Beth Arnold: Letter From Paris: A Very Joyeux Christmas

Christmas Eve is finally here, and what have I brought to you from Paris?

I come bearing the star of our brilliant tree Bébé-Marie, the Christmas Monkey.

Photo by Beth Arnold

Every year Bébé-Marie crawls out of your liquor cabinet and swings through your trees to shake things up. She likes toe-tapping jazz and Cajun music not to mention a good party, and, oh, how she loves to dance! Bébé-Marie crowns our tree resplendently, overseeing her subjects that include Mexican tin Day of the Dead decorations, sparkly balls, golden bows, and our newest acqusitions, brightly colored (and wiggly) fishing lures. They take on a special glow beneath her skirt.

Photo by Beth Arnold

If you're lucky, Bébé-Marie might just swing into your house to liven up your Christmas! To entice her, leave mincemeat cookies and a glass of old rum next to some rocking CDs.

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday Season filled with peace, love, and joy. Blessings to all. Have a very Joyeux Christmas!

Beth Arnold lives and writes in Paris. To see more of her work, go to www.betharnold.com.

?

Follow Beth Arnold on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BethArnold

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.

View the original article here

Bargain Christmas flights to Thailand, Far East

December 15th, 2010 | admin |

Bargain Christmas flights to Thailand, Far East

If you have heard that flight tickets get cheaper on last minute reservation,…..well most of the time it might be true as far as low seasons like February, March, October or May are concerned but in peak season even the Sale offers are no less than 600 bucks….in that case how can you still save some good deal on your flights to Thailand?

Make any flights – cheap flights to Thailand by following the simple rules:

If you always travel in national or school Holidays, try booking your cheap tickets to Thailand at the first possibility, the best time is at least 3 months earliest. Remember, the demand goes up as you move closer to the dates. The second most important thing is to find you a good travel agency. The point is some “good” agencies (it’s not necessary that famous agencies are good), have really cheap flights to offer as they buy these seats in bulk and get some discounts from the Airlines. In some cases, agencies even have permanent contracts that means you can bargain, ask for discounts or enjoy promotional fares too. So all you have to do is to find such an agency is to search…. Search and search…..OR I recommend visiting www.flightsfareast.co.uk Another way is to book “connecting” flights to Thailand. That can be really very cheap some times and it is not necessary that “indirect” or “connecting” flight means you will be required to wait for ages before boarding your next plane. For example, there are flights from far east, such as Qatar Airways that fly at very reasonable prices and also the connecting times are not too bad…So you can take advantage of them by booking a ticket from London to Thailand in a 5 star airline…even though the flight is indirect, the standard of service is Marvelous – after all it’s a five star ranked airline! The last way to get your cheap tickets (in case if you are going for Holidays) is to get a “Package Reservation” for your family. Package reservation means you will be buying accommodation plus flights under one roof. Thus the more you shop the more you get discounted. You can do the same by introducing your friends and getting discounts on referring people or simple by keeping one travel agency or company as it earns you more points each time you travel. So automatically you earn enough miles. Where special deals are concerned, even business and premium class reservation for some airlines can be bought at really cheap prices in comparison to direct selling points, if you are booking them with an agency! One bigger benefit of booking with an agency is that, you may get a chance to bargain your rates down with traveling agencies. It may also help you in comparing rates and getting what you are looking for by paying what you are dreaming off.

In end of year time, the best thing to do is to either make a package reservation, buy yourself a Sale offer (as going on with British Airways sale offer ) or get the closest possible date to Christmas and return on January 1st …otherwise you will only find good fares after the end of peak season that is January 15 or 17 in some cases. So best of luck for your next cheap flights to Far East…!

Looking to get the cheapest flight deals for far East flights from United Kingdom, To get hold of latest flight offers, please visit Flights Far East now, Cheap flights are just a click away!

Find More Flights Articles

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.

View the original article here

Personalised Christmas Gifts at Find-me-a-gift

Personalised Christmas Gifts at Find-me-a-gift

Personalised Christmas Gifts not only show how you have gone that extra mile in effort, but how you know the person well enough to choose them a Personalised Christmas Gift specifically for them! Even if you dona??t know the recipient particularly well, if you care for them dearly then a Personalised Christmas Gift is all you need to show love and affection this Christmas!

Men and women will equally appreciate Personalised Christmas Gifts a?? and we can guarantee they wona??t be collecting dust or just slung on the pile of unwanted a??going backa?? numbers that seem to accumulate each year! At Find-Me-A-Gift, we realise that Personalised Christmas Gifts are just that a?? personal, thata??s why we will always offer you a personalised message and gift-wrapping service to compliment your chosen gift!

http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/personalised-gifts/personalised-presents.asp

If youa??re baring someone in mind for a Personalised Christmas Gift who just happens to have his/her eye on the ball (this is a metaphor a?? basically, wea??re saying if they like football!) then why not chose the crazily-cool Personalised Christmas Gift that are the Personalised Football Books! Thata??s amazing Personalised Christmas Gift a?? 1, Severe Christmas Stress a?? 0!

http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/gifts-for-men/personal-gift/personalised-book-of-football-history.html

If youa??re feeling overly festive and know a loved one who loves animals, why not surprise them with the hugely original Personalised Christmas Gift that is Adopt A Reindeer! With a personalised certificate and free opportunity to visit your Reindeer in Scotland, this Personalised Christmas Gift is sure to be a top-selling Personalised Christmas Gift! Who could resist!

http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/personalised-gifts/personalised-presents.asp

If youa??re off to a Christmas party and fancy arriving with the best Personalised Christmas Gift this year, then the Personalised Gift that is the Personalised Bottle of Champagne is your best bet! With a personalised message decorating the front of the bottle, this Personalised Christmas Gift is a smooth, sparkling way to show you care!

The ultimate Personalised Christmas Gift that wea??re favouring at Find-Me-A-Gift just has to be the Message In A Bottle. Simply provide us with your message and receive a printed papyrus scroll sealed in a glass bottle with little washed up sea treasures and a treasure chest! The ideal Personalised Christmas Gift to show youa??re thinking one step ahead in the gift stakes!

For any additional information on priceless Personalised Christmas Gifts, please email info@findmeagift.com or call 01926 640710

Regards

Katy Young

Where Personalised Christmas Gifts are our priority a?? Find-Me-A-Gift

*** Digital Reprint Rights ***

* You are not allowed to change anything in Article Content and Author Biography except the format for displaying the article properly.

* You are allowed to use this article for free as long as it will not violate any laws.

* I will appreciate it if you can notify me the publication of this article. I can be reached at %%AUTHOR_EMAIL%%.

*Please see website http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

View the original article here

Eco Christmas gifts – how you can have a green Christmas

Eco Christmas gifts – how you can have a green Christmas

Christmas is a time for celebration. A fun time with family and friends where enjoy good food, good company and lots of presents. But along with this comes a pretty heavy carbon footprint.
Christmas, and gift giving in particular, has the potential to be the least environmentally-friendly time of year. How many Christmas gifts have your received or even (gasp!) given which have been unwanted, thrown away or stored in the bottom of the wardrobe? Not to mention the waste created by the wrapping, plastic and frilly bows.
Choosing a a??green’ Christmas gift is one of the easiest things you can to do to reduce your carbon footprint. Of course, the greenest Christmas gift is the one not given. But giving is one of the great joys of Christmas. We all love the feeling of making family and friends feel loved and appreciated. You don’t need to give that up to have a greener Christmas. By making a few small changes you can give the environment a happy Christmas too!
Use green gifting and sustainable gift specialists
By only buying from companies that specialise in green and sustainable gifting you can be sure that you gift has meets certain standards. Companies that sell organic gifts, fair trade gifts or other eco gifts have selected those gifts based on eco-friendly criteria. These companies will also have clear policies on what they are doing to support the environment and sustainability.??

Rethink your Christmas gift wrapping

Have a think about Christmas waste. Where does most of it come from? It is almost all in the wrapping. Some people may try and save their Christmas wrapping paper but how many actually put it away for a whole year before reusing it? . An eco-friendly alternative is to choose recycled gift boxes which can then be reused again for gifts or even as storage containers. Also look for gift paper and cards made from post-consumer recycled paper that also use plant based or vegetable dyes, not chemical ink.

Choose gifts that are wanted!

Sounds basic enough but this can be a pretty hard thing to do. How many people do you have trouble buying for? There is always someone that you just don’t know what to give for Christmas. Gourmet gift hampers, wine gifts, beer gift hampers and BBQ gifts are classic gifts that are always appreciated. Sound a bit boring? There is no doubt they can be. There are lots of these types of gifts around, all pretty boring and predictable, not to mention often wrapped up in plastic. You can easily make these gifts eco-friendly. By giving an eco-friendly gourmet gift hamper you can be sure that one – it is eaten, two a?? it is different from the usual and three a?? you minimise the waste.

Reduce waste

Giving gifts that reduce waste are important. Choosing eco-friendly gift wrapping is one way. The other is giving gifts that are wanted and used. If all the beers are drunk in a beer gift, the bottled recycled, the recycled packaging reused you have a gift that has left very little behind.

Buy your Christmas gifts online

Doing your Christmas gift shopping online is another way you can have a greener Christmas. Online stores, and in particular, specialised green gifting online stores (like www.naturallygifted.com.au) are hosted on carbon neutral servers supported by green energy. If you buy online an eco-friendly gift store then you can buy all your gifts at the one time. They will all be delivered to you together. That is one delivery. Not 20 different trips to the shops to buy bits and pieces here and there. Just one visit to an online store and one delivery of all your Christmas gifts.??

These are just some of the things you can do to have a cleaner, greener Christmas this year. You don’t have to give up the things you love. You just need to make a few small changes and it can make.

Naturally Gifted is a green gifting service offering the widest range of green gifts, eco gifts and Christmas gifts, delivered Australia-wide.

Find More Gifts Articles

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

View the original article here

Showing Your Love by Sending Friendship Greeting Cards this Christmas

Showing Your Love by Sending Friendship Greeting Cards this Christmas

Christmas Day is coming soon. Thought of anything special for your friends? How about showing your love by sending friendship Christmas greetings?

Greeting Cards

For centuries, Greeting Cards have been used as a popular medium for expressing wishes. The ancient Chinese and Egyptian royalties used to send greetings to each other through messages written on papyrus scrolls. In later times, paper was used as the medium to send greetings. The modern greeting card was born in the early 19th century. The development in printing and decoration techniques in the early 20th century led to the production of better greetings cards. Greeting cards began to be sent to express wishes in all popular occasions like

Valentine’s Day

Christmas

Mother’s Day

Father’s Day

Thanksgiving Day

Friendship Day

Friendship Greeting Cards

Friendship Day is a big holiday for young people all over the world. Unlike other popular occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is not a festival. That is why you cannot find a holiday being observed on Friendship Day. But the occasion is very popular with young people. In countries like the US, you can witness the day being observed with much fervor. In schools and college campuses, you can find many youngsters handing friendship bands and greeting cards to each other. The friendship greeting cards are very popular items used to wish ‘Happy Friendship Day’. Showing your love by sending friendship greeting cards is now an inseparable part of Friendship Day celebrations.

Popularity of Friendship Cards

The use of greeting cards for friendship officially began in the middle of the 20th century. This was the time when better card printing and decoration techniques came to being. As a result, greeting cards began to be produced in huge numbers. It became a fashion to send greeting cards to express hearty wishes on all occasions. Friends started to use greeting cards to wish each other. Thus friendship cards were born. With the birth of Friendship Day, people got an official occasion to send greeting cards to friends.

The rise of the internet

The rise of the internet in the 20th century led to increased communication between people. In a way, it made the world smaller. It reduced the distance between people and places. It became possible for people to communicate with loved ones living in other countries. This breakthrough technological innovation brought perfect strangers together. The use of the internet changed the greeting card industry. It led to the birth of online greeting cards or e-cards. Sent through electronic means, these flash or GIF cards include animations or audio clips. You can customize the appearance as well as the texts included in the cards. Friendship e-cards are now a popular medium to send wishes to your friends.

Importance of Friendship greeting cards

Showing your love by sending friendship greeting cards is wonderful. It is a fast and effective way to show your friends that you celebrate your relationship with them. Friendship greetings are also proof of the fact that you care for your friends and want to keep in touch with them. These cards of friendship are often dismissed as items to display affection. But think deeply and you will understand that it is the thought that really matters. It is your feelings that your friends will remember, not the card you send.

For more information please visit our site – http://www.christmascarnivals.com/

More Friendship Articles

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

View the original article here

Bruce Kluger & David Slavin: Christmas Crisis: Santa Laid Off!

"Hi, I'm Santa Claus. No, not some smelly saucehead ringing a bell for the Salvation Army: I'm the Real McKringle. You know, red suit, white beard, massive butt. Guess what? I got FIRED by the mega-corporation that bought my Workshop. So for the first time in 970 years, it seems I've got some time on my hands now. Time to 'spend with my family.' Time to try out some new careers. Time to blog."

Day 9: Dressed to Kill...Myself
Went to Best Buy for a job interview. Thought I had it, too, until they told me I had to wear one of those god-awful blue polo shirts. I told them I'm a winter -- I look good in reds, whites, blacks, that kind of thing. I told them I had my own suit, too, but the asshats wouldn't budge. You be the judge. I think I look like Papa Smurf.

Day 13: Shoot. Me. Now.

Day 15: Crash Test Dummy
Mrs. Claus said I should get a job driving a cab. Can I drive? Yes. A sleigh. Pulled by flying reindeer. In the middle of the night. That doesn't mean I can drive a Crown Vic in the middle of rush hour! But I gave it a shot. (Note to self: check life insurance policy--she's probably upped my coverage again.)

NOW ON SALE!

Twas the Night Before Christmas: 21st Century Edition (Andrews McMeel)
By Bruce Kluger and David Slavin
TwasTheBook Website
TwasTheBook on Facebook
TwasTheBook on Twitter
Sacked Santa (Santa's Unemployment Blog, on Tumblr)

?

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

View the original article here