CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD

A giant Christmas tree in Beijing.Christmas is becoming an increasingly popular celebration in Chinese consumer culture.They love the idea of Santa and gift giving.They like to decorate trees in a quirky way.

Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium is reflected in a Christmas tree ornament.

At Tokyo Sunshine International Aquarium,a diver dressed as Santa Claus plays in a tank with a moray eel and a ray.

An advertisement for a Christmas show,in New York,on the side of a bus.

Elephants playing in the snow in Zurich Switzerland zoo.

An ice sculpture gallery in the Finnish city of Rovaniemi.The city calls itself the hometown of Santa Claus.It is Christmassy all year round.Not being strictly at the Norh Pole,they would have a hard time convincing my twin grandsons,who are sticklers for accuracy and detail.It looks beautiful,anyhow.

XMAS JOKE FOR VIXEN

WHO DOESN'T REALLY

LIKE CHRISTMAS

VERY MUCH...

Chill, Santa!

This video is for Jeannie the cool Canadian customer who just can't get enough of Christmas.
This video is for CUPCAKE the cool Southern Gal with the big mouth (that we all love so much).
This video is even for tinkerbell aka crazy lacy who has been hallucinating lately about fictional events and about giving David Caruso a blowjob. Go figure! Boy, those meds messed up her empty brain - but good! After reading comments like "David Caruso is a man of standards" we had to run and puke into the next bucket! Argghhhhhh!!! The old bipolar gal must be either batshit crazy or really really desperate for some attention. We think it is BOTH.
Jeannie - you really must send that old nutcase one of your famed battery operated rubber Daves for Christmas and you'll win (crazed) fan for life....

MY ROCK--3

I heard the siren fading in the distance,as the ambulance carried my dying husband to a large hospital for surgery.His chances of arriving alive,were slim.Chances of surviving surgery,even slimmer.

I called our son Steve,to tell him of this new development but he had already left,to come to his father's bedside,at this little country clinic.
I would have to wait here for him.I couldn't chase the ambulance to the hospital,as I wanted to do.I asked the nurse at the desk,if I could wait for my son.She said she would wait with me and unlocked the front door.Lovely people at that clinic.

After an eternity ,we heard banging at the door.Steve,my daughter Jane,daughterJemma and grandson Justin tumbled in the door all at once.They ran to me and held me until I could speak.Apparently,they had been wandering,lost,for the last forty minutes.So much for Justin's Google map.
I explained that we would have to go to the university hospital.Steve was very familiar with the city,so we made it there in under thirty minutes.Brian was still in surgery.That must mean he was still alive.I told them as much as I knew and we all sat there holding hands.
"Did you call Jen?"Steve asked me.
Jennifer had just left for a week's holiday with her family,to a special camp for kidney patients.She was due to have a kidney transplant in three or four weeks.She was very close to her dad,but I was reluctant to take that week away from her."No,let her rest,unless Dad dies,then,we have no choice."

By the time the surgeon emerged it was about two thirty a.m.
"Well,he's still alive,"he said."I don't know how he made it here with almost complete restriction of blood flow.I removed a long piece of plaque that was caught at an intersection of two arteries and it was blocking both.I've put four stents in the artery to hold it open.Fifty percent of his heart has been permanently damaged.That half will never work again because of the build up of scar tissue.In that sense,the human heart is unforgiving."
"He must live the time he has left accordingly.Change his lifestyle completely,so he doesn't put any strain on the working portion of his heart."
"If only you had got him here sooner,I could have done so much more,saved so much more of his heart."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY DOCTOR?"At that moment the strain was too much.I blacked out for just a moment.
When I came back to the real world,I was sitting down.My daughters were on their knees in front of me."The doctor went to get you some water and a cold cloth.Are you okay?"
asked Jemma.
The doctor's words were ringing in my head.That little pissant country doctor had nearly killed Brian,and he's destroyed whatever life he has left.I should have insisted they bring him to a hospital.Why didn't I?
Eventually we got to see Brian.As we walked into the room,we heard him say,"Don't let me die,I have to be there when my daughter has her surgery."

We wondered later,if that was the reason he hung on to life so tenaciously.Apparently,we found out later,he had died in the ambulance and was revived by the para medics and the doctor who had travelled with him.
When we brought him home,he didn't look like Brian anymore.He had aged by twenty years and his hair was grey.His eyes were dull and vacant and he couldn't remember anything that had happened.He couldn't remember our names or the names of lots of common items.I was told that his brain had been starved of blood and ,therefore,oxygen for so long,that it affected his memory,but it was temporary.
The change in his personality was not temporary.He was a completely different man.There was no more fun or mischief in him,no joy,no more good old dependable Brian,no more rock.He was a quiet,frail invalid,who seemed to have shrunk inside himself.
Steve stepped into the breach and became our patriarch,bless him.

One month later,against doctor's orders,a very pale and wasted Brian,stood beside a gurney,where his daughter lay,waiting to be wheeled away for a transplant.He had promised her he would be there,He held her hand and smiled at her and told her,she was going to be just fine.It was exactly what she needed.He has never broken a promise to any of us.
Did I say,no more rock?I was wrong.

NEW WINE FOR SENIORS

California vintners in the Napa Valley area,which primarily produce Pinot Blanc,Pinot Noir,and Pinot Grigio wines have
developed a new hybrid grape that acts as an anti-diuretic.
It is expected to reduce the number of trips,older people have to make to the bathroom during the night.

The new wine will be marketed as PINO MORE.

HONEST!

I heard it through the grapevine....

TRUE OR FALSE QUIZ

*1)The Bible,the world's best selling book,is also the world's most shoplifted book.

*2)Someone paid $14,000 for the bra worn by Marilyn Monroe in the film'Some Like it Hot'.

*3)Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

*4)More than 1,000 different languages are spoken on the continent of Africa.

*5)In the USA over eleven thousand people(up until the end of 2003)have visited a

tortilla chip that appears to have the face of Jesus burned into it.

*6)A kiss lasting one minute can burn more than 100 calories.

*7)Buckingham Palace in England has over 600 rooms.

*8)There was once an under sea post office in the Bahamas.

*9)Abraham Lincoln's mother died when she drank some milk from a cow that grazed

on poisonous snakeroot.

*10)After the death of Albert Einstein,his brain was removed ,and put in a jar for further

study.

*11)A typical bed usually houses over 6 billion dust mites.

*12)The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven.

*13)A person with hexadectylism has six fingers or six toes on one or both hands and feet.

*14)The loudest sound produced by an animal is 188 decibels.The animal is the African

elephant.

*15)In ancient Egypt,priests plucked every hair from their bodies,including eyebrows and

eyelashes.

*16)The word four has four letters.In the English language,there is no other number equal to the sum of it's letters.

*17)A pair of nesting barn owls can eat 3,000 rats a year.

*18)No piece of square,dry paper can be folded more than 7 times in half.

*19)Chocolate can kill dogs.It affects their hearts and nervous systems.

*20)There are more than twice as many kangaroos as people in Australia.

There are only two false statements.

For the answers,go to comments.

Nice move, George!

Lately in Baghdad....
"A size 10 shoe!"
One can think of US-president George W. Bush what one may - but you can't deny that he has a great sense of humor. LOL!!