Nooo! The Nook "totaled" by fire. Owners hope to rebuild and reopen in a month.
This will be the first time I have missed a Burger of the Month since I first went to The Nook and had the delicious Farmer's Daughter 35 months ago.
Can someone please invent socks that don't do this inside of every pair of winter boots ever. Thanks
And it always happens when you can't take your boots off to fix it.
Let's kick this Christmas music up a notch - Jingle Bell Rock by Thousand Foot Krutch
Kvamme's Christmas Carol of the Day
Some of my favorite Christmas songs in no particular order.
One each day from December 1st until Christmas Day.
Click here for the list of all of Kvamme's Christmas Carols of the Day
Today's carol is so beautiful that it started the 1914 Christmas Truce - Silent Night - sung by the NWC Choir #KCCotD
Kvamme's Christmas Carol of the Day
Some of my favorite Christmas songs in no particular order.
One each day from December 1st until Christmas Day.
Click here for the list of all of Kvamme's Christmas Carols of the Day
The Truce of 1914
In 1914 when soldiers in Europe marched out to the first great European war of the 20th century, they said they would be home by Christmas to celebrate their victory.
The young men were not home by Christmas. The war dragged on and on for years and Europe was never to be the same again.
In December of 1914, however, a strange thing happened on the Western front. It was Christmas Eve, and the weather suddenly got cold, freezing the slush and water of the trenches in which the men were bunkered down. In the German trenches soldiers started lighting candles. British sentries reported that there appeared to be small lights, raised on poles or bayonets and although these lanterns clearly illuminated the German troops, the British held their fire. Even more startlingly, British officers saw through binoculars that some enemy troops were holding Christmas trees over their heads with lighted candles in their branches!'' The Germans, who celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, were extending holiday greetings to their enemies.
A few German soldiers started singing carols and it was soon picked up all along the line as others joined in harmonizing. Then they began singing "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!" The British immediately recognized the melody and began singing "Silent Night" along with the Germans.
Then occurred one of the most unusual incidents in military history. One by one, soldiers on both sides laid down their weapons and ventured into no man's land - too many of them to prevent their superior officers from objecting. An undeclared truce had broken out spontaneously, against all orders and the rules of military combat.
One eye-witness account of the unofficial truce is given in the wartime diary kept by veteran Frank Richards. In it he wrote:"We stuck up a board with 'Merry Christmas' on it. The enemy stuck up a similar one.
"Two of our men threw their equipment off and jumped on the parapet with their hands above their heads as two of the Germans did the same, our two going to meet them. They shook hands and then we all got out of the trench and so did the Germans."
Richards explained that some German soldiers spoke perfect English. One, who had worked in Brighton before the war, said how fed up he was that they were at war and he would be glad when it was all over. His British counterpart agreed.
The men sat around campfires together singing the choruses of Christmas carols, "Silent Night" being the favorite since it was known by both sides. Before midnight they said their farewells and returned to their own lines.
According to Peter Simkins*, of London's Imperial War Museum, the Christmas Truce took place in numerous places along the battlefront.
"Along the British section of the line, about 22 miles in Flanders, particularly on and around Christmas Day (it wasn't just a Christmas Day phenomenon), both sides began to detect in the opposing trenches, certain signs of Christmas celebration (if celebration is the right word in such a setting). Germans would be heard singing, 'Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.'
"People would shout messages like: 'Fritz, here. I was a waiter in a Manchester hotel before the war. How are my friends from the Lancashire?' On Christmas Day itself, the first curious, slightly headstrong people, perhaps, from both sides poked their head above the trenches, and being made aware that somebody on the other side wasn't going to shoot it off, then clambered cautiously out. Others followed suit. People stopped in the middle of no-man's-land, shook hands, exchanged buttons and badges, cigarettes."
The truce often ended just as it had begun, by mutual agreement. Captain C. I. Stockwell, of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers recalled how, after a truly "Silent Night," he fired three shots into the air at 8.30 a.m. on December 26th and then climbed onto his parapet. The officer who had given him the beer the previous day also appeared on the German parapet. They bowed, saluted and climbed back into their trenches. A few moments afterwards, Stockwell heard the German fire two shots into the air and, as he said, "The War was on again."
* PBS "Great War" interview
"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" - Really, someone please get me a hippo for Christmas #KCCotD #GiftIdeas
A Christmas classic from 1953 sung by Gayla PeeveyKvamme's Christmas Carol of the Day
Some of my favorite Christmas songs in no particular order.
One each day from December 1st until Christmas Day.
Click here for the list of all of Kvamme's Christmas Carols of the Day
Nobody ever believes me when I tell them this is a real song.
Well here you go. Proof.
Perhaps my favorite Christmas carol of all. "O Holy Night" - This is my favorite version, an instrumental from the TV show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" #KCCotD
Studio 60 was a great TV show and a great episode. You can watch it on Youtube or Netflix.Kvamme's Christmas Carol of the Day
Some of my favorite Christmas songs in no particular order.
One each day from December 1st until Christmas Day.
Click here for the list of all of Kvamme's Christmas Carols of the Day
"Let It Snow" should be the perfect carol for today, assuming the weathermen are correct. #KCCotD
[audio http://tmkvamme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/06_let_it_snow_let_it_snow_let_it.mp3]
Kvamme's Christmas Carol of the Day
Some of my favorite Christmas songs in no particular order.
One each day from December 1st until Christmas Day.
Click here for the list of all of Kvamme's Christmas Carols of the Day
Plus it just wouldn't be Christmas without some Bing Crosby
Honorable Mention
"Let it Snow" by Boyz II Men
Kvamme's Christmas Carol of the Day - 12 Days of Christmas by Bob and Doug McKenzie of The Great White North #KCCotD #GiftIdeas
Kvamme's Christmas Carol of the Day
Some of my favorite Christmas songs in no particular order.
One each day from December 1st until Christmas Day.
Click here for the list of all of Kvamme's Christmas Carols of the Day
It just isn't Christmas without a visit from Bob and Doug McKenzie.
It just makes me want to watch "Strange Brew"
Kvamme's Christmas Carol of the Day - Hallelujah Chorus performed by a flash mob in mall food court. #KCCotD
Kvamme's Christmas Carol of the Day
Some of my favorite Christmas songs in no particular order.
One each day from December 1st until Christmas Day.
Click here for the list of all of Kvamme's Christmas Carols of the Day
The most talented flash mob I have ever seen.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE?wmode=transparent]
Performed by Alphabet Photography in Welland, Ontario.