New blog posts 18th - 24th dec. The Christmas edition!

[DillyTinsel]

Come one come all! Join in with bloggy chat and post your latest blog links.

Hello hello! My daughter is 10 today -- so I've been blogging about
These are the things I didn't know 10 years ago

Why were adopters so cross after watching 'The Truth About Adoption', the Panorama programme shown on BBC 1 last week?

Here's some of the reasons why

www.sallydonovan.net/2011/12/20/the-truth-about-adoption-panorama-bbc-1/

Today's rant is about the quite frankly shocking revelations abou tthe tax that big businesses just aren't paying

Didn't see the documentary Sally but it doesn't sound like a balanced investigation. I can't even begin to understand what you have gone through. Thankfully with the Internet you can hopefully find plenty of people who do understand.

What I am surprised about reading some of these blogs, mainly MmeLindor's and LittleMe, is how much of an interest as expats you both take in uk news, politics, finances etc. Is it that you will eventually return to the uk? Do you have the same passion about your local politics? I'm just surprised when it must affect you so little. I'd have expected things to be a bit "out of site, out of mind". Reading your blogs you wouldn't necessarily realise straight away that you were expats.

Do you miss the uk and will you ever return? Interested to know how the other expats feel too.

Hello all and Merry Christmas in advance, as I doubt I'll find much time to blog between now and then!

a list of the things making me grumpy today.

Hm, I think I'd better blog again before Christmas - can't leave it on such a negative vibe!

I'm feeling so inspired by lots of your crafty and creative efforts - food, flavoured vodka, crochet...everything! It's making me determined I must try to take up something craft-related in the new year! Crochet or knitting, or just a bit more baking perhaps...

Hi Dilly. Yes, I do take as much interest in the French side of things too, but don't blog about it as much because most people who read won't know what I am going on about and will care even less. I have blogged about major French political things though from time to time. However it has always been interesting for me to watch developments in the UK from a distance. I also spend a lot of time on the phone with people in the UK - both family/friends and through work, so it is important to keep up with what is going on and to be able to discuss it with them.

No, I don't miss the UK and do not plan to return, for very many reasons. In fact I may well be taking on French nationality in the next couple of years, having spent almost all my adult life over here I'm not sure how things work over there anymore, and always feel a bit lost when I do go to the UK (as rarely as possible).

ScatCat I've just commented on your article, fantastic! I'm hungry now

Posted this morning about last night's mince pie making session

I'm wishing I could be as erudite as some of the other bloggers on this thread about issues in the UK - I'm more of a read and learn type person than a poster of opinions on current affairs, it's good to see things from all points of view.

Coffee mummy... Like your post. Have commented! Just like our house!

Having major trouble getting spare time to construct a decent blog post this week, but vow to get another one in before the big day..... Fingers crossed.

Sorry if this isn't Christmassy, but it's been on my mind a lot lately, so just had to write about it here livingwithmomscancer.blogspot.com/

It seems cancer is always in the news. Survivor stories are always a great read, but not always what I want to hear. In this blog post, I ask why heart disease doesn't get as much headline time - is it because it's seen as on old man's disease?

Happy Christmas everyone! Looking forward to 2012.

Lesley x.
@Shackleford_LB

ShacklefordLB interesting post. I think one of the reasons is often because cancer can happen to any part of you and there's no way of knowing which, iyswim.

On a separate note, can I ask how you put that follow on twitter button on your blog? I want one.

A couple more from Camel's Hump:

Festive Flapjacks
Happy Winterval Everybody!

That last one is by me - bit nervous about it, as I purposefully offend racists in it to make a point, but, ah, fuck 'em.

Coffeemummy I really recommend crochet as a hobby. I love it.

I've recently started getting a lot of hits from google images, although I can't tell which ones. Is the anything I can do to capitalise on it and up my hits? They are fairly recent, though I haven't done anything different which might have encouraged them.

Scary Santa is our christmas post this week !

I have blogged perhaps controversially about

\link{http://attheheartoftheopinion.blogspot.com/2011/12/false-sense-of-anonymity-behind.html\the false sense of anonymity behind usernames}

I've been lurking on this week's thread and keeping up with people's posts - have helped cheer me up while being comedy busy with work. My latest post is how thinking about Christmas traditions has gotten me out of my grinch-like mood

Dilly I also wonder that about Petite & MmeLindor and other expats who blog on UK current affairs - I marvel at their ability to stay engaged with UK politics when living abroad! I'm an expat from Ireland and moved when I was 16 to study and have never been back to live (am now 34) and, even though my family still live there and we visit often, I've always been quite disengaged from Irish politics. But my family take a very Irish view of politics, with the whole not discussing politics or religion, as well as closely maintaining the confidentiality of who we all vote for (I was shocked on moving to the UK at 19 at how people came from Labour or Tory families or whatever - I still don't know how my mum votes!) so that may help explain it...We're thinking about moving from the UK to the US next year and I'll probably lose my interest in UK politics if we do move .

Right, off to catch up on the latest posts

Hey. I guess you have to be an expat AND be really interested in politics. I need small talk for work and enjoy politics and studied the media albeit only to a level. I'd love to craft or be a food blogger (though my stuffed mushrooms do rock i don't aspire to be an expert like scatcat) my passion is politics, words, psychology. So that's what i end up talking about. That's why all the blogs on here are so different and interesting. We're all different and those of us who talk about similar stuff come at things from different angles. I'll shut up now.

Thing is I'm a super opinionated political (well, left wing) person in RL and work in the media, where I'm surrounded by journalists and professional opinion givers...which probably explains why I can't blog about it I guess. My blog is a break from it all! I really enjoy your blog petite as you're funny and thoughtful and give a great angle on current news with life observations thrown in. It's become one of my daily blog stops

scat you've given me such an insight into how much effort good food bloggers put in, gives me a new found respect for food blogging! I definitely never appreciated the effort that goes into the recipes i've found on th web...

Right must stop procrastinating and finish wrapping Christmas presents!

Thank you. I guess my excuse is that i also work in a very opinionated enviroent which goes very much against my true beliefs. Which is a) why i release my real beliefs via my blog and b) why i'm trying to set up sth else. Escape the rat race, so to speak.

Hello, I haven't been around for lately but will catch up with the Christmas posts shortly.

I've just published our winter nature table photos I've also recently attempted a first (and likely last) Christmas-themed recipe post (Debby's Jumbles).

Baroness, Lowimpactmama, thank you very much. Yeah, its hard work, but I seem to be getting some other work from it, so it works for me.

I am teaching a few Indian food classes, plus I've been asked to develop a few recipes for magazines and the like. Hopefully it'll start paying a little more than pin money soon.

The Roof is Leaking

Updated my advent activities/countdown to Christmas post and have also added another of a similar vein

I've also got one waiting to be published, but it shows a present I've made for a friend's DD, and the friend checks my blog every now and then, so I can only publish it once I've given her DD the present! :)