FORT Koffee Klatch

[Fanny Mare]

I have had the nerve to wait until a week after Thanksgiving to hunt for certain Christimas decorating items and found they were SOLD OUT. I'm not kidding. And when it's gone, they usually say they will not get anymore in before Christmas. I learned my lesson. If I need something, I better get it before Thanksgiving. LOL

Costco has Xmas trees up.I didnt even want to look.Way too early

[pikachu]

I think Christmas is coming early this year. I've noticed that I have lots of exotic birds in my backyard recently and I usually don't see them until the Fall, when they're migrating south to warmer climates. If sweaters, electric blankets, or fireplace logs go on sale in your area soon, you might want to snap them up! We could be in for a bad winter, or at least just an early one.

[coltnlasma]

Now that you mention that, I have noticed birds here which usually don't show up until fall, too. Hmmm.
I've heard in "weather lore" that the number of fogs in August indicates the number of snows to come that winter... but I live around too many tobacco barns to distinguish smoke from fog this time of year.

[AZChristian]

I think Christmas is coming early this year.

Well, winter may be coming early, but I'm pretty sure Christmas will still be on December 25th.

[pikachu]

You know what I mean, smartypants!

When it gets cold sooner, it makes the Christmas season feel like it's here early. It doesn't really feel like Christmas when it's still warm outside.

[Debb70]

We can get both hot and cold here in NC at Christmas. You never know which to expect. We have driven home after picking out our tree in the snow and some years did it in shorts!

[Fanny Mare]

We can get both hot and cold here in NC at Christmas. You never know which to expect. We have driven home after picking out our tree in the snow and some years did it in shorts!

The best Christmas we had, was when we were on a cruise in the Caribbean, and seeing Santa was just as good as seeing him in -20 or colder. Plus the ship looked very pretty

[AZChristian]

You know what I mean, smartypants!

When it gets cold sooner, it makes the Christmas season feel like it's here early. It doesn't really feel like Christmas when it's still warm outside.

Smartypants? Me? (How did you get to know me so well? LOL.)

Living in Arizona, we always have warm winters. I love going shopping without a big heavy coat, and without having to look for parking spaces without piles of snow. Folks here tend to decorate BIG TIME to make up for the lack of cold. As for me, I forbid ANY snow-related decorations in the house.

:-)

[Ellen]

...My "nails-on-a-chalkboard" moment for today, so far, a reporter at a state fair talking about the food pronounced "gyros" as "Gee-Rose". I swear, I think these people do this just to eat my heart out!

The incorrect pronunciation of the word "gyro" –– with the meaning of the Greek sandwich –– bugs me, too, especially since it's been around long enough that it's not so foreign anymore. However, I remember a Seinfeld episode in which Elaine and Kramer pronounced "gyro" as /jī-rō/ –– the pronunciation used for the prefix, as in "gyroscope" and "gyrocompass." It bugged me then, too, since even in the '90s, this wasn't a new menu item. (Unless maybe it was something new in New York at the time? Even though Seinfeld was taped in the Los Angeles area, but scripted and directed primarily, I think, by New Yorkers? )

From Web-11 (Merriam-Webster Unabridged Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.):

Main Entry: 2 gy·ro
Pronunciation: yē-rō, zhir-ō
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural gyros
Etymology: Modern Greek gyros turn, from Greek; from the rotation of the meat on a spit
Date: 1971
: a sandwich especially of lamb and beef, tomato, onion, and yogurt sauce on pita bread

[pikachu]

Since I live in Florida, we sometimes have a warm Christmas. Usually, though we have a cold spell in October, then it warms up and really cold weather doesn't hit until the end of December or January.

I prefer to have a mild winter. I don't get along with cold too well! I have nothing against snow-related decorations. I'd rather have pretty decorations that look like snow than the real thing.

I haven't decorated my house for Christmas in a long time. Since I live alone, it's too much bother to go through. I don't know. If I ever get my place organized maybe I should go back to decorating the house for holidays again just to get out of a rut. It's not much fun having nothing to look forward to and having every day of the year be just about the same as the next.