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Home | Blogging the Holidays
See Also:: Shopping Blog's Holiday coverage.
Track Santa on Twitter With NORAD and Bitz the Twittering Elf
It's that time of year when the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) starts tracking Santa Claus and his reindeer as they get close to their big night delivering presents all over the Globe. Santa Claus actually uses more advanced technology than NORAD so NORAD probably needs the extra time to make sure they don't lose sight of Santa on Christmas Eve. The NORAD Santa tracker website has already begun a Christmas Eve countdown and has some features up for kids.
NORAD also has a Twitter profile up. It's being run by an energetic Twittering Elf named Bitz. The name of NORAD's Santa Twitter is @noradsanta.
Posted on December 21, 2008
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Blogging Valentine's Day 2008
 Valentine's Day is today. People are celebrating with chocolate and flowers, by dining out and by spending time with loved ones and family members. Romantic Saudis are even celebrating the holiday as they keep their roses hidden from the religious police. Here are some highlights from the blogosphere.
People are buying all the typical Valentine's Day items again - candy, flowers, greeting cards, etc. Bears like these are popular again. More people are dining out for the day. Men continue to outspend women. Treehugger asks if the holiday has been lost in consumerism.
Mad crazy love that happens when people first fall in love occurs in a very primitive part of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA).
There's a Valentine's Day Storm Worm going around. It's a real virus so be careful opening emails from people you don't know that sound romantic and heartfelt.
This is something you have probably often asked yourself: What Would MacGyver do on Valentine's Day?.
Natalie Del Conte says gadgets are hot and gadget manufacturers like Apple and Microsoft have red or pink Zunes and iPods out. Unfortunately, some of those Microsoft Red Zune shipments might not make it says Engadget. If the Red V-Day Zune is late it might be free.
Speaking of gadgets the cute robot dinosaur toy Pleo has a lovey-dovey behavior download available.
Heater Cabot at the Huffington Post wants those gadgets totally turned off for Valentine's Day.
There is also a green Valentine's trend.
Some scientist valentines for the romantic science geek inside of you. (via Make)
There are over 218,000 photos on Flickr for the keyword: Valentine.
There are 74,000 videos on YouTube for the keyword: Valentine.
Those little white lies you tell your significant other are OK.
Recipes: Delicious Chocolate Pie | Sweet Valentine's Cupcakes | Valentine's Day chocolates | Chocolate Pecan Cupcakes | No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake | Chocolate Kiss Cookies | Chocolate Velvet Cheesecake | Valentine's Day Crepes | Valentine's Butter Cookies | Red Velvet Cake | Perfect Chocolate Truffles
Crafts: Pulsating LED Valentine Heart | One Eyed Heart Valentine | Peep Pops | Plaster Hearts | Valentine's Day Chair Covers | Origami Valentine Felt Valentine's Day Cookies | Hugs and Kisses Napkin Ring | Valentine's Card with a Chewy Twist
Cracked thinks if Valentine's Day cards were honest they would look like these.
Nine tactics for a frugal Valentine's Day. (via Lifehacker)
Blood roses in Bogota: "80,000 women from rural Colombia are working for less than 50 cents an hour to pluck those beautiful bouquets."
Photojojo has some photo ideas for Valentine's Day.
Marketers going negative? Are you buying a gift to make someone happy or simply to avoid a fight? (via Consumerist)
Luxist says some are taking luxury trips for one this Valentine's Day.
Single? You could also spend Valentine's Day playing Gotham Racing 4 on the Xbox suggets Jalopnik.
The Onion's brutal take on online dating. (via Nate Elliott).
Ghost in the Machine has a detailed love songs post.
Shiny Shiny notes that Thumbplay.com is offering some Anti-Love tunes.
The Guardian: Are you spending Valentine's Day in Second Life?
AdHack community spices things up with their chocolate love ad. (via Darren Barefoot)
AOL and Citysearch hook up locally but Microsoft has a lot to learn planning an executive shuffle on a day like today.
Google Docs goes pink. Web V-Day logos also posted here and here.
Pet love: Winston gets leecked on Valentine's Day.
Twitters: @Love. Twitter Valentine's Day searches: Valentine | romance | chocolate | love
Virtual Gifts: Popgadget points out this Virtual Flower Pot gift on Google Gadgets.
CNET's blog called The Social says hits to social networking sites are on the rise - "visits to dating sites were up 26 percent in the week ending February 9 in comparison with the equivalent week in 2007."
A Valentine Video from PostSecret. YouTube is featuring many Valentine-related videos today.
Yahoo Buzz reveals people's romantic Valentine's Day searches.
Flowerless Celebrity: Katie Holmes never received a flower on Valentine's Day before.
How to buy the right sweet wine for Valentine's Day.
80% of greeting cards are purchased by women. Men tend to purchase them at the last minute and typically only be a single card for their significant other. More greeting card trends here.
Here are some photos of greeting cards from the 1950s on Flickr. (via Boing Boing.
Blogging Valentine's Day entries from previous years: 2007, 2006)
Photo: Valentine bugs are coming!:
Note: For the most recent Valentine's Day posts please visit ShoppingBlog.com's Valentine's Day section.
Posted on February 14, 2008
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The Queen Launches YouTube Channel
 The Queen of England and the British Monarchy have launched a YouTube Channel. The Channel will features The Queen's Christmas message as well as current and historical footage of the monarch and other members of the Royal Family. The site contains a number of videos already including this video clip of the Queen's Christmas broadcast from 1957.
Among the older clips is footage from a film by Lord Wakehurst called Long to Reign Over Us, which has never been released to the public.
The former Tory MP, who died in 1970, was a keen amateur film maker and charted many key royal events, including the death of King George VI, the Queen's accession and her coronation.
The site also has footage of Queen Alexandra's West End tour among the rose-sellers in 1917, and silent newsreel of the 1923 wedding of the Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon - the Queen's parents.
Announcing the launch of the channel, a spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said the Queen "always keeps abreast with new ways of communicating with people".
"She has always been aware of reaching more people and adapting the communication to suit," she said.
"This will make the Christmas message more accessible to younger people and those in other countries."
The BBC says this year's holiday address will appear on the site at about 1500 GMT on Christmas Day.
Posted on December 23, 2007
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Blogging the Holidays 12-20-07
Here are some holiday highlights from the blogosphere.
2007 Holiday decorating trends. Is your memory tree in or out this year?
ElfYourself is back again. This time you can have up to four elves and you can even include your voice. The CNN's news anchors Elfed themselves. The New York Times Bits blog also created one that stars Yahoo's Jerry Yang, eBay's Meg Whitman, Google's Eric Schmidt and Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos. By the way there is also a Scrooge Yourself. Both are viral sites are from Office Max.
Christmas Cookies: Cardamom Butter Cookies,
Tequila cookies, Minty Chocolate Christmas Cookies, Santa's Gingerbread Christmas Cookies, White Christmas, Chocolate Crackles, Danish Coconut Macaroons, World Peace Cookies, Green Tree Cookies, Pistachio Cocoa Nibs Cookies and Spiced Gingerbread Cookies.
Speaking of Christmas cookies should Santa really be eating so many of them? Santa Claus has always been a jolly fat man but that's not healthy says the U.S. Surgeon General.
How to make a snowtrooper snow globe.
30 years of LucasFilm staff Christmas cards. They are way more exciting than the
official White House holiday card.
Ollie at Dayorama advises people to lock up their tinsel. Tinsel is certainly a cat magnet but it also can also harm cats if they swallow it.
Yahoo is seeing lots of searches for the popular Christmas stories. People are also looking for the lyrics to their favorite Christmas songs. A lesser known holiday jingle called "Dominick the Donkey" wasn't one of them.
Danger Room reports that Santa's helicopter was shot at in Rio.
Some gifts are very tough to find. Finding the Wii at retail price may be the most difficult this year.
Danny Choo explains Christmas in Japan. It is celebrated without the
religious overtones. There is no public holiday but there are decorations, presents and festive holiday music.
The FTC gives Google a present - Doubleclick acquisition approval.
LOTR fans get a present - two new Hobbit films.
Some holiday LOLcats can be found here.
How to make guacamole that looks like the Grinch.
How about wrapping gifts in crepe paper?
Smashing Magazine has posted links to some Christmas icons and Christmas Wordpress themes.
Fox host Bill O'Reilly created a ninth day of Hanukkah.
Zara Rabinowicz at Shiny Shiny suggests having yourself a very ungeeky Christmas day. Surely she doesn't mean no Twitter.
A Michigan woman "needs" dozens of Christmas trees to put her thousands of ornaments on.
Some people created a Mountain Dew Christmas Tree using 400+ mountain dew cans. There's also a video.
Too big of a Christmas bonus? A Craigslist poster got a 772K bonus and is not happy. He writers, "what use is three quarters of a million dollars per year in income if you've got nobody to share it with, nobody to lavish with flowers and designer bags and shoes and dinners at places like per se, nobu and babbo? what good is the new condo on the west side when i've got nobody to sit out on the balcony to look out over the river and drink egg nog with during the holidays." (via The Street)
Christmas Albums: Everyone has heard of Josh Groban's Noel Christmas album but there are lots of other new Christmas albums out this year as well.
Citizen of the Month has put together the 2007 Blogger Christmahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert.
10,000 Birds blogs about the 47th year of the Catskill-Coxsackie Christmas Bird Count.
Mental Floss has an interesting post about the real story behind the A Charlie Brown Christmas show. CBS executives originally weren't too thrilled with A Charlie Brown Christmas before it aired and became a big holiday favorite.
A Happy Hanukkah greeting started a subway fight in NYC. Gothamist has more.
Christmas ornament destruction from the Will it Blend people.
B.rox asks Christians, "How would you like to see non-Christians act with regard to Christmas?"
Peta is giving you a chance to get revenge on those who have been naughty this year (like Michael Vick or Dick Cheney) by shaking them up violently inside a snow globe. (via AdRants)
Martha Stewart is offering a peek at some of her Christmas decor on her blog.
Here are some gift wrapping tips from Martha Stewart.
Do you have a Christmas pickle ornament for your tree?
The Elf on the Shelf is a holiday tradition where an elf watches the children very carefully to see whether they are being naughty or nice. At nice the elf reports back to Santa Claus.
CraftyPod has a post with some screen shots of gingerbread houses in Second Life.
Naugty Santa Bot: A Microsoft Live messenger bot called Santa Claus was promptly shut down by Microsoft after the bot started chatting about oral sex.
Billy Joel has written a controversial Christmas song called "Christmas in Fallujah."
Blogthings: Do you have the Christmas Spirit?.
Green xmas trees: Is a battle brewing among U.S. cities to see who can create greenest Christmas tree?
Skeet's Stuff blogged about something many of us have had to do this holiday -- mail big packages at the very last minute.
Boing Boing tracks down a couple Christmas oddities: Christmas lights powered by an electric eel and a Unborn baby - US Troop model ornament.
Mark Cuban wants new dancing shoes and a 32gb flash drive.
How to avoid a Code-Red Christmas - stop drunk family members from ruining all the holiday fun.
Holiday crafts: Peanut Santas, German paper stars, Christmas Pinatas, Etched Glass Nativity,
Origami Gift Box, Christmas Pixie, Retro Foam Ornaments, Modern Advent Calendar, Paper Pine Cone, Table Top Christmas Tree, Photo Snow Globes
Posted on December 20, 2007
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Blogging Thanksgiving 2007
Here are some highlights from Thanksgiving 2007.
The Census Bureau is always providing bloggable facts. In a release they say, "In the fall of 1621, the religious separatist Pilgrims held a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest, an event many regard as the nation’s first Thanksgiving. It eventually became a national holiday in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving. Later, President Franklin Roosevelt clarified that Thanksgiving should always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month to encourage earlier holiday shopping, never on the occasional fifth Thursday."
The Census Bureau release also provides other facts about how many turkeys will be raised this year and about the 2007 U.S. production levels of Thanksgiving menu items like cranberries and sweet potatoes. At the end of the release you learn about how many towns in the U.S. are named Turkey (3) and how many places are named Plymouth (28).
Holidays are for making new logos - roundups of some of the Thanksgiving logos here,
here and here.
Neil Kramer started an annual tradition three years ago called Thank Your First Blog Commenter Day where he thanks his very first blog commenter. This year he is up to thanking his third blog commenter. If you want to thank your first commenter it isn't difficult. Neil says, "Just go all the way back into your archives and there he or she is — waiting for you!"
Some people were up very early to catch those Black Friday deals. Some pictures of what that looked like can be
found here. Now the deals move online for Cyber Monday.
Consumerist was bummed out by the lack of Black Friday violence early on.
The Education Wonk: "We've a lot to be thankful for. Every day above ground is good. Sure beats the alternative. We hope that you and yours are well this Thanksgiving Day."
The Onion has a video about all the time people send in the airports on Thanksgiving. The Cranky Flier has also blogged about this video.
Some disturbing Thanksgiving diet tips.
Over 19,000 videos turn up on YouTube with a "Thanksgiving" seaerch including Thanksgiving Dinner: Will it Blend and Thanksgiving Prayer by William S. Burroughs.
Michelle Malkin doesn't want to hear any griping this Thanksgiving holiday.
That said there sure is plenty to grip about this Thanksgiving holiday - like oil spiking to $100 and
gas prices soaring out of control.
The Friendly Atheist has a thread about what are atheists thankful for - and who do they thank?
Gizmodo is thankful for many internal links back to themselves.
Snarke: "I am thankful for a family who gets along. Yeah, we’re a bunch of weirdos, but we are a bunch of weirdos who get each other and enjoy each other's company."
Jeff Pulver really enjoyed his social media Thanksgiving. There were many Thanksgiving tweets on Twitter.
Twitter users were feeling the effects of tryptophan - an amino acid found in turkey.
Scientists claim that you would have to eat many turkeys before you consumed enough tryptophan to induce sleepiness but many Twitterers were blaming tryptophan anyway.
Another video: How to draw a Turkey.
More than 130,000 Americans sent text messages of gratitude to U.S. Troops.
Britney Spears was spotted
on Thanksgiving. She actually looks happy and was wearing clothes. We can all be thankful for that.
Some turkeys visited a New York town for Thanksgiving: "The turkeys showed up Thursday morning, drawing crowds of spectators, but left _ marching in single file _ at about 1 p.m."
It's All For the Best: "Raise your hand if you feel like one of the Macy's parade balloons!"
Leftovers! Craftzine points to a couple websites with advice for dealing with leftovers: LeftOverChef and WiseBread's turkey leftover ideas. There are a few more leftover ideas here on Bay Area Bites. If none of these ideas work for you there's always pizza.
PopSugar has an overly sweet post about Sacha Baron Cohen, Isla Fisher and Olive's first Thanksgiving.
President Bush phoned some U.S. troops. President Bush also pardoned May, the Thanksgiving turkey.
Turkey inflation: The price of a Turkey dinner soared 11% over last year's prices. That's probably not a surprise to many consumers who have been facing sticker shock at the grocery store. There may be more shock on the way as higher gas prices starting increasing the prices of food and merchandise.
Is eating turkeys for Thanksgiving sustainable?.
NewTeeVee has some video picks for Turkey Day.
Actors Kirk Douglas, Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart and Nia Long were some of the celebrities serving food at the Los Angeles Mission.
jkOnTheRun has posted a list of mobile technology items that he would be very thankful to see.
Some people put giant inflatable turkeys in their yards as this blogger reports. It probably looked like one of these.
Somewhat Frank has posted a roundup of Thanksgiving resources.
The Bleacher Report has handed out some sports-related turkey awards. Michael Vick was one of the turkeys. Incidentally, Michael Vick ate turkey for dinner on Thanksgiving.
Macy's Parade: Ashley Tisdale, Jonas Brothers, Jordin Sparks, Review, Float pictures
From the MSM - Man Bakes Enormous Turkey. UPI reports that a man had "a longstanding big-turkey-cooking rivalry with his sister" so he baked an enormous 72-pound turkey. The turkey was so big it took fifteen hours to cook and it fed 28 people. Someone also put the story here on Truemors.
Some posts by bloggers where they posted lists of what they are thankful for: White Trash Mom, Stray Thoughts, Lazy Man and Money, Tan Tan Noodles, Ladies Logic, Projecting A, Chris Pirillo, Goddess of Sewing, Codex Markianus, Dimmi, Two Writing Teachers, The Amazing Adventures of the Kelly-Green Rogue, weaklingrecords, Josh Via, ArmchairGM, Pandanista, Welcome to Illyria, Eternal Echoes, This is Going to be Big and Mommy Bytes.
Past Turkey roundups from 2005 and 2006 can be found here.
Have a happy Thanksgiving holiday and thank you for reading BloggersBlog.com.
Posted on November 24, 2007
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New Year's Party on YouTube
 News.com's Web 2.0 Blog reports that YouTube is bringing in the year with messages and music from Warner Music Group artists as well as videos from YouTubers from around the globe. The most recent videos can be found on the front of YouTube.com. More New Years videos can be found here on the New Years group which is where people can also upload New Years messages. There are also performances on the concert cam. News.com's post describes some of the artists helping out with the YouTube, Warner Music and Chevrolet event.
The video sharing Web site now owned by Google is teaming up with Warner Music Group to produce the first-ever YouTube New Year's Eve Countdown. The promotion, which is sponsored by Chevrolet, will celebrate New Year's as it happens around the world with new videos featured every hour from New Zealand to Los Angeles.
Special video messages from YouTube celebrities, such as Boh3m3, Smosh, Terra Naomi, Renetto, Chad Vadar, and The WineKone, along with artists from WMG labels Atlantic Records, Warner Bros. Records and Warner Music International will be featured on the home page.
In addition to videos from top YouTube personalities, WMG will provide special video content from New Year's celebrations with its artists as well as music videos and concert footage. "Almost-live" videos from New Year's concerts from New York City, Scotland, Los Angeles, and Houston will be uploaded directly from the venues using mobile phones. Some of the bands playing include, Panic! At the Disco, the Goo Goo Dolls and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Users can upload their videos in a special New Year's YouTube group at www.youtube.com/group/newyears.
The content on YouTube New Years' special is posts from YouTubers mixed in with content from musicians like Michael Bubble and Kid Rock. If you are looking for something else unique on New Years Day check out the Rose Parade on January 1st which will feature 200 stormtroopers -- George Lucas is the Rose Parade Grand Marshal. If you miss it there will probably be videos later on YouTube.
Posted on December 31, 2006
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Blogging the Holidays 12-24-06
Some people are spending thousands to outsource
holiday decorating.
MTV reports that a blog called Last-Christmas.com has posted 135 different versions of Wham's "Last
Christmas" -- with a total running time of well over nine hours.
Podcastingnews.com has compiled a list of Bad ipod gifts.
Elf Yourself: Some bloggers are Elfing
themselves this year at www.elfyourself.com. Here's a few
bloggers trying it: Steve Rubel, Shiny Shiny, Rose DesRochers, 21st Century Paladin, Musing Minds, The Wide Awake Cafe, Wizbang, The Dust Will Wait, Miss Cellania, Pharyngula, Being Becky,
Swank Mom, Pop Candy and Troll Baby.
A video shows people tagging a
building with LED lights.
Boing Boing has a Merry Craftsmas roundup.
Christmas means it is time to try and burn down the holiday straw goat thing.
Chaotic Utopia blogs how to make homemade holiday fractals.
Hoax of Christmas past: tele-operated Christmas lights display. More about this hoax here.
An animation of the Drifters singing the "White Christmas" song.
The Christmas Index: Buying the items in the "Twelve Days" costs more this year than last year.
DIY Planner explains what retail work is like during the holidays: "Lets just put it this way: You know how after a couple hours in the mall you're annoyed at the ridiculous numbers of shoppers, irritated at the awful Christmas music and just about ready to kill people? Well, retail staff are there all the time."
Slashfood compares Silk Soy Nog to Regular Egg Nog.
Pop Christmas: Here's a look at this year's new Christmas albums.
Blog Critics raves about the Polar Express film.
Make a spinning LED Christmas tree.
Bah humbug in the bedroom: There's less couples having sex over the holidays.
It's Christmas Bird Count season. An explanation at the A DC Birding Blog.
Treehugger reports on the Heathrow fog that is trying to ruin some people's holiday.
Daniel Terdiman at CNET helped Spider-Man save Santa Claus using Planetwide Media's Marvel Heroes Comic Book Creator.
Digital Photography School is offering some digital photography tips
for Christmas.
Kiddly offers some DIY last minute gift ideas
for kids.
ShoppingBlog.com has a very last minute toy gift
ideas.
Make fake snow with a jar of Instant Snow.
This year's hot gifts are upgrades of last year's hot gifts.
Peace on Earth blog posts climb.
Metafilter discusses the Christmas decorating obsessesion.
The Hotel Chelsea Blog is blogging about a Black Door Christmas.
The Storynory Christmas writing competition winners.
Wired is tired of Christmas Carol spoofs.
Google Blog announces the Google Earth Santa Tracker.
What would riding shotgun with Santa be like?
A very unique snowman ad for Irn Bru. (via Calum's Wee Gnome Blog)
Thrifty Mommy wants to know how much you spent this year on Christmas.
How the poinsettia became the Christmas plant.
The Komodo dragon and the virgin Christmas birth.
Celebrity Xmas: Christina shops for Britney's
kids; Sienna Miiller helps Santa; Dakota Fannings pajama exchange and Jennifer Love Hewitt serves food at a mission in L.A.
Have a very spammy Christmas.
Shel Israel posts a "Jew's view of Christmas."
Unsilent Night instead of holy night, silent night.
Our past Holiday coverage can be found here.
Posted on December 24, 2006
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Blogging the Holidays 12-18-06
Christmas trees: Do you want a control freak tree or a memory tree. There is also the issue of real trees vs. artificial trees. The National Christmas Tree Growers Association (NCTGA) created an online game where you destroy Mutant Artificial trees. If you want to be odd you could also celebrate with a Mountain Dew tree.
This blog post gives the full details of a Christmas cookie disaster. Universal Hub says, "some people should reconsider getting anywhere near the cookie dough."
Holiday inflatibles are all the rage again this year but some bloggers don't like them.
Ars Technica blogs about how holiday decorations can reduce wireless signal strength by up to 25 percent. More about this problem at Engadget.
Strobist explains how to photograph Christmas lights. (via Lifehacker)
Religious groups are upset by
the dumb and tasteless Black Christmas horror flick.
Best Buy creates a series of videos to help demistify gadget gift giving.
A survey of Santas from the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas finds that many Santas face on-the-job health risks. They face wet laps, sneezes, coughs, beard pulling, etc.
President Bush may give the oil companies a present
Jeff Jarvis blogs about a positive project called Changing the Present
The Blogging Poet is upset
that there is no Blog Herald Christmas Blogging Contest. The Christmas Blogging Contest was two owners ago when Duncan Riley (the blog's creator) still owned the Blog Herald. You can now find Duncan Riley
here.
Clicked has a Merry Clickmas roundup of interesting holiday links.
Send a Holiday Wishcast with YouTube.
Blogging Baby says the Truffle Snuffle is an awesome Christmas present.
Demand for the TMX Elmo gift crashed Walmart.com this week. If you can't find Elmo try the Itsy Bitsy Spiderman.
Adobe blogs about its new Flash Cristmas card creator.
A new Christmas tradition: Going to see the Nutcracker. Santa is surfing aboard cruise ships this holiday and looking pretty cool while doing it.
Busymom.net points to the Christmas Song Generator.
A few blogs, including Gawker, are noting this quote from Chuck Klosterman found in a post on Popmatters: "The one thing that has always bothered me about the Charlie Brown Christmas special is that the other kids never admit to Charlie Brown that he was right about the little tree."
Boing Boing has a post about a very cool Roy Doty Christmas card.
A 2 foot tall chocolate Santa for $335. (via Luxist)
A blogger made a Starbucks Christmas tree.
Learn
how to make fruitcake from an Internet monkey. (via Boing Boing)
The Mashmallow Shooter tops sales at Drugstore.com.
Ubergizmo and Gizmodo
find a mouse that includes a snow globe.
The tackiest holiday gift: USB Pole Dancer.
Bobblehead agency Christmas card. (via Adrant which has links to more agency online cards)
Google Earth is having a toy hunt. (via Google Blogoscoped)
Some great Christmas card writing tips can be found here.
Brenda Stardom: "December screws me up. From day one of this month, I feel the beginnings of angst and battle it and all the other painful emotions which put in an appearance. The closer it gets to Christmas, the more nervous and angry I get. It's closing in. Eleven days! Help!"
Weddingbee bought some mistletoe.
Flying Spaghetti Monster Christmas Lights: Bask in his noodly glow. (via Boing Boing)
People suggests these soup can gifts for art lovers.
Give yourself a Santa hat with PikiPimp. You can also make an Elf of yourself at Elfyourself.com.
Google was handing out these Google gingerbread men at a party.
Track Santa with Norad at www.noradsanta.org (via Greg Hughes)
Learn how to make fruitcake from a monkey. (via Boing Boing)
Captain's Quarters blogs about Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen's Christmas card that features a drawing of a Muslim girl.
It's a Wonderful Life deconstructed.
Darren Barefoot has never received a Christmas card from his ungrateful banks.
Amidst a Tangled Web found some Christmas Cartoons on YouTube.com.
Laura Bush and the four red dresses.
Recipes and Food: Cooking up a Christmas,
Frozen Holiday Cheesecake, Christmas
Gingerbread, Sugar Cookies and L.A. Times Favorite Cookie Recipes
Londonist describes the 26th annual Great Christmas Pudding Race.
An Ugly Christmas Sweater party. A lot of people wear ugly Christmas sweaters without realizing it -- at least these people admit it.
At Dayorama: Ollie rides the Christmas bus and Amy writes her Christmas cards.
Christmas Ornaments: DIY Photo ornaments, Festive Pac-Man, Dancing Badger, Lamborghini ornaments, Imperial AT-AT and Rebel Snowspeeder ornament, Llama felt snowman, Snowman lightbulb ornament, Grilling Santa ornament, Muppets ornaments and a Drunken toad ornament
SMS Xmas: The Shifted Librarian notes that 70% of 16-34 year-olds are planning to send a Christmas text message.
Make some LED Throwies (via Gridskipper)
The commercialization of stress and Christmas. That's OK because stress is hip now.
Christmas trees return to Sea-Tac, the Seattle airport. More on this story here
and here.
For past holiday coverage visit our Blogging the Holidays section.
Posted on December 18, 2006
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Blogging Thanksgiving 2006
Don't let the Thanksgiving Holiday news cycle and PR pitches drive you crazy. Jeff Jarvis writes, "They are telling us absolutely nothing we don’t already know. This is journalism? And then comes Friday, when they will give us the big news: Stores will be crowded." And after the holiday season is over they will talk about how people have gained a few pounds and are planning New Year's resolutions to lose them.
Find out what part of Thanksgiving you are. It's one of those ridiculous quizzes.
You may need to rush out to the mall sooner than you thought to catch the Black Friday deals. Yes, some malls are actually opening tonight at midnight.
Techory has found a unique and slightly disturbing Turkey Day Gadget called Season Shot. "It's called Season Shot, and it's basically shotgun shot made out of spices, so you don’t have to remove the shot from your turkey. You just cook it with the shot in it to add flavor."
Macy's Day Parade without Kermit and Charlie. The balloons are also flying lower because it is a windy day. ShopFloor.org posts about how the parade balloons are made.
DIY Thanksgiving at Make Magazine. (via Scoble)
That's quite a menu White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford has prepared for the President in Camp David.
Thanks for being a web worker.
The Barefoot Kitchen Witch writes about stuffing the turkey and making squash pie.
The Ethicurean explains how Thanksgiving is becoming more appealing now that meat is back on the diet. "Once I started to eat meat again, and to see cooking as something to enjoy rather than endure, Thanksgiving began to look a little more appealing."
Egotastic is thankful for Salma Hayek.
Residual Forces says thank goodness for gluttony: "It is time for gluttony. Turkey, gravy, mashed taters, corn, broccoli, beer. Nap."
Slashfood has lots of Thanksgiving-related posts. Here's a roundup of Slashfood's Thanksgiving posts.
Money Smart Life explains how you can learn things about money from a Thanksgiving dinner.
Britannica is not a blog but they do have an informative entry about Thanksgiving Day.
Search Engine Thanksgiving Logos: The turkey Google uses hasn't changed
much over the years -- if at all. Search Engine Roundtable has posted the Thanksgiving Day logos from several search engines.
TreeHugger 100-Mile Thanksgiving Challenge: "Here's the deal: we want you to create a grand feast using all ingredients found within 100 miles of your home."
Simply Recipes has a very nice round-up of recipes.
Don't ignore your cat this Thanksgiving.
Tech savvy young adults will be providing tech support at home for their parents this Thanksgiving. This is a Boing Boing post from 2004 but we bet it still happens today. Lifehacker thinks so too.
Fun Thanksgiving Day facts from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Houstonist: "It’s the inevitable curse of the holidays. You will gain weight. You will more than likely eat your weight in turkey and yams, and it will land squarely on your thighs (or hips, or stomach). If you’re like us, you’ll just look at your mom’s apple pie and your pants will get tight."
A bunch of smart turkeys tried to make a run for it. Freedom!
Defamer recalls Eva Longoria's special Thanksgiving wish from 2005.
Chaotic Utopia on the science of gravy.
Bob Lewis at InfoWorld writes about why we should be thankful.
President Bush pardons two turkeys named Flyer and Fryer. The turkeys now get to spend the rest of their lives at the Disneyland Resort.
Yahoo Buzz blogs about some of Thanksgiving searches on Yahoo. They are also talking about some turkey videos people have made.
Talking Points Memo blogs that there are 99,000 families spending Thanksgiving in FEMA trailers post-Katrina.
James Wolcott: "Take pity this Thanksgiving morn on those poor castmembers of Broadway musicals forced to lipsync and dance in the cold pelting rain as part of the Macy's Parade festivities. The castmembers of A Chorus Line, their leotards offering scant protection the elements, going through the motions to canned music to an audience more intent on waving at the camera--this is the down side of show business no one ever talks about."
Andrew Sullivan posts a Walt Whitman poem.
It's Thanksgiving and David Blaine just can't avoid another crazy stunt -- at least this one is for charity.
The Law Librarian Blog has compiled a list of some Thanksgiving Proclamations.
Unusual Thanksgiving dish: toad-like squab.
Deep fat turkey fryers can be very dangerous.
Accidental Hedonist provides
some Thanksgiving haikus.
GetSheila and Simply Dumb are posting a sunbathing turkey.
TreeHugger is thankful for Al Gore, Loomstate, Tesla Motors and wave power.
If you desire still more turkey goodness you can read our Thanksgiving roundups from last year
here and here.
Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading BloggersBlog.com.
Posted on November 23, 2006
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TMX Elmo Videos Popular on YouTube
 The holiday shopping season has barely begun but there is already a hot toy: TMX Elmo. The TMX Elmo buzz is so big that as many as 3 million units of the ticklish toy could be sold.
Shoppers are rushing out to buy the hard-to-find toy which quickly disappears from shelves shortly after new shipments arrive. Toledoblade.com reports that experts are saying there has never been a toy this hot so early and that Mattel may sell as many as three million of the super ticklish Elmo dolls.
The toy is so popular that TMX Elmos are selling on eBay for two or three times the list price of $39.99. YouTube.com lists over 180 videos for TMX Elmo. Most of them were submitted by people who purchased TMX Elmo and want to show others what he does.
The most viewed video is this one where the pet dog is startled by TMX Elmo. This video has been viewed well over 2 million times and has been linked to from nearly 400 blogs.
Several other vidoes have over 100,000 views. There are videos of TMX Elmo on a pool table, in a UK Toys R' Us, near a baby and near a cat. This video shows TMX Elmo getting attacked by a Shih-Tzu. There are also videos of French and Spanish versions of the toy.
Witchita Eagle Journalist Suzanne Perez Tobias writes at the bottom of her article about TMX Elmo that she "bookmarked the YouTube video of T.M.X. Elmo, since she'll likely never see the real thing." There is no way to validate it but it could be argued that buzz generated by people watching and discussing these videos have helped increase the toy's popularity and helped generate the early buzz.
Posted on October 11, 2006
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Blogging Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day blogging is nearly over and for some bloggers that will come as a relief. The day can put a dent in the wallet -- men outspent women almost two to one ($135.67 to $68.64) according to a survey.
Some bloggers discussed what they did today for their Valentine or
what their Valentine did for them. Other bloggers chose to simply
ignore Valentine's Day or complained bitterly about it. There were also
bloggers that made funny cards, baked cookies, cooked gourmet meals or
offered relationship advice to their readers. Here are some of the highlights:
The The Seemachine looks into the
history of kissing. (via Sepia Mutiny)
Will this Valentine's Day be an unhappy
one for TomKat?
Gawker lists some of the most ridiculous arguments for Valentine's coverage from publicists.
ShoppingBlog.com blogs about the Hallmark Valentine's Day card that far outsells all other Hallmark Valentine cards.
Electric Venom: "Having welcomed my darling husband home with a smile and a finger pointing to the huge pile of ribs I made for his Valentine's Day dinner, I have been granted one of the greatest luxuries known to mothers of young children: a martini, and a quiet room in which to drink it."
Vanessa Virtue blogs about Valentine's Day for one.
Seven films not to watch with your Valentine.
Robot Johnny got some love advice from Dr. Phil: "Take, for example, his advice on love: don't love dumb; love smart. Where have you been all my life
Dr. Phil? With your sage wisdom I could have been married ten times over by now (instead, ahem, of writing on my blog on Valentine's Day night)."
The Meg Blog made a cool quilt of blogger valentines.
The title of this post could make men feel unnecessary.
Jennifer at Major Knitter baked some impressive Valentine cookies for the men in her life.
Something Awful has some Star
Wars Valentines (via Mile High Comics)
The Mommybloggers are blogging about love. (via Blogging Baby)
Candy Addict has posts about
Valentine's Day candy. This post took us to this page
that explains in detail what is inside Conversation Hearts.
Take the Match the Author with the Love Scene quiz.
Embracing Insanity made a love post.
Adfreak blogs about Pizza Matchmaking: "Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Domino's Pizza is flogging the results of an absurd study that suggests you can find true love—or least compatibility—by paying attention to people's choice of pizza toppings."
Jacqueline Mackie Paisley Passey blogs about making heart shaped pancakes. The post includes a photo of the pancakes.
The Fast Company Blog discusses the world's oldest love poem: "Here's what I hope my husband gives me for Valentine's Day: a replica of a 4,000 year old Sumerian tablet, about the size of a cell phone, that is inscribed with what's been identified as the world's oldest love poem."
Lifehacker has a roundup of advice type articles including an article about Techie Valentine's Day gifts.
Note: For the most recent Valentine's Day posts please visit ShoppingBlog.com's Valentine's Day section.
Posted on February 14, 2006
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Blogging Groundhog Day
Thousands of bloggers are covering Groundhog Day as reports come in from groundhogs in the U.S. and Canada. The most well-known groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, has already seen his shadow at Gobbler's Knob and forecasted six more weeks of Winter.
Here are some highlights from the blogosphere:
Pleasant Morning Buzz blogs that Punxsutawney Phil is sponsored
by vaseline and that every American can get a free bottle of lotion now that Phil has seen his shadow.
Robot Johnny wonders if there is a conspiracy going because
American groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and Canadian groundhog Wiarton Willie did not. "What the hell is going on? Is global warming to blame for such inconsistent climate predictions? I smell an international conspiracy."
Jossip reports
that Punxsutawney Phil's handler is stepping down.
RealClimate discusses the very warm Winter this has been: "In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character finds himself having to repeat the same day over and over again (Groundhog Day, of course). At one point he announces 'It's cold today, it's cold every day'. Were the movie to be remade several decades in the future, the character might instead have to lament: 'Its warm this winter, it's warm every winter'."
Will we ever get to use the new snowstorm rating system this winter?
Flickr has some Groundhog Day
photos
Pure Madnesson says there was some debate over Jimmy the Groundhog's forecast
from Madison, Wisconsin.
Several blogs are passing this joke around:
This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union Address fall in the same week?
As Air America Radio pointed out, "It is an ironic juxtaposition: one involves a meaningless
ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication, and the
other involves a groundhog".
All Things Jennifer offers two strategies for dealing with the cold -- in case Phil is right.
B.L. Ochman blogs about crashed servers at the Pennsylvania Tourism Board's Groundhog 202.
This Groundhog Blog could use an update.
One blogger made a Groundhogs Day resolution
Gothamist blogs that NYC's Staten Island Chuck (a rival of Phil's) did not see his
shadow which means an early Spring.
Nobody Asked Me, But points out that Punxsutawney Phil is a poet this year:
Today on the Knob as I'm doing my job,
I don't like this likeness of me.
It's my shadow I see.
Six more weeks of mild winter there will be.
Posted on February 2, 2006
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Bloggers Post Their New Year's Resolutions
An article
from Welch Media (via Worthwhile) cites a new study from Goalfree.com that says less Americans are making New Year's resolutions: "In a newly released survey of 1012 Americans, only 45% of Americans now say they write up New Years Resolutions down from 88% of Americans who did so in the past. The random telephone survey was conducted by Stephen Shapiro, president of Goalfree.com, with the assistance of Opinion Research Corp. of Princeton N.J."
The study found that most resolutions fell into these categories:
34% say they will set a New Year's Resolution related to their wallet
38% say they will set a New Year's Resolution related to their waistline
47% say they will set a New Year's Resolution related to their head i.e. a self-improvement type goal
31% say they will set a New Year's Resolution related to their heart -- i.e. a relationship or dating
goal.
When bloggers post resolutions it is different than just writing it
down on a piece paper. The resolutions are available to the public --
right there in plain sight for everyone to see. Bloggers can also
review their resolutions from the previous year like Footsteps in the
Mirror did in
this post that includes a review of the resolutions
from 2005 and new resolutions for 2006. Instapundit blogged his resolutions in 2005 but decided
not to this year: "Given how badly last year's resolution ("to spend
less time at the computer") turned out, it just seems pointless, you know?"
Unfortunately, there is no study available to determine whether posting
resolutions in public makes them more likely to happen.
Plenty of bloggers are posting resolutions for 2006. A technorati graphic shows resolution-related posts peaking at about 20,000 per day on New Year's Day.
A
graph on BlogPulse.com also shows resolution posts soaring as the year
changed to 2006. Here are some resolution highlights from the blogosphere.
David Sifry at Technorati advised bloggers to tag posts containing 2006 New Year's resolutions as 2006resolutions. Nearly 150 bloggers have tagged posts using the 2006resolutions tag.
Blog Business World has posted some blog resolutions. In addition to resolutions the post also includes tips, suggestions and blogging best practices. Here is one of resolutions: "Resolve to write at least one new blog post every day. It helps in the search engines, and keeps your readers returning day after day. If you are unable to write every day, at the very least choose alternate days for posting."
Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch blog has a list
of resolutions for celebrities. Popwatch tells Rosie to fix the
"caps button" on her keyboard. But it looks more like it is Rosie's
shift key that is broken.
Last January, Amy at Dayorama
resolved to stop using words like "Maybe" and "Possibly" --
a resolution with a high level of difficulty. This year
Dayorama has an
interesting post about their 2005 posting data.
2005 was a good year for Dayorama but it looks like OJ is really
falling behind Ollie and Amy in the posting war.
At the bottom of this post is a New Year's Resolution written by
Ollie: "Posting to this weblog shouldn't be about volume and post
counts, even though I personally think they're fun to do from time
to time. It's about making it interesting for you lot to read. I've
been trying to work on that recently and my personal resolution is
to carry that on into 2006 and make it worth your while."
Knitknacks has
set some goals which include a couple
appealing resolutions like eating chocolate and
reading fiction. Knitting, blogging and yoga are all on
Knitknack's list as well.
Some of Slobstyle's resolutions include read more, diet, exercise, be positive and stop procrastinating. Slobstyle also plans to stop swearing: "I have found myself using obsenities over the last couple of years in a constant fashion, something I really need to stop doing. First of all, it's completely unnecessary. Second, I have kids and I don’t need to be letting random curses slip while they are around. The easiest way I see to prevent this from happening is to stop using "naughty" words all together!"
Combing With Scissors
explains why resolutions can be easier to
plan than do: "I'm really good at making them...pages of lists and detailed info on each one...right down to a calendar for the first quarter of the year, marking my goals and what I plan to accomplish when. and after all that work, *POOF* I think I get too into the planning, and forget to save any energy for the actual doing."
Guy Kawasaki blogs about resolution assistance from a Nobel prize winner.
One of Modfab's resolutions is to "read only the really good blogs."
Mom Writes resolves to attend BlogHer 2006.
Taquil
plans to get organized: "But as we dive headlong into 2006, I have
given myself one aim: to become better organised. This is not to say I'm
unorganised, generally I'm not. But if I'm going to achieve some of the
things I want to do this year, then I'm going to need a system which isn’t
already creaking at the seams."
Lifehack.org has an advice
post about how to make resolutions that you will keep: "Take whatever time you need time to work out what truly counts for you and link any resolutions to that. If your resolutions don't draw on your strongest values; don't spring from feelings and beliefs too important to ignore, they will quickly be swept away."
Starling Fitness also has some resolution
advice including a tip to tell the freakn' world about your goals: "If you tell your sister and your mom and your dad and your girlfriend and that vindictive woman at your work about your resolutions, you’re more likely to succeed. Just knowing that the witch at the front desk is going to ask you about your progress can be enough sometimes."
Our Health News Blog
looks at New Year's health and fitness resolutions.
Don't ask Startle Grams about resolutions: "This is that time of year when
people are prone to ask: 'So, did you make any New Year's resolutions?' I wish
they would just shut up. These people need to resolve to never ask anybody
such a stupid question."
Two of Sophismata's resolutions include keeping the blog going in 2006 and staying single: "I want to stay single till I leave for Japan. No since in getting attached and making leaving muckier than it already will be."
Wanderings of a Student Librarian recommends a couple tools for
people making lists: Remember the Milk and Ta-Da List.
Blogcritics has a
post about the annual "get in shape" type of resolutions. The post introduces a concept called TLAOSW -- "The least amount of specific work."
Lifehacker
links to an advice article from Yahoo Finance about ten things to stop
doing in 2006. However, the list includes pretty obvious things like
stop running up credit card balances.
Retro Thing has a resolution to be bolder in 2006. And in
this post
Retro Thing is bold enough to ask readers to nominate them to
the 2006 Bloggies.
Tripso has some resolutions for the airline industry
For bloggers resolving to be more healthy in 2006, Slashfood
recommends eating a healthy breakfast (whether you are hungry or not) and serves up a breakfast smoothie recipe care of EatingWell.
This is the eleventh and final entry in our
Blogging the Holidays
series for the 2005-2006 holidays.
Posted on January 4, 2006
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Blogging the Holidays 12-31-05: An Extra Second to Party
Bloggers are still blogging about Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah but
the numbers of posts per day have fallen considerably. Hanukkah continues until January 02, 2006. Most bloggers have moved on to New Year's discussions and some bloggers in some parts of the world are already living in 2006. Here are some highlights from the blogosphere.
One More Second to Party:
James West, Frozen Core
and IZ Reloaded
blog about the extra second everyone gets to party in 2005. Details about the
2005 Leap Second can be found here.
Dave Sifry tells bloggers
how to tag their 2006 resolutions posts and over
50 bloggers have used the 2006resolutions
tag so far. Some bloggers, like Sweetney, Knotty Yarn
and Stainless Steel Droppings, are making a long list of goals called an uberlist. If you
are really into uberlists you can join Uberlist
Central.
If you don't want to post your own resolutions you can always post
resolutions for others like
Mike's Well Hidden Genius.
There are tens of thousands of Happy New Year wishes from bloggers on
Technorati,
BlogPulse, IceRocket
and Google Blog Search.
Blogging Baby reveals a babysitter shortage.
YesButNoButYes offers
help finding New Year's Eve Supplies. It is too late to order these online but you might find some of them at your local party store.
Superstitions and Traditions: Yesterday's Memories asks about New Year's superstitions like eating black eyed peas. Just PureMood blogs about New Year's traditions: "Do you ring in the new year in the company of family, mate and/or friends? Kiss someone at the stroke of midnight? Have noise makers, party hats, etc? Eat donuts? Black eyed-peas? Cabbage? Do you sing "Auld Lang Syne"? Shoot fireworks? Watch the parade? Football? What is your drink of choice - if any?"
Slash Food
points out that nearly every restaurant is serving
lobster or beef tenderloin.
Kaonashi Ga Suki v2.0 blogs that Christmas and New Year's are
too close together: "I've always thought it was kind of funny for Christmas and New Year's to be only a week apart. I tend to prefer for my holidays to be spread out more, you know?"
Egg Nog is good for New Year's too.
Prepare for New Year's fun with
Google Maps Mashups.
Spiced Candied Walnuts
go well with champagne.
Life Hacker offers
advice for preventing a hangover
TV Squad says
Dick Clark will be ready for this year's
New Year's Rockin' Eve
hosted by Dick Clark, Ryan Seacrest and Hilary Duff.
This is the tenth entry in our Blogging the Holidays series.
Posted on December 31, 2005
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Blogging the Holidays 12-26-05
It is no surprise to see Christmas and Holidays searches have climbed on Technorati this month:
Bloggers are discussing the holidays including what gifts they gave
and/or received. Here are some more highlights from the holiday blogosphere.
Some bloggers watched the Disney Parade.
Engadget asked readers So, what'd you get? Answers include iPods, notebooks, digital cameras and socks.
Needlenose scored some cool gifts including a Pope John Paul II Talking Action Figure.
Raymond Camden is pleased with his light saber gift: "The kids had a grand time, and the big fat nerd (me) got a Master Replica Darth Vader light saber. I cannot even begin to describe how cool it is."
Jewlicious blogged the lighting of the first Hanukkah candle. The entry also includes some links to funny stuff for Chanukah.
Surprisingly, no bloggers have yet linked to this USA Today
article that says Chinese food is a popular choice for holiday meals. But this could change. We checked IceRocket, BlogPulse and Technorati.
The Moderate Voice links
to an online Menorah.
Bibi's Box has a big Christmas linkdump.
Asymptomatic blogs about those hard-to-remove wires attached to
every toy: "Every stinking toy is affixed to the box it came in by these plastic-coated metal twist ties that are twisted into knots by sadistic evil elves. I swear to you that I have bruises on my fingertips from trying to unravel these little metal knots from the bowels of hell."
Dvorak Uncensored has found some bizarre and funky Christmas
trees from Germany. There is also this tropical Christmas tree.
The Uber Review has posted some Christmas stats and facts.
Avalonstar blogs that it is better to give: "This year especially has been special for me, since it was the first year where I put more focus on the giving than the receiving. For once, I was able to experience the happiness of seeing my parents flip over the presents I worked hard for."
Spriggs has a funny post about visiting in-laws and shampoo: "One thing that's always fun about visiting family over holidays (Christmas), is this: You get to try a different shampoo every day. Of course, being the fair minded person that I am, I bring my own shampoo, so they (my in-laws) can try our shampoo, too. Cool, huh?"
On a more serious note Dave Winer blogs
about helping and remembering New Orleans. And today (12-26-05) is the anniversary of last year's Tsunami when over 200,000 people were lost. Many bloggers are
discussing and remembering that day and the survivors. USA Today also has an article:
In India, more than 300 people attended an interfaith service of Hindu, Christian and Muslim prayers Sunday before joining a march led by children dressed in white through Nagapattinam, where thousands of people were washed away.
At least 216,000 people died or disappeared in the waves, according to an Associated Press assessment of government and credible relief agency figures. The United Nations estimates the
number at 223,000.
This is the ninth entry in our Blogging the Holidays series.
Posted on December 26, 2005
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Blogging the Holidays 12-25-05
Tracking Santa: NORAD,
BBC,
Google Earth
Simon Sez Santa: Ask a Santa to do stuff and he will. Think subservient chicken (via Blogotional)
Somewhat Frank gives the Gift of Blogging to his brother: "This Christmas I decided to give my brother a gift that keeps on giving by designing and setting up a weblog for him. In essence, I was giving him the gift of blogging. My brother Jack is a senior in college with plans to go to law school next year." The blog he set up for his brother Jack is called A Jack in the Blog.
The Blog Herald has announced the winners of the Christmas Blogging Awards. The winners are:
Best Overall Christmas Blog: Santa's Journal
Best Posting about Christmas on a Blog: Gayla’s House: The Elf That Came to Our House
Best Christmas Decoration of a Blog: That Blog
Best New Blog: Happy and Blue 2
Someone hacked one of those five-foot tall singing Santa's that have been seen in Wal-Mart stores. (Via Web Zen)
Sponge blog blogs about fruitcake: "Fruitcake is a hard, usually log-shaped pie filled with fruit or whatnot, and sometimes nuts; thus, the term 'He's a fruitcake.' It's despised by most, and yet there's such a
high demand for it! You always see the stuff, and always get it. I guess it's just tradition, because this gooey garbage has nothing else going for it. Nevertheless, it's so popular that Jay Leno has a hilarious advice segment called 'Ask the Fruitcake Lady.'"
A Wish for Peach from Conscious Living Journal: "My only wish for the world on this Christmas morning is for peace and an end of suffering to all sentient beings."
Slashfood has recipes for stuffing, eggnog, Spice walnut cookies and advice for cooking ham.
J-Walk posts a list of links that includes links to old Christmas ads and a Scared of Santa photo gallery. J-Walk also notes that interest in the "War on Christmas" is fading
according to the new Technorati charts.
Make: Spiky Star Oragami, Droidel
Dreidel (via Website at the End of the Universe)
Create a Christmas Card for your blog (Via Generator blog)
Mega Snowman: A 16-foot snowzilla (via Double Viking)
Interesting: Christmas Zoom via
eMusings
A parody of the popular Christmas movie: It's a Wonderful Internet (via Jaded Sunburns)
Astronomy Blog blogs about
Christmas on Mars: "Guinevere One should be landing at about 7pm GMT and shortly after it will begin transmitting live video images - with a delay of about 20 minutes due to the finite speed of light - from Isidis Planitia."
Many bloggers are wishing Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa.
Happy Holidays: BlogPulse, IceRocket, Technorati
Merry Christmas: BlogPulse, IceRocket, Technorati
Happy Hanukkah: BlogPulse, IceRocket, Technorati
Happy Kwanzaa: BlogPulse, IceRocket, Technorati
This is the eight entry in our Blogging the Holidays series.
Posted on December 25, 2005
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Blogging the Holidays 12-24-05
BlogPulse.com offers a trend
graph of good things like peace, love and happiness. In another
trend search shopping and money beat peace by a wide margin.
Lots of Bloggers are going on hiatus for the holidays: Brandinsbae, Blaqenedwhyte, A Socialite's Life, Londonist, Powerlifting Watch and Jaebird are just a few of the many blogs and bloggers taking a holiday hiatus from blogging.
Just PureMood has a Christmas logo and recipes for No Bake Rocky Road Candy and Christmas Wreaths.
Chris Pirillo blogs the best and worst last-minute gifts.
Recipe: The Christmas Pickle
Slate has an article about Kwanza. (Via ProPolitics)
TreeHugger has a survey about labels some of its readers receive from tenacious among family members like "Harmless but nevertheless unrealistic idealist" and "Wacko liberal treehugger."
Christmas is Thanksgiving Day for CommonSenseAmerica: "I love Christmas! Christmas for me is a time for family and a time for friends. It's a time to meet the newest family members and a time to fondly remember those we've lost. It's a time for cookies and pies, ham and yams, candy canes and carols, sweaters and mittens. It's a time for laughter and games, children's sweet dreams and giggles, tinsel and snowflakes, ornaments and memories. It's a time of gifts and giving, hugs and traditions."
Pacific Views blogs
about the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
The Bissell Blog posts a holiday greeting card from his His Noodly Appendage.
Surfs up in California this Christmas.
Gakwer has a post about Christmas and Hanukkah going head-to-head this weekend. RedOrbit has an article about Chrismukkah.
Personal Tech Pipeline blogs about White Christmas images delivered by NASA.
Stand to Reason says
"White Christmas" is the best Christmas Carol.
TechNudge offers a holiday bar tip: "When pouring liquor, even professional bartenders unintentionally pour 20 to 30 percent more into short, squat glasses than into tall, thin ones, according to a new Cornell University study."
Scott-o-Rama has the holiday blues.
16 ways to spell Hanukkah.
Downtown Chick Chat blogs
that Google is telling a story with its holiday logos this year.
Holiday Feasts: In a long and detailed post the Healthy Living Blog lists the calories in a typical Christmas dinner (2500-3000 calories) and offers some suggestions that people should use (but probably won't) like get some exercise in the morning and drink lots of water.
This is the seventh entry in our Blogging the Holidays series.
Posted on December 24, 2005
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Blogging the Holidays 12-22-05
The Pope wears a Santa hat.
More Santarchy. This time Zombie
Santas (via Laughing Squid). We still haven't seen many bloggers talk about the Santa-thlon which featured Santas competing in "several different events including delivering
a plate of cookies, carrying 50-pound bags of toys, the fruitcake shot put
and the chimney chute shuttle."
The American Mind grumps
about Christmas shoppers.
Other kinds of trees: The Christmas Twig
East of West blogs some gift presentation strategies for Christmas. Via a Blogging Baby post which also
talks about taking claim for most of the gifts and not writing "from Santa"
on all of them: "The category on Chad's list that causes me the most trouble is the question of labeling gifts 'From Santa or Mom/Dad.' We usually let Santa give Nolan a few toys but we save the really good stuff for the parentals. Hey, if I have to stand in line for hours to get said presents I at least want to benefit from the day long thank-yous and besitos plastered all over my face."
Healthy Living Blog lists the calories and ingredients in a Starbucks eggnog latte (469 calories and 34 grams of fat) and provides a soy milk alternative.
Tina's Weblog says to avoid carrot sticks over the holidays: "Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit."
Ollie at Dayorama rides the Santa Express and blogs the experience: "It was great fun. Not only did I get to meet St Nick himself and walk with him through the carriages as he gave out gifts to children ('never a child missed' his motto, just like Herod), but I also got to ride with the driver in the engine cab on the way back! Maybe the kid inside took over (no change there) but it was the most amazing experience, being thrown around the cab as the engine blasted tender-first back through the Somerset countryside to our starting point."
Over 25,000 photos tagged Santa
on Flickr. Over 8,000 photos are tagged Christmas tree. Here are the Christmas Tree photos Flickr says are the most interesting.
Pixelated Christmas LEGOs
Janetnews.com blogs about this portable yule log for your video iPod.
Gadling is spared the holiday trip home: "But the season also feels different to me because I'm living at home with my parents right now, and for the first time in almost ten years, I don't have to travel several hours to make it home for the holidays. I AM home. I have no bags to pack or presents to transport. And no traffic or weather hassles to deal with. I'm already home, and although we are all busy with work, projects and holiday prep, it is a refreshing change to be here for it all and see how it all comes together so beautifully."
The Artsy Asylum discusses whether creative people and relatives can really mix during the holidays?
Happy Winter Solstice or Yule Day
Gizmodo digs this Cannabis Candle.
Christmas meme: here,
here, here,
here, here and here. More Christmas meme posts here on Technorati and here on BlogPulse.com.
This is the sixth entry in our Blogging the Holidays series.
Posted on December 22, 2005
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Blogging the Holidays 12-20-05
We don't want to be alarmist but you are running out of time to shop online and get in there by Christmas or the
first day of Hanukkah.
Santa's running, rampaging and throwing fruitcakes at Santa-thlon and Santarchy in New Zealand. Still more Santarchy here.
Penguin Books is podcasting A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in five installments.
Make Stuff: Tree embroidered sweater, Holiday papercrafts, Snowman
Ornament, Pasta Angels,
Robot Ornaments and Mini Sweater Ornaments.
Food: White Christimas Fudge recipe posted by Wendy Cooper; Christmas
Eve Fruitcake; Top Ten Tastes of Christmas; Baking Christmas Cookies and Egg Nog Pancakes
Turducken Posts: There are just over 1,000 posts on
turducken but one of the better posts was posted back in November by
Blog d'Elisson: "It's not something I would eat every year, and the turducken certainly is no replacement for the traditional Thanksgiving gobbler. But it's an offbeat, if somewhat pricey, treat, one that I would happily serve to Roxanne if only to show her that it's not bad at all."
Mice make inexpensive stocking stuffers and there are many designs and styles.
Christmas Comics: The
Vampire's Christmas
Matt Rosenberg provides a look at
Christmas in Seattle which includes photos of a giant gingerbread-candy structure.
Fuggy Holidays
Holiday ant cartoons: here,
here and here.
Nick Starr notes that candles (white) appear on Google (near the ads on the right) when you search Hanukkah and candy canes appear when you search Christmas. Green, red and black candles appear when you search Kwanzaa.
Christmas is "damaging the environment."
Sprittibee blogs about gingerbread people that didn't make it: "My domestic side, while getting a fierce work-out lately because of our zero-eating-out-budget, has truly been bruised. Last night, we ended up with ginger snaps instead of gingerbread people to decorate. The kids got a belly-laugh when we pulled them out of the oven in a tray full of little flat crispy puddles."
The doctor is not in. Cory Doctorow takes a holiday from Boing Boing but just until January.
Don't get stress out this holiday season: Coping with holiday stress.
Christmas comes everyday for Mr. Christmas. "It all started about 10 years ago
when I was feeling a little bit sad. I decided to go home and put up my
Christmas decorations, cook myself a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings,
have a glass or two of sherry and treat myself to a little pressie!!! This made me feel much happier, and from then on I decided to have Christmas everyday of the year!!!" (Via J-Walk Blog)
Have an enjoyable Winterfest.
Rarefied provides the rules of christmas decorations
Ho Ho Hum from Existential Dread: "Is it me, or does this holiday season seem particularly less merry and just plain cold? I can not seem to warm up -- to the spirit, to the decorations, to the bonhomie... or to room temperature."
Gawker describes some media Christmas parties.
This is the fifth entry in our Blogging the Holidays series.
Posted on December 20, 2005
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Blogging the Holidays 12-16-05
Real Tree or Fake Tree? A lot of bloggers like real
trees: here,
here, here, here and here. But most people actually use fake trees. Technorati shows 1,651 results for "real tree" and 1,296 results for "fake tree". It looks pretty close on the BlogPulse trend graph as well. Finally, here is an article that compares real trees and fake trees.
Make Stuff: Santa mittens, Music sync'ed xmas lights and Christmas tree candy cups.
Also make a virtual snowflake.
Food: Chocolate computer, Christmas tree cake,Gingerbread man cookies and Christmas spiced pralines.
Drinks: Yukon Cornelius Shooter and Spiked and flavored hot chocolate.
Did you decorate your cubicle for the holidays?
Christmas Blogging Awards: The Blog Herald is running its annual Christmas Blogging Awards. Categories include best new blog embracing Christmas 2005, best Christmas decoration of a Blog 2005, best posting about Christmas on a Blog 2005 and best overall Christmas Blog. Nominations will close on December 23 2005 at midnight EST. The winners will be announced Christmas Eve.
Why are winter songs never sung after Christmas?
Blogging Baby reports that the British Government has warned that Santa may be terrifying to very young children. The little kids in the photo Blogging Baby found sure look frightened.
Kurisumusu: The World of Wati explains Christmas in Japan which appears to center around Santa Claus: "Since Santa seems to be playing the lead role here, there was a time when they even go as far as crucifying him on a cross. It may be an honest mistake..."
Dangerous gift: the in-dash DVD Player.
Mezba talks Christmas parties, alcohol and political correctness:
"It's great fun being a Muslim at Christmas parties. Certain events seem destined to repeat themselves forever at every party. A few of them occur after a few drinks. As a sober Muslim watching from the sidelines, it can make for an interesting spectacle."
A Toronto Star article talks about Santa blogging and podcasting. The article mentions two Santa blogs: Santa's Journal and SantaSpeaking.com.
Amy at Dayorama explains what getting Amazoned is: "There's a rule to Christmas shopping. Don't order something over Amazon from a computer where someone else's account is automatically logged on. If you do, then when you order something the other person receives the confirmation email. When this happens, the person reads the email then finds out what one of her Christmas presents is!"
Accidental Hedonist tells the history of candy canes
Elfster can help you with your Secret Santa gift exchanges. (Via Surfers Surf)
The Abu Ghraib photos are not the kind of holiday photos you want.
YesButNoButYes.com lists the top ten Christmas villians which includes BurgerMeister MeisterBurger, Commercialism, The Grinch, Bumble and Heat Miser and Snow Miser.
Tie a perfect bow for presents.
This is the fourth entry in our Blogging the Holidays series.
Posted on December 16, 2005
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Blogging the Holidays 12-9-05
Bloggers debate: Christmas trees, Holiday trees or non-issue? -- RightWingNation.com, Gina Cobb, AdFreak, CJR Daily, Tammy Bruce, The Moderate Voice, Matthew Yglesias and TomPaine.com. More debate in this thread.
LED Lights and Inflatable Snowglobes: ShoppingBlog.com blogs a couple of this year's hot decorating trends: LED Christmas lights and
inflatable Snowglobes.
Speaking of inflatables, J-Walk has found
the King of Holiday Inflatibles. An important find.
Blogger Seasonal Anxiety: Blogebrity looks at some bloggers who write personal blogs that are feeling anxious about their blog as the end of the year approaches.
Sometimes, they begin to realize that that they have neglected their real lives in order to satisfy their blogging obsession. Their real friendships have disappeared, their marriages have broken up, they were fired from their job for blogging during work hours.
Blogebrity also blogs about tourists and Christmas in New York.
She's so innocent: Paris believed in Santa Claus until she was 17.
People stressed about the holidays might be interested in these tips for reducing Holiday stress.
Don't play the office fool at the company party.
Jeff Caylor provides 10 holiday spirit hacks.
Debbie Ohi
blogs about an unusual Santa Claus parade in Toronto with clowns,
doomed chickens and Christmas skunks.
Gift List Crazy: Everyone has a gift wish list but here's one that's
a little different: 10 Geeky Gift Ideas from Asymptomatic includes this funky ant farm.
The Pleasant Morning Buzz recommends the Marshmallow Shooter gift for kids. Blogging Baby disagrees and threatens the Buzz with a marshmallow assault.
AdJab finds a holiday commercial to hate.
Candy Addict has found a Gummi Christmas Tree.
What do Christmas lights mean to you?
Holiday humor: Is Santa a woman?
Blogging Baby finds a Santa that knows sign language.
The Metropolis Times doubts that there is really an
"anti-Christmas crowd." Also mentions a Christmahanukwkanzakah party.
Halley's Comment blogs her disapproval of the "The Little Drummer Boy" song.
James Manning remembers the Heat Miser and his awesome song from The Year Without Santa Clause.
Other kinds of trees: The Origami Tree.
USA Today blogger Kevin Manney
wrote a Reindeer song.
This is the third entry in our Blogging the Holidays series.
Posted on December 9, 2005
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Blogging Thanksgiving
Browsing the Technorati tag for
Thanksgiving shows a lot of bloggers giving thanks. Over 900 posts have been tagged for Thanksgiving.
The Public Eye blog reports on Thanksgiving travel woes. More travel chaos news available here.
Our ShoppingBlog.com blog has a post about
about where to find those black friday deals.
The usually upbeat Blogging Baby offers six
reasons to hate Thanksgiving and another
post about stress from being around family members during the holiday.
SurfersSurf.com has provided Thanksgiving resource links including history, parades and recipes.
Krissy in Boston blogs about noodle kugel and provides a recipe.
Confessions of an Undercover Geek points to a Thanksgiving Day proclamation from President George W. Bush.
Drell's Descants has posted George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.
Prediction: In the future the holiday will be shortened to THNKSGV
Online Marketing Blog posts some search engine Thanksgiving logos.
Kalyn's Kitchen blogs about a Thanksgiving sing-along performed by a defiant turkey.
Tree Hugger found a Thanksgiving Coffee Company.
TechNudge blogs that the tryptophan in turkey causing sleepiness theory has been debunked in a Science Daily article.
Tryptophan won't stop this blogger from his ride. Twisting Asphalt describes a completely different Thanksgiving experience: "There's a magic in the Malibu Canyons. I swear it. You can’t touch it nor can you taste it, but you certainly can feel it.
Especially on a day like today when its just you and the road shaking hands through every corner. Maybe it's a Zen thing, but there’s something incredibly enchanting about riding roads that hug cliffs that look like they’ve fallen out of your imagination. Corner after corner it's simply hard to ignore how special this place can feel when you least expect it. Its a spiritual exercise for gearheads."
Nora Ephron has a Thanksgiving dinner theory: "I have a fairly serious theory
about Thanksgiving dinner, and it's this: don't mess with it. What most people make for Thanksgiving dinner is what their mothers made, and you stray from this at your peril."
Gawker is thankful for Anderson Cooper.
Did you know that the name of the National Thanksgiving Turkey here in the USA is Marshmallow?
If you still have a Thanksgiving Turkey dinner to make be sure to
follow these safety tips.
This is the second post in our Blogging the Holidays series.
Posted on November 24, 2005
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Blogging the Holidays 11-22-05
As we move into Winter holiday blog posts about Thanskgiving,
Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza are increasing. Here is the first
roundup we will have in our series about bloggers blogging about the holidays.
First Up: Thanksgiving
Butternutsquash searches soar as Thanksgiving approaches.
Thanksgiving poses problems for diet bloggers like
Simply Kimberly.
Faeriebell's Favorites
posts the Thanksgiving travel forecast: "Around 37 million
Americans will travel somewhere 50 miles or more from their home
this Thanksgiving. 83% will travel by car, 12% by plane, and
5% by bus."
New Yorkers don't want to spend Thanksgiving with Mayor Bloomberg. Jossip will so long as he does the dishes.
The Jewish Blogmeister has a post about whether
or not Jews should celebrate Thanksgiving.
The Subway Knitter is already giving thanks for the Softwist Cardigan. Creating it was a "hard-won knitting victory."
Blogebrity found some Flickrlicious turkey photos like this one.
Happy News writes
about a Thanksgiving tree.
Enflu makes Thanksgiving sound dangerous with some safety tips for
avoiding bird flu when preparing a Turkey dinner.
Slashfood found some games, like bobbing for apples and trolling for
pumpkins, that you can play after Thanksgiving dinner -- if you aren't asleep. Be sure to blog it if you do bob for apples or troll for pumpkins. That way we will know people actually do stuff like that.
Recipes in Abudance: Pumpkin Squares, Thanksgiving Cookies, Whole Fried Turkey, Party Potatoes, Turducken, Ultimate Thanksgiving Gravy, Turkey Cake, Pumpkin Soup, Cranberry Sauce, Another Cranberry Sauce, More Cranberry sauce, Cookies,
Holiday Sweet Potato Casserole, Squash Casserole and Stuffed Acorn Squash Supreme
More on recipes: LifeHacker found some vegan Thanksgiving recipes. And All Recipes says it has over 1,500 Thanksgiving recipes.
A Full Belly had this popular post
from last year.
Boni's world has a categorized collection of Thanksgiving resources.
Bloggers are already discussing Christmas, Hanukkah and Yule as well:
BlogPulse graphs the rise in Holiday discussions.
Our ShoppingBlog.com has a post about a replica of Charlie Brown's pathetic Christmas tree that is for sale at Urban Outfitters. This time of year there is also a slew of best toy lists. A few of them are discussed on ShoppingBlog.com here, here and here.
Micropersuasion.com found a Santa's Journal and Podcast.
The US Postal service has issued a Hanukkah draidel stamp.
The Wicca Pagan Blog
explains Yule: "Yule occurs on the Winter Solstice, tucked neatly between Hanukkah and Christmas."
If you want a holiday retail job starting looking now.
Christmas Lights: Boing Boing points to the Houseblinger.com website that provides photos of lit-up homes in England. Other bloggers have posted about Christmas lights here, here, here and here.
Flickr has many more here.
Filed in Blogging the Holidays.
Posted on November 22, 2005
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