Children Talking to Children In the Dark

I have finally finished wrapping and stuffing stockings, and fixing my lj from its disastrous unasked for, unheralded, sudden change from a three column style to a two column style, and now I have a moment to stop, gather my thoughts and speak to you all.

not_a_zatarc and rgcraeg, I wish you both a belated happy birthday. I hope that everything came in actual birthday wrapping, and not slightly anticipatory Christmas wrapping, and that you each had a whale of a day.

And to all and sundry I wish a very lovely holiday, whichever one you happen to celebrate. The solstice is past, and for those of us up here in the northern climes, the long slow climb back into the light has begun, and for those of you in the summer hemisphere, the days will draw down. This process is a source of continual fascination to my Whirlwind, who asks frequently about what people would be doing on the other side of the world, and what time of year it is for people in the Southern Hemisphere. So I'm reminded fairly regularly that for some of you the Christmas season is cheek-by-jowl with your Midsummer's Eve.

We're culturally Christian here, which means there will be stockings and presents (my Muslim stepfather learned to play along years ago) and the singing of Christmas carols. And because in my family Christmas is a matriarchal holiday, we are all down here at my mothers, and there are siblings and nieces and nephew to visit with and enjoy.

The Whirlwind is still a True Believer, but is worried because due to the damage in the wake of tropical storm Irene, Santa was not at his local venue this year, and she wasn't able to sit in the great man's lap and tell him personally of all her nine year old desires and hopes. She's a little concerned that he won't get her anything as a result. After the holiday is safely done for the year, and the chances of her contaminating her cousins with apostasy is over, I'm going to have to have a little word with her. Nine is old enough. I've only put off having this chat because I didn't want her disillusioning any of her True Believer classmates, but this is getting silly.

In the meantime I told her about the year I was six and living in Greece, and very concerned because a)our 5th floor apartment had no fireplace, and b)I wasn't at all sure that he had my forwarding address. He managed to find me anyway.

So whether you celebrate Christmas, the Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or any of a host of other festivals, whether you are coming into winter or summer, as this year draws to an end, I hope you are all with the people you love, that you have joy and hope, that the walls that surround you ring with laughter and delight, and that the year to come will be better still. You have all brightened my life and I carry the pieces of you that you have shared with me through every day. I think of you all more often than you would think, and wish only the best for each and every one of you.

And so to bed!

Happy birthday, Pepper, there is birthday fic, which I posted on the 25th over on LJ, and for which you are included. I tried to post this link on your day, but due to the elementary school Spring play, and my middle daughter's new boyfriend having a series of crises, all of which had to be handled by phone, I couldn't get the line to post in time!

It is here, Bad Birthdays. The link to the second part is at the end of the first part. I posted it over there because so many of the recipients were over on lj.

Seeing as you are settling into life with a new kitty, you might enjoy this bit of comment crackfic Ohhhh the Cat Came Back over at lolmac's more.

Traycer, I am so sorry to come empty handed, but Bad Birthdays is the one that you helped me to get unblocked on, so you can feel responsible for the fact that it is there at all, and go over and enjoy what you have nudged along! I hope your birthday is delightful and not bad!

I hope that both of you, writers whose work I admire, are having/have had a very special day, surrounded by those you love, basking in their diligent attention, and feasting on decadent and delectable delights!

A very happy birthday to aurora_novarum, and many happy returns of the day! Persuant to that, the following conversation took place today yesterday:

Me: Muuuuuse! Ohhhh, Muuuuuuuuuse!

Muse: Oh, Zeus, Amon, and Odin! Not you again! Can't you leave me alone?

Me: But it's aurora_novarum's birthday.

Muse: Yes...

Me: And you wouldn't work with me for the past few birthdays that have come up, and I was hoping that-

Muse: [looking about with an expression of discontent, tapping one toe] I don't see any hekatombs. Do you see any hekatombs?

Me: Well, I thought those were only for the Olympian gods, and besides, these days most people don't have that many head of cattle, and -

Muse: [with a flounce] You obviously don't care enough to deserve my attention just now, and if I sense that you feel that way, any help I'd give you would just be one-dimensional and thinly plotted. Don't think I haven't noticed that you live within a half mile along the road to a dairy farm in both directions! You could get enough cattle to sacrifice if you really cared!

Me: But the farmers need the milk from those cows for their livelihood, and they are sweet, friendly dish-faced creatures, who look curiously at me and -

Muse: Talk to the pen! I am soooo outta here!

Me: [sigh!]

Aurora, you write lovely, clever, very, very amusing stories, you share interesting and think-y meta, and I hope that other people with better behaved muses will be giving you lots of lovely thoughtful gen fics to celebrate the day.


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And on a different note:

I live in Vermont on a two lane rural highway between small towns. The town I pay taxes to has a population of about 900 souls. Now I am not surprised that I can see the doorway of my brother's Greenwich Village apartment on Google Street View. Manhattan is the center of a world-renowned metropolitan area. But my little house? If you position the little yellow figure right, you can see the post my husband was installing back in the summer of 2009 to corral stacked firewood, and the ladder that he'd left out that he was using on the project. You can see my teenage daughter's bike leaning on the door jamb of one of the garage doors. And you can tell (if you know your cars) what make, model, and color of car I drive, because the door to my bay was open, although my husband's side was closed. You can tell we have satellite. You can see how the front garden was doing. It all just seems... a bit creepy. My grown daughter and college-age son are delighted. They can catch a glimpse of home whenever they want, just fire up Google Maps, and hey presto! the Old Homestead. I feel like although Big Brother probably isn't watching yet, Little Brother certainly is!

p.s. I am very amused by the way that the spellchecker can't really deal with "Google", and its first suggestion is "Go ogle". Different. Verrry different.

I have already wished a Very Happy Birthday to you, beanpot & a_loquita, over on lj, but since the concept of too many birthday greetings is just too silly to contemplate, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU here too!

A very happy birthday and many happy returns of the day to holdouttrout, producer extraordinaire of wonderful (and occasionally cracky) humorous twists and odd detours, as well as some truly lovely Sam/Jack fic. I'm still giving off occasional giggles from your Temporary Deadness series.

I wish I came bearing fic, but...ummm...

Let's just say that I hope your day was the antithesis of mine, and leave it at that.

******WARNING! PONY! BLUE CARTOON CHARACTER! SWEETNESS!******

So I send you the image of a pink and sparkle-y pony with a lilac mane, ridden by what could only be a smurfette, peering shyly but with a sweetness that is truly deadly in its syrupy optimism through the wormhole, and the twin goggle-eyed astonishment of General Hammond and Sgt. Harriman in response. Daniel is busy consulting Garden Gnomes of Europe in hopes of finding information on legends and myths matching this strange apparition. Teal'c is actually looking a bit pale. Jaffa legend tells of the world ending thus, with the Mai'lit'el pony of the Apocalypse, ridden by the blue S'mur'feh't. Sam is blushing. She hopes no one there has noticed that it is her secret childhood guilty pleasures invading the SGC. Thank goodness Mark is not there to rat on her! O'Neill is backed against the near bank of computers, gripping his stomach and his head alternately. The anti-sarcasm of that thing is killing him. "Ahhh....GODD!!!" he is heard to groan, as he slips slowly to the floor, his face in a rictus of agony. There is a flurry of white, and Janet Fraiser bursts in with the antidote, an iPad fully loaded with hours of insult comedy. She thrusts it in front of Jack's nose, as the rest of her medics pry his eyes open, and insert the earphones.

In the orbiting Beliskner, Thor shakes his head. He regretfully sends a message to his home galaxy.

"I am returning. The Milky Way Galaxy has been lost. These are indeed an enemy more fearsome than the replicators."

A very happy birthday, and many happy returns of the day to you, traycer! I wish I came bearing fic, but my latest crop of plot bunnies has all scampered away. I'm looking for a new breeding pair. In any case, I hope you have a lovely day, with plenty of fussing over you by those around you, and a bit of wicked self-indulgence on your own behalf!