Happy Thanksgiving! (slightly delayed)

Hello everyone,
I know many of you 1ere students experienced your first North American Thanksgiving in early October in Ottawa and as honorary Canadians must believe I'm beyond late.
I've also had to experience this great feast 2 years ago in Ottawa and enjoyed it very much but frankly, as far as I'm concerned, Thanksgiving is meant to be in late November and  the Canadians are much too early. (They told it's because of the snow...)

I know that a few of you in the OIB community  have also just celebrated it.
Like me, you might  have had to wait for Saturday (It's difficult to celebrate this holiday on a Thursday in France)  but it was worth it: was splendid!

As a person who wrote her PHD on Native American history, I'm well aware of how controversial this holiday can be and I fully agree that on hindsight the Native Americans would have been much better off to let these first Pilgrims starve rather than saving them by bringing food and teaching them the way of the land.

However,  it is also a very special moment for family and friends I treasure and look forward to and I've chosen to see it as a moment of hope and a very appropriate time to have a look at my life and realize how lucky and thankful I am.

Besides, the eating is real good and that doesn't hurt, does it?
If  you love cooking and eating like me I can share some great Thanksgiving-themed not necessarily very traditional  recipes
I'll hopefully get over my food coma and see you tomorrow!

Take care,
Mrs. C

Christmas Lighting

Dear Charlie,

Yesterday I went to the Vieux-Port to do some presents shopping. The day quickly ended and everything turned dark. I couldn’t help but noticing the cool lighting. They were all around. 

Whenever you see them you may be sure that Christmas is coming and this is really a magical time of the year. If you go to the Hard Rock Cafe (which you’ll certainly not regret) you’ll see a big Santa in the middle of the square. You should better hurry if you want to see those Christmas lighting. You can also see some at Aix, especially at the Cours Mirabeau and the Rotonde of course!

Happy Holidays !
Lisa

12 days left before Christmas...

 Here is a song for the Advent Calendar. I really like it because we sang it in choir when I was in 4eme! Hope you will enjoy it! 

  

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wt4r_destiny-s-child-rudolph-the-red-nos_music

      

    Tara

Rocking Christmas

Dear Charlie
Christmas is the perfect season to spend some lovely time with your loved ones or is it?
Here's a feisty song to rock Christmas around the clock.
I love the  video clip too.
To me, the clothes from the 80's and the New York/ Jersey accent are just  precious and the situation is hilarious.
Enjoy!
Mrs. C
PS: Just in case we were wondering about Mineola
http://www.mineola-ny.gov/Pages/index
PS2. Santa, please forgive the last image. But then being a guy and having a great sense of humor (all those jolly ho-hos) you might find it funny ;p

What does Christmas sound like on the West Coast ?

If you’re getting tired of jolly red-nosed reindeers, fat red-suited geezers, and snowy red-roofed cabins… head for California! There you’ll find funky-sweatered, bleached-haired and bell-swinging musicians/surfers celebrating Christmas in a way cooler fashion.

Here's Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys, in 1964.

Merry Christmas, baby!

Dear Charlie,

Here's another contribution to our  musical Advent calendar.

Once again, am I unable to make up my mind or am I again not really playing but the rule, or am I?

We said, one song per day. Well, this is only one song. But we were also considering using the date Today is December 11, so I thought I'd be fun to offer 11 versions of the same song. 

As you'll see, the scope starting with the original one ranges wide.

Which version do you prefer? I'll tell you mine soon but I don't want to influence you. Enjoy! 

Mrs. C

Christmas time, Christmas songs

So, I wanted to share my favorite Christmas song to you and there it is:

Feliz Navidad by José Feliciano

I simply couldn't celebrate Christmas without this song !
I know it is not ALL in english (just see the title) but I really think that it gives a little exotic part to Christmas and I just love it !

Hope you'll all like it the way I do...!

Juliette

not really smashing, but...

Billy Corgan has written some of the most iconic and powerful alternative rock songs from the 90s, such as Bullet with Butterfly Wings, 1979 or The Everlasting Gaze. Yet, this shaven-headed giant, who's been wearing black only for decades, is also a poet and a sensitive guy. 

You can have this 1997 Christmastime song with Mellon, and a Collie, too.

And he has big fans in Arizona, apparently: http://vimeo.com/80871413

The most wonderful time...

It's December and for me December = Christmas.

From the 1st of December, I started playing my Christmas playlist, and my Christmas playlist wouldn't be complete without at least one of Andy Williams or Dean Martin's Christmas songs. ( If you don't know Andy Williams he was an American popular  singer. He hosted The Andy Williams Show , a television variety show, from 1962 to 1971, )

One of the reasons why I like this song it's because it sums up all what I feel about Christmas, the cold weather ( why don't we have snow in Marseille ) , spending time with our family, eating ( of course) , watching Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate and there is nothing as wonderful as this time of the year . 

"The Hardest Working Man in Snow Business"

Dear Charlie,
I'm sorry I couldn't post anything this weekend, as my Internet was down. I realise how much this must have perturbed some of you. Some of you will even have been hoping for 6 songs from me that day. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles! Here's the one I was hoping to post, with "The Godfather of Soul" asking for Father Christmas to think of all the poor children in the ghetto first. I'm not sure my daughters would agree with "Soul Brother Number One" on that, but there you are! I'll be posting another Christmas song this evening, unless one of you can get in first!
All the best,

Mr Leah
PS "The King of Funk" is so Christmassy he even died on Christmas Day, leading Libération to headline their newspaper with "Ex-Machine" in memory of his most famous song!

progressive rock, neo-prog, alternative rock, art rock… call it whatever you want.

They’re British, they’ve been around for more than 30 years, they’ve been said to be "once dodgy and now completely rubbish" by some guy in the Guardian… and even referred to by Alan Partridge. What a career!

Here’s Marillion’s The Carol of the Bells, released in December 2013. 

Not sure about the Santa Claus beanie, though.

My Christmas classics

Hi Charlie,
I guess, it's my turn to contribute to this year's musical advent calendar and - possibly- fuel the heated debate a little more.

Here are a few I selected:

I'm more a Muppet and Sesame Street than a Chipmunk type.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MX43ynMvm0&list=PLC70011F47EF7C8E8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojtGHXsTXmU

And the good ol' crooners... Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJSUT8Inl14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ6yQgBvuoI


I personally LOVE Christmas carols.
I cannot even think of decorating the Christmas tree and baking Christmas cookies without full-blast Christmas songs in the background.
And even worse, I sing along and so do my children (the disease's spreading!)
 I love them all,  the cheesier, the better.

But isn't it what Christmas is about? Love it and celebrate it!

I'm well aware that I'm clearly biased, but it's the time of the year to be sentimental and irrational.
Embrace and bask in the Christmas spirit and pooh on the grouchy Scrooges!

Best,
Mrs. C

How does Christmas feel in Sydney?

This might not be the classiest song of the lot. However, doesn't it remind us of the spirit of Christmas, made of hope and expectation? Even for older, shorts-wearing, hard-rocking Australians!
Here's Mistress for Christmas (1990).

Not the Chipmunks

Dear Charlie,

Maybe I'll be alternating with Mr Lévêque - there's a challenge! While I thoroughly agree with Marie (see comments below) I still fall for the odd Christmas song (even by Elton John). This one's much older (originally written in 1934), and is sung by the inimitable Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis's comedy partner, great film actor ("Some Came Running"), and Frank Sinatra's friend in the "Rat Pack". Here, though, he's trying to sell records to your grandparents. And it works!
Mr Leah

Step Into Christmas!

Dear Charlie,

Well, Christmas is approaching, and traditionally Advent begins today (I'm sure some of you opened your Advent calendar for the first time today). In Britain, the fight to be Christmas n°1 in the pop charts is hotting up too, so I thought I'd share some of my favourite Christmas tunes with you, and you may even get one for every day of the Advent calendar! Many great creations came into the world in the early 1970s, including some of the best pop Christmas songs (more later in the month), so I'm suggesting we "Step Into Christmas" with Elton John, who as always is very soberly dressed. If you're wondering why he shows you his Watford AFC membership card, he was chairman of that football club at the time, and they flourished while he was in charge. This song strangely only reached N°24 in the charts, apparently, for my very first Christmas. So, here goes. "Step Into Christmas"!
Mr Leah

Happy Thanksgiving !

Dear Charlie,

I didn't have time to write on Halloween,  so I'm making it up on Thanksgiving with some  spooky pumpkin corn bread. They were frightfully delicious and easy to bake

Care for the recipe?

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow, white or blue cornmeal 
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil or shortening, melted

In a mixing bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl beat together eggs, milk and oil or melted shortening. Add to flour mixture and stir just till batter is smooth ( do not overbeat)
Pour into a greased baking pan. Bake in 425 °F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or till golden brown.
For Corny Corn bread, add a drained can of whole kernel corn.

Taken from  Better Homes New Cookbook 


I hope you enjoyed your holiday. I did.

Even if it is not a holiday here in France and I'll have to wait for the weekend to get together with family and friends and properly tuck in,  it was nice to get into a Thanksgiving mood/mode,  sharing cornbread, pumpkin pie and potato chips (our version of the traditional mashed potatoes)   with the OIB students and colleagues.
Turkey proved to be too big a challenge for this year but who knows what we can achieve next year ?Finally, I'd like to thank Gaëtan for his lovely pumpkin pie (BTW, I'd love to get the recipe)

Take care,
Mrs. C

http://www.freegreatimages.com/thanksgiving-canada-cartoon/


http://www.glasbergen.com/?s=thanksgiving

and even if it's late, I cannot resist sharing this cartoon...


http://onemanadreaming.blogspot.fr/