking the tree with Alice and the boys. I never was big into doing the tree as a youngster and I have found that hasn’t really changed much but lucky for me Carter and Nathan LOVE it. This allowed me to play the role of photographer and supervisor. Camera in one hand and coffee in the other this was our morning.

Nathan thought for some reason that you eat Christmas trees

After his big meal of Christmas tree Nathan takes a little breather

Not sure what to do nathan simply mimicked the actions of others but all of his decorations kept falling off.

Carter steps in to give Nathan a few pointers. Always good to have a veteran around to help the rookies.

“Hold it like this!”

I got it!

For Carter this is an art form and it is all business. “Don’t fool around” he said.

Look at the technique

“Where’s Waldo?”

O Tannenbaum!

Empty now - but not for long!