Posted on 12/24/2007 6:16:40 PM PST by WesternCulture
Merry Christmas,,from South Alabama
God Jul och Gott Nytt År!
Greetings to you and your family, to all of Texas and all of America!
I’ll think of you next time I enjoy a Lone Star (yes, you can actually get them here in Sweden!)
I have been on the brewery tour (it is in my home town). If you can find it, try a Shiner Bock. Their Dunkelweizen is rather good in the winter.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, ONE AND ALL
Merry Christmas!
Thank you for these words, Fellow Freeper!
Your grandmother was a brave woman.
She was not the only European who took part in making the US the great nation that it is today, but that doesn’t make her less of an heroine.
There are certain bonds that never will break. Sweden and USA have a special relation that belongs to eternity.
This goes for all of Europe’s very special ties to USA.
Americans and Europeans are more than friends, we are brothers and sisters. Although we sometimes disagree, nothing will ever turn this around.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, W.Civ. I guess that Stockholm doesn’t resemble Venice so much this time of the year, must be a winter wonderland, I guess.
From sunny Central Florida.
Through the generations they flipped flopped from speaking whatever language they'd arrived with to German to French to English and back to German ~ lucky we could spell their names although most of them end up having been reported under a variety of spellings.
So when folks started having "mystery diseases", and the internet was invented, I was able to track them down by their genes.
That's where I ran into numerous Scandinavians of every variety and that vast peninsula to the North of Europe became, in my mind, not a blur of blue-eyed blonds with bland, Socialist politics, but a remnant, instead, of what served as a place to which Europeans from every country and Scots migrated in the 1500s and 1600s for religious liberty and to make a buck or two.
After several years of research I'm pretty near to fitting things to gether to bring yet another tribe out of the darkness of a murky history much as Joseph Winchester recovered his own folks, the Michigan Kickapoo decades ago.
He told me this was very difficult work and there'd be little thanks for it, but in these modern times there was no excuse for leaving the record blank.
To Sweden; Merry Christmas, for you have far more reindeer than we do.
Merry Christmas, for EKA knives that I rely on daily.
Merry Christmas, for we have no snow (or rain) here in Georgia.
Merry Christmas, for Swedish meatballs. God bless you for those.
Merry Christmas, because the Lord is the same for all of us. May His blessings be with you in the coming year.
“I have been on the brewery tour (it is in my home town). If you can find it, try a Shiner Bock. Their Dunkelweizen is rather good in the winter.”
- Today, the only Lone Star product you can find where I live is the ordinary beer/lager, but I guess things will improve.
I, a lot of my friends and also several other beer lovers here in Sweden have discovered that USA brews a lot of decent beers.
Keep up the good work.
Skål!
Thank you...and a blessed Christmas to you, too. It’s three hours until Christmas Day here in Texas. Our son was home from Dallas for our church service tonight, and I’m enjoying listening to him and his dad visiting over pepper cheese, chips and beer. Our other children will be here with the grandchildren after they open their goodies in the morning at home. Yes, God is so merciful and does give His children an abundant life.
Have a healthy and prosperous New Year!
That was a very thougtful post. Thank you and Merry Christmas from Albany, New York. Cheers, Europe!!
And a Merry Christmas to you WesternCulture.
Your writing is excellent and inspiring.
Those who think relations with Europe are bad now weren’t watching when Ronald Reagan was the US President and it seemed like all of Europe took to the streets to oppose his plan to “consign the Soviet Union to the dustbin of history”. If there’s any reason I think most Europeans are Socialists (other than marrying a European Socialist who has been deprogrammed) it was their adamant desire for the Soviet Union to prevail in the 1980’s.
WOW! Nice to be appreciated. Thanks for the “thanks”. We, as individuals, are lucky enough to have a choice to give what we can. It’s nice to see it make a difference!
Merry Christmas from Kuwait!! to hope someday we have freedom of religion not only Freedom of Worship....
Merry Christmas to our European friends! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! Etc., etc...:-)
First of all, what you say is an example of the uniqueness of Western Civilization, the capacity for self-reflexion and self-criticism. I lived in Germany for 3 years and I found the German self-denigration, self-flagellation and the lack of a healthy German patriotism to be disturbing. I don't know, is the rest of Europe different? I've followed the discussion concerning Vlams Beland and Sverigedemokraten on Little Green Footballs. Both of these groups are supportive of their nations, but carry it too far into a hatred of others.
I've come to believe, the US is blessed with a healthy patriotism, pride of country and love of America, that doesn't include denigration of others and remains open to all. Anyone can become an American. Race, creed, national origin, religion do not exclude anyone. Accept the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, love America, obey the law and you're in.
No other nation has this capacity. You'll always be judged by your origin, your color or your religion. It doesn't matter, how long you're there, you and your children will be judged. Could I become a Swede, equal to other Swedes?
I always knew that the unhealthy German attitude toward their own country would express itself in unhealthy ways. German self-loathing would flip into an over-bearing nationalism, like the neo-Nazis or continue into a disolving of Germany and surrender to a foreign culture. German culture is a great culture and one of the few cultures in the world that has produced invention, creativity, progress and worldwide influence. World War I created a situation that was catastrophic for most of Europe. In Germany, the reaction lead to Nazism. In other parts, we saw Communism, Fascism, and milder forms of societal breakdown.
It wasn't unique to Germany. And Germany doesn't have unique guilt. But many in Germany demand a unique guilt. They are uniquely guilty in history. This is insanity and produces social dislocations.
Good Gosh...that was a wonderful post.
And a very, Merry Christmas to all of you over there!
Merry Christmas.
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