Liana's picture
Liana from Romania and Texas is reading Naked Lunch December 23, 2011 - 2:28pm

Your son doesn't look crooked though, so you did one thing right.

Chester Pane's picture
Chester Pane from Portland, Oregon is reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz December 23, 2011 - 2:38pm

@Avery: Yeah, we are beyond that stage. Plus, the boys already know what is in the boxes. Stupid I-phones. The gift that keeps on taking in the form of monthly bank debits.

@Renee: A gourd, yep. Good eye. Got it in Honolulu.

@Liana: He turned out pretty good, didn't he? Must be thanks to his mother's lovely genes.

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig December 23, 2011 - 3:27pm

I love gourds. is that weird? It's true.

 

Chester Pane's picture
Chester Pane from Portland, Oregon is reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz December 23, 2011 - 4:09pm

My grandmother used to make sculptures with them, like monkeys. They're fascinating vessels.

We put Papillotes in the Santa gourd during the holidays.

Raelyn's picture
Raelyn from California is reading The Liars' Club December 23, 2011 - 8:58pm

My boyfriend and I live in a studio apartment in midtown...it's very small. So this is the biggest Christmas tree we could manage:  

 

This next photo is my parents' tree:

 

 

 

.'s picture
. December 23, 2011 - 10:57pm

@Rae Love the Charley Brown tree. :)

@Avery Not sure how you made the connection but...good job haha.

@Chet That angel is such a tease.

Arkadia's picture
Arkadia from Australia is reading Selected Poems by W.H. Auden December 24, 2011 - 8:08am

That is supposed to say Merry Xmas LR. LitReactor. But apparently I am AWFUL at writing backwards. Check out my sweet backwards-forwards S. I am that good.

I am sad that my Christmas is pretty much over :(

.'s picture
. December 24, 2011 - 12:30pm
I love LR groupies.
Damn I wish I had a camera. A cool pix Nikon perhaps. 
Fylh's picture
Fylh from from from is reading is from is reading is reading is reading reading is reading December 24, 2011 - 3:34pm

We have the best Christmas tree ever.

 

 

Liana's picture
Liana from Romania and Texas is reading Naked Lunch December 24, 2011 - 4:42pm

Really nice pics. How do you upload pics again? I mean, a simple photo. I keep forgetting then it takes me forever to figure it out.

Chester Pane's picture
Chester Pane from Portland, Oregon is reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz December 24, 2011 - 4:54pm

Get a photobucket account if you don't already have one.

Upload your photos.

Go to your album and run your cursor over a photo. 

A window will appear with some choices.

Click on 'direct link'. It will flash 'copied'.

Then go to the comment window on LR.

Click on the 'image' icon.

Paste the link from photobucket. You can resize the image by clicking on the height and/or width window.

Click OK.

Then 'post'.

TwistedPaper's picture
TwistedPaper from Poland is reading "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe & "Seven Wonders" by Adam Christopher December 24, 2011 - 4:57pm

nice psychotic reindeer at fourth photo, Phil ! :D

TwistedPaper's picture
TwistedPaper from Poland is reading "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe & "Seven Wonders" by Adam Christopher December 24, 2011 - 5:15pm

Christmas meeting with friends & suddenly Absinth appears. 70% kicks like hell 

TwistedPaper's picture
TwistedPaper from Poland is reading "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe & "Seven Wonders" by Adam Christopher December 24, 2011 - 5:15pm

.

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. December 24, 2011 - 6:27pm

Chester, is that you?

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. December 24, 2011 - 6:28pm

Nevermind, Chester, I'm stupid.

.'s picture
. December 24, 2011 - 9:47pm

Fnz, where can I buy that from?

Phil, didn't see the top piece, and lets be honest, isn't that the best part?

Arkadia's picture
Arkadia from Australia is reading Selected Poems by W.H. Auden December 24, 2011 - 9:48pm

Dewd, Jack...

everyone needs camera! :-|

TwistedPaper's picture
TwistedPaper from Poland is reading "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe & "Seven Wonders" by Adam Christopher December 25, 2011 - 7:12am

@jacks_  : my friend bought this in Czech Republic. Absinth from original recipe is banned in my country (and as far as I know in most of european countries) but thankfully we've got Czechs so close :) Don't know how it's in US but check the almighty Internet. 

.'s picture
. December 25, 2011 - 10:54am

Nice! I'll try making some in my bathtub or something.

TwistedPaper's picture
TwistedPaper from Poland is reading "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe & "Seven Wonders" by Adam Christopher December 25, 2011 - 11:03am

right next to home-grown ganja and little slaves? :D 

.'s picture
. December 25, 2011 - 11:26am

I'll have to finish drinking the Shine in my tub.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters December 25, 2011 - 11:32am

True Story:

A woman I work with saved a huge trash bag full of Pepsi bottles, and she kept bitching that Rick (a janitor) never took them away.  So, I figured she wanted them recycled or soemthing.  So later Mike (different guy) came in to get the trash and I asked him to take them.  And he did.  So later, she comes over and yells at me because they were not recycling, they were for Rick specifically because he makes his own wine and puts it in old pop bottles.  So I assume Rick is always drunk now.

.'s picture
. December 25, 2011 - 11:46am

She seems like she yells a lot. 

Homemade sour apple wine is pretty awesome. Add a little Everclear and you can sell it 10 bucks a 2 liter to high schoolers. 

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters December 25, 2011 - 11:49am

She does yell a lot.  She is a hateful old woman and i'm happy I don't have to share an office with her anymore. 

Chester Pane's picture
Chester Pane from Portland, Oregon is reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz December 25, 2011 - 5:01pm

@Faz: Absinthe is now legal again in France. There is also a distillery here in Portland that makes it. Though the strength has been reduced from the stuff that was originally outlawed.

Aphrodesiac:

 

 

TwistedPaper's picture
TwistedPaper from Poland is reading "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe & "Seven Wonders" by Adam Christopher December 25, 2011 - 5:22pm

@Chester : thx for the info, another thing to check during trip to France :)

What kind of sauce it is with these clams?

Liana's picture
Liana from Romania and Texas is reading Naked Lunch December 25, 2011 - 5:49pm

One of my favorite foods ever!

Arkadia's picture
Arkadia from Australia is reading Selected Poems by W.H. Auden December 28, 2011 - 10:14am

Ohh man. As a newly 'converted' vegan, oysters are one of the two things I'll miss the most. Other being raw fish in my sushi. But jesus do I love oysters, my mouth is watering right now. Those look particularly delicious.

Joining in the absinthe discussion -- while I'm generally not a fan of anything but wine and beer, I particularly dislike the taste of absinthe (at least, the one I've had). I tried an absinthe-energy drink mix once -- called Green Fairy, I believe? Tasted AWFUL. Something like eight dollars for a small can and I couldn't drink more than a few sips it tasted so bad.

Speaking of green stuff that makes you fall over, I am a fan of chartreuse. I can only liken it to liquid wasabi. Some drizzled down my chin once and the skin that was touched by the liquid burned for five minutes. Scary stuff. But very effective. I think I read somewhere that something called thujone is in both chartreuse and absinthe, some kind of chemical that makes for more potent intoxication and some kind of pyschoactive qualities (curious as to what these are). I thought it was interesting.

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig December 28, 2011 - 10:21am

"Real" Absinthe in the US: Not legal. You are allowed to bring back 1 litre from Holland.

I...um....didn't know that. Or something.

Anyway, I got back several bottles--I just neglected to mention it at customs.

TwistedPaper's picture
TwistedPaper from Poland is reading "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe & "Seven Wonders" by Adam Christopher December 28, 2011 - 11:23am

@Arkadia : I agree - taste is weird, something anise with a barely perceptible mint flavour, but one of traditional ways of drinking it involves pouring Absinth to the glass through burning sugar-cube. It adds nice sweetness.

Flaminia Ferina's picture
Flaminia Ferina from Umbria is reading stuff December 28, 2011 - 11:33am

Beautiful pix all of you!

Cool, absinthe. It's legal here in Italy too. Whenever they hear its name, my friends still point at me, laughing, "You rolled in that puddle, remember?"

Anyways, @Fnz, good idea to use a nutcracker for the sugarcube.

@Chester: food makes always the finest pictures! And what a nice, happy face.

And now my December photo:

I am now officially a reader of the digital era! Got this rather plebeian tablet for xmas. It arrived today and I've spent hours playing with it like a baby nerd.

It's awesome!

Picture is pretty ugly but hey, consider the excitement. Nik Korpon's giveaway e-book will certainly compensate and raise the overall remarkability of this post.

Ho ho ho!

For future reference: I did not roll in the puddle, someone hurled me into it.

Hetch Litman's picture
Hetch Litman from Somewhere in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest is reading The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor December 29, 2011 - 10:10pm

Chrsitmas orders are starting to roll in.

 

Raelyn's picture
Raelyn from California is reading The Liars' Club December 30, 2011 - 3:52pm

I thought this would be appreciated here: 

 

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break December 31, 2011 - 9:24am

Had some LitReactor swag come in the mail yesterday:

Kirk's picture
Admin
Kirk from Pingree Grove, IL is reading The Book Of The New Sun December 31, 2011 - 10:48am

Bam!

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. December 31, 2011 - 5:07pm

I'm guessing the drawing is over then?

Kirk's picture
Admin
Kirk from Pingree Grove, IL is reading The Book Of The New Sun January 1, 2012 - 12:40pm

Yesterday was the last day. I will be picking winners today.

Chester Pane's picture
Chester Pane from Portland, Oregon is reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz January 1, 2012 - 3:40pm

@Renee, real absinthe is now legal in the U.S. and has been since 2008. It had previously been banned in 1915. That ban has been lifted. Like I said, it is even being distilled right here in Portland.

My older son even managed to bring back a bottle from France a few years back. Even though he was only 18 at the time he listed it on his declarations slip and the inspector allowed him to bring it in knowing he was a minor because he said it was for his grandfather. 

Kind of weird, huh?

Chester Pane's picture
Chester Pane from Portland, Oregon is reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz January 1, 2012 - 3:41pm

@Brandon, is that a sticker? Also, do I see a chip on that mug? Were you rough housing with it?

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break January 1, 2012 - 6:45pm

Yep, sticker.  Mug came chipped.  I blame Kirk.