End-of-the-Year Holiday Greetings

[Opsa]

Dear Siblings,

I am very grateful to have you in my life, and especially grateful to MB for creating this site, to Aggie who so generously hosted it and to Griffin who maintains it faithfully.

I look forward to visiting you here, and appreciate all the unique kinds of wonderful each of you represents. Thank you for being here, just as you are.

We're of no particular religion here, so I'll try to stay away from any denominational greeting. I'll just say that as this year closes, I am glad to have you, my Toadfish siblings. So whenever you celebrate whatever you choose, please remember that somewhere out there I am celebrating you, as among the nicest things that ever happened to me.

A toast- to all Toadfish everywhere!

[Aggie]

Ta! It feels like summer, not the end of the year, but I'll be back to snow by the close.  

p.s. I can't believe we are 8! That makes it close to a decade since I've known at least some of you wonderful taddies, before we were taddies.

[Griffin NoName]

I joined TOP in Sep 2005, as did you I seem to remember Aggie.

Happy Festive Season 2013 everybody.

[Aggie]

Aye, but how long were we on the general FSM forums before that??

[Griffin NoName]

I meant the FSM forum............. I thought that was TOP...........

[Aggie]

Ayuh, that sounds about right (my mistake, confusing TOP with HOT... see "What are you drinking?" thread) but I also thought we were at TOP for a while before joining HOT. 

[Opsa]

HOT was at TOP before we got a place of our own, too.

Just to confuse things further!

(I'll have what Aggie's having!)

[pieces o nine]

I can't say anything that hasn't been said already; I'll add my year-end, year-beginning greetings as well.

The Monastery is a fine place and I'm glad I was invited here.

[Griffin NoName]

We were at TOP a while before joining HOT, so presumably HOT did not exist as early as Sep 05.

[Swatopluk]

This place really incited/kindled my creativity (see the arts thread) and has been some kind of a lifeline too.
I just hope it will last.

[Griffin NoName]

I hope it will last too. It's a lifeline for me as well.

[Opsa]

Thanks to Aggie, and to everyone's thoughtful contributions, we're still holding firm.

For some reason I was thinking of the story of The Little Prince and how he would think about his rose and his sheep so far away on his little planet. Sometimes it feels like that for me. I think about my sibs far away whom I haven't met, and hope they are okay.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

..or the shape of the serpent after eating an elephant...?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

A Toast, I say... a Toast!

And no, not a heat-cured piece of dry bread.  But a real, hoist the glass-of-something-something high overhead, in recognition of a single moment in time, halted briefly for introspection of times that have slipped into the past.

Here in the virtual world of HOT, a virtual hoisting of the glass seems most apropos.

And?

Now that I think on it some more?  A nice crusty slice of heat-cured dry bread seems to fit as well.

Cheers!

[Opsa]

Chink-chink from the Washington DC area!

[Darlica]

Skål!
(Cheers) from Stockholm too. 

[Opsa]

How lovely, Darlica.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Salud!

And solstice greetings from South Florida!

[Sibling DavidH]

Happy Christmas and a Good New Year from David and Wendy.

[Opsa]

So happy to see you, DavidH! Big hugs to you both...

[Griffin NoName]

Great to see you David. Happy festive season  to you and Wendy.

[Bluenose]

Bingle Jells from downunder!

I hope all my siblings have a happy and safe festive season.  May the feasting begin!

[Opsa]

We've had a very active winter holiday this year. We saw a play on Dec 26, went to a party Dec 27, went to art museums on Dec 28, saw "Saving Mr. Banks" on Dec 29, saw "Desolation of Smaug" on Dec 30, and we are POOPED! Gonna ring in the new year quietly at home tonight.

I hope the very best for all our dear Toadfish siblings in the new year. Love you all!

[Aggie]

Happy New Year, Siblings!

I'm back to winter and it feels like the Holidays instead of just a holiday. I'm still limping from the wedding dancefloor, but will do my best to rally from jetlag and go see my favorite band tonight:
[youtube=425,350]KbofEf6yAbs[/youtube]

I think a fair number of people from my choir should be there (lead singer is our choir director). They're going set-for-set with another local band (classic rock etc) so there will be 5 hours of nonstop live music, and the bands will have some time to socialize in between.

[Darlica]

Happy New Year from L and me!

The new year is one hour old here and so far it's looking good! 

[Opsa]

Let's keep it that way, Darlica!

[Aggie]

I've never woken up so fresh and hangover-free after a New Years party....

...then again, I've never woken up on the 2nd of January after a New Years party.


The video I posted above was actually the opening song for the show, and I made sure to open the dancefloor (solo) properly. I do have a reputation as Cod's unofficial party starter to keep up. Nobody told me there was actually going to be a spotlight, though...

Stumbled home from the afterparty around 10:30 am...  the b'ys just don't know when to quit. Indoor dodgeball was involved at some point. Slept for 21 hours straight.


Happy New Year! 

[Griffin NoName]

Envious of your 21 hour stretch. I only managed 9 hours and subsequently cannot keep my eyes open now.

[Opsa]

I couldn't do it now, either but I am not envious- I did it very well when it was my time, thank you!

We swore we would not go out on New Year's Eve, and settled down in our jammies, but our neighbors came by wearing goofy 2014 party glasses and told us that we had to come over because they had a lot of food! Really sweet people! So went over in our jammies and crawled back around 11:30. She makes some mean, mean margaritas. I only had two, but they were huje and potent. It was probably more like four. I did have a hangover the next day, but recovered enough to go to an open house in the afternoon and had a nice time catching up with some people I hadn't seen in a long time.

Last night it was great to finally sit around with the snow falling and just enjoy being home.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Late Happy New Year to all!

Mine, was at my SIL's apartment, I took a lasagna I cooked and and fruit cake for which I made the chocolate cover. Nothing out of this world that night.

It has been a bit tiresome, my inlaws moved to an apartment they purchased and they had tons of stuff that probably should've gone directly to the trash, even now I still will have to go to install a TV and eventually setup their internet, not particularly fun specially because the interaction between my MIL and my wife makes her very touchy, plus we lost a bed (my son was sleeping on their's but their previous apartment was furnished so now he needs one) and my wife's aunt has been staying which makes the arrangements a bit uncomfortable.

Next weekend we'll go to Denver to do wintery stuff, I'll take pics.

[Opsa]

I hope you have a fun break in Denver, my good sibling! It sounds like you deserve one!

[Griffin NoName]

Enjoy the break.