We have had a great time in Chicago. The holiday went off without a hitch. The beef turned out great. I insert a whole head of garlic into the meat, which adds a great taste with the herb coating. With 29 people, it was a lot of beef but everything came off well and we had a wonderful family dinner with the Turleys from Bartlett, Naperville, Evanston, Highland Park and of course Virginia (as well as our friends Laura, Annie, Norman, and Jennifer). We finished the day with intense games of Quiz Up on our cellphones and iPads. As are now coming down from our sugar high from a record of cakes, pies, cookies, and other sweets.
Santa was up late dealing with a challenging letter over work conditions and safety regulations at the North Pole this year. Aidan’s letter raises some valid “concerns” despite the libelous content.
Dear Santa,
I have a few concerns about the elf workforce.
You have practically enslaved 100’s of elves to work non-stop . Also, you only work 1 day a year and have a bad diet. Don’t you think that’s a bad message to kids?
The fact that you live isolated also concerns me because there are no regulations.
Regards,
Aidan Turley
P.S. Your relationship with Mrs. Claus also seems to be an abusive one.
Santa responded to the letter after consulting with “legal” and saying that his legal counsel encouraged him to rethink the addition of Aidan on the “naughty list.” Instead, Santa responded with a series of denials and David Boies like warnings of the legal ramifications of writing defamatory allegations. Christmas counsel also noted that Aidan’s picture of Santa forcing elves to work at gunpoint was entirely baseless and actionable. Overall, however, it was a wonderfully litigious Christmas.
So glad you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. I can ditto your joy. Thank God Christ was born to bring us all together for these holidays and to remember all the blessings we receive through family and friends. The Spirit of Christmas is truly with us when we are opened to it. Happy New Year and God Bless America!
Uh, oh, a misplaced a comma. Santa sounds like a typical corporation, deny, punish and sue the whistle blower
Sounds like Aidan has the makings of a good civil rights lawyer, maybe a budding member of the National Lawyers Guild. Santa sounds like a pretty typical corporation, deny, punish, and sue the whistle blower. Go, Aidan. I like your observational skills and your move to action. I don’t think that a private letter can be used as a bad action on your part, after all, it was Santa who chose to make it public.
Inga,
Next week we are supposed to go into the deep freeze!
Regarding the working(slavery?) conditions of Santa’s elves, are the elves considered “human” in the slavery statutes? This will have to be litigated. Another thing. Santa had(has) a fiduciary responsibility to prevent the bullying of Rudolph and the other rain deer under his care. I fear Aiden’s concerns are the tip of the(North Pole) iceberg.
Aidan needs to watch the movie, Elf. He’ll then see elves are very happy. Working hard doing something you love is not work. I hope all kids learn that. My son-in-law made prime rib and swordfish. I thought it would be a bit much, but it turned out to be a nice combo. Never have ordered surf and turf @ a restaurant, but this was quite good. Risotto and asparagus as sides. We added a new flick to our Christmas marathon, Polar Express. I read the book to my kids probably 100 times. The flick is very well made. Could have been 20 minutes shorter IMO.
Jon,
Sounds like a great time. Post the Cioppino recipe.
Joe
Bright blue sunny Boxing Day here in (my part of) OR! Got a raft of books, as ordered, 😎 (all the shipping even got here on time, which it doesn’t always!); others got appropriate goodies too. Had a great day with our holiday-friend, got through Ye Greate Feaste without disasters (tiny kitchen, frazzled cooks!). We were smart enough to cancel a couple of dessert items that we were either planning to experiment with or that we usually cook while we’re eating the main meal! MUCH better idea this year, 8-). Post-prandial entertainment was Rare Exports movie & Doctor Who Xmas Special. We will be having her over on New Years, maybe play some of the games that have been accumulating the last couple of years!
Now for Buy-Nothing, Drive-Nowhere Boxing Day!!! We’ll probably go out for a couple of bike rides to shake loose yesterday’s excesses! I HOPE!
I think the most ambitious anyone is planning for, is my DH is going to fiddle with the outdoor light electronics and see if he can figure a way to keep the water out of connections! These are NOT new light strings, but have been shorting out within hours, in the lightest rain, for pretty much the whole week they’ve been up so far! Since we would PREFER to leave them up for a while (fighting the winter-dark back into submission!), well, he’s got some ideas. We also seem to have finally figured out a working rig for the new tarp that is our “carport” roof!
Hope you all had equally satisfactory experiences!
Rafflaw and JT incredible December weather here in the MW, I bet we get hammered in a couple of weeks. 🙁
Our family Christmas was wonderful, just one daughter missing, the one in the military. She and her husband will be here next Christmas, unless she gets deployed. My kids got their old mom a brand spanking new iPad, which was so easy to set up I was amazed. I so love Apple, but it’s a guilty pleasure. I hope the Chinese workers who made it didn’t get abused in the process.
Merry Christmas and enjoy the warm weather here!