Shri Dattatreya Aarti

Christmas Poems

Now thrice welcome Christmas

Which brings us good cheer,

Minced pies and plum porridge,

Good ale and strong beer;

With pig, goose and capon,

The best that may be,

So well doth the weather

And our stomachs agree.

With holly and ivy,

So green and so gay,

We deck up our houses

As fresh as the day;

With bay and rosemary

And laurel complete;

And everyone now

 Is a king in conceit.

- anonymous, 17^th century

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Christmas catchword

If santa needs a slogan,

I know the one most suited,

Not "Deck the halls" or

"Ho, ho, ho!" but

"Batteries not included!"

-         Sally Palmer

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Light plight

Some are large and red and green,

Some small and crystal clear,

Some flash and others twinkle,

Styles change from year to year.

But when it comes to tree lights,

Old-fashioned or newfangled,

My favourite lights will always be

The ones that are untangled!

-    Jill H.Walker

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Card tricks

My Christmas cards upon the mantel

Call dominoes to mind:

Those I’m placing in the foreground

Knock down the ones behind!

-   Rosemarie Williamson

How to make Quick and Easy Christmas Foods at home

The month of December means it is time for Christmas – and some yummy Christmas foods! Here are quick and easy simple Christmas Recipes to make at home:

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

1. Cinnamon rolls

Ingredients

1 loaf - frozen bread dough , thawed

2/3^rd cups - brown sugar

4 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3^rd cup heavy cream

2/3^rd  cup powdered sugar(sifted)

1 tablespoon milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup chopped walnut or pecans

How to Make

1. The dough has to be rolled into a rectangle shape. Then brush it with the melted butter.

2. Mix cinnamon, chopped nuts and sugar in a bowl and add the dough over it.

3. Roll the dough into the shape of a log. Seal the edges of the log with a little water.

4. Cut the rolled-up log into slices.

5. Take a cake pan, lightly butter it, and place the slices on it. Keep aside for about 1 ½ hours at room temperature, so that the dough rises to double its size.

6. Pour the heavy cream over the rolls and bake at 350F (180C) for about 25-30mins.

7. Mix the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and the milk and drizzle over the rolls during the final 5 minutes of baking.

Recipe Courtesy: http://www.christmasiscoming.co.uk/Easy_Cinnamon_Rolls.html

2. Crisp Cookies

Ingredients

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup shortening

1 egg

1tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cream of tartar

Water for dipping

How to Make

1. Mix the cream shortening, both the sugars, vanilla and egg in a bowl.

2. Add all the dry ingredients and roll into small balls.

3. Dip the tops first in water, then in sugar.

4. Place in baking pan, with sugar side up. Slightly dent the top of each with a finger.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

6. Keep aside for a while on a cooling rack until cool.

7. If not eating right away, store in an air tight container.

 See more Recipes of Cookies

  

3. Apple Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups of apples (cut coarsely) or applesauce  

How to Make

1. First mix eggs, sugar and vegetable oil in a bowl.

2. Add remaining ingredients and mix.

3. Slightly grease and flour 2 small loaf pans.

4. Pour the prepared mixture into the pans.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 90 minutes.

Bread Recipes for Christmas 

Where to buy sports bikes and accessories in Mumbai Maharashtra

Cycling enthusiasts will be happy to know that there is a great new biking studio in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Buy bicycle parts and accessories for your snazzy bikes from Pro 9 Bicycle Studio - Da Bike Zone. What's more, you can get a customised bicycle as per your specifications! There are also 2 types of bikes available at Pro 9 Bicycle Studio: the US Rock Machine and the Audi bicycle from Spain. Both these come with a lifetime warranty.

Bicycle Products and Accessories at Pro 9 Bicycle Studio Mumbai
* Bicycle frames
* Bicycle tyres
* Bicycle brakes
* Bicycle gears
* Bicycle lights for night riding
* Bicycle bags
* Bicycle accessories, such as navigators

Services offered at Pro 9 Bicycle Studio Mumbai
* Customisation of your bicycle (even one bought from another store), such as a new frame in a colour option of your liking. Price range for customisation of bicyles: Rs.5,000/- to Rs.50,000/- depending on specifications required.
* You can rent a bicycle from the Pro 9 Bicycle Studio for a week and test-ride it. This rental scheme is a collaboration with Kohinoor cycle rentals. Customers can rent a bike of their choice to check it out before buying it. Price range of bicycles: Rs.15,000/- to Rs.7 lakh.

Address of Pro 9 Bicycle Studio Mumbai: Off Carter Road, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050
Phone Number of Pro 9 Bicycle Studio Mumbai: 097 69712311
Timings: Mon-Thu, Sat-Sun 10am-9pm; Fri 2pm-9pm

Thunder 70 Rock Machine

Typhoon 70 Rock Machine

Click here for more Photos and Features of US Rock Machine bikes

Top 3 ways to send a letter to Santa Claus

Ever wondered how to send a letter to Santa Claus or how to contact Santa Claus?

Yes, Santa Claus does accept and reply to your mails - not just postal letters, but emails too!

Don't believe in Santa Claus? You got to be kidding! Read this: Is there a Santa Claus?

Here are the best three ways to send a letter to Santa Claus:

1. How to send a letter to Santa Claus through the Canada Post Office:
(a) Click here to send Email letter to Santa Claus through Canada Post

(b) Write a letter to Santa Claus at this address (do not enclose cookies or any gift):
Santa Claus HOH OHO
North Pole
[remember to send your return address!]
Design and print your own Santa Claus letter notepaper

2. How to send a letter to Santa Claus through the Official Santa Mail Website:
(a) Email address of Santa Claus: Northpole@officialsantamail.com

(b) Write a letter to Santa Claus:
* For Children on the European Continent: 
Santa Claus, Santa Claus Village, FIN-96930 Arctic Circle, Finland.
* For Children on the Americas Continent
Santa Claus - Santa Claus Village - North Pole, Alaska 99705

(c) You can even phone Santa Claus!
Kids would just love to talk to Santa on the phone. So surprise them and let them have an extra merry Christmas! 
Find out how to call Santa Claus on the phone

3. How to send a letter to Santa Claus through the North Pole website:
The Northpole website is a lovely website which has fun activities for both kids and adults. Kids can even  send an email letter to Santa Claus, choosing a gift from the images, and typing a special message for Santa too.
Send email to Santa Claus North Pole

Is there a Santa Claus

There are many, many children (and adults!) who will ask the oft-repeated query "Do you believe in Santa Claus?" or "Is Santa Clause real?"

During my childhood, I subscribed to a childrens magazine called Childrens World. As I outgrew childhood and then my teenage years, we started disposing off old issues of this magazine. However, I loved some of the stories so much that I made a little collection and had them bound together into 1 book. Very unfortunately, one of my best-loved stories with the title "Is there a Santa Claus?" had torn pages so I could not put it in that book. Today, when posting this very first blog on Christmas, I decided to use the wonders of the Internet to find that story. Yes! I found it! It was in an editorial of the New York Sun published on September 12th, 1897 and reprinted in subsequent years.

Here is that very extraordinary story which touched my heart...and will surely touch yours too.

The New York Sun, September 12th 1897
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West Ninety Fifth Street

The Editor's reply: Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.

We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

--

You can see the image of the above article here:  Newseum

Virginia O'Hanlon, the 8-year girl who sent of the query on Santa Claus, took up a career as a schoolteacher. She died in 1971. Read about her here: Virginia O'Hanlon Biography. It mentions the name of the Editor who answered Virginia's query - Francis Church.

Virginia's childhood home was bought by the Studio School along with the adjacent building in 2003. If I am not wrong, this is the present school: The Studio School

Do I believe in Santa Claus? Yes, I do - and in God, fairies, elves and angels too. Really.

Want to send or call up Santa Claus?
Find out the best way to send a letter to Santa Claus

Names and Tenures of Chief Ministers of Maharashtra

This is a list of first 16 Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and the terms of Chief Ministers of Maharashtra as well as the political parties of the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra.