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Christmas comes but once a year

Christmas might only come just once a year but I could have sworn we only had the last one yesterday, seemingly.

So once again – just as we did ‘yesterday’ – we take the opportunity to wish all our readers, authors, subscribers and admin team a safe and happy Christmas.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, may peace and goodwill be with you and your loved ones.

Now, go wrap those presents and put them under the tree! Santa needs your help!

 

24 comments

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  1. Faye Cox

    Thank-you to all those contribute to AIM.

  2. Kaye Lee

    I would also like to offer my thanks and best wishes to the AIMN family. We may not always agree but I learn a great deal from you all. Peace be with you.

  3. David

    I reciprocate whole heartedly, I wont be home with my family but have a few plans, so all will be well. Seasons greetings to everyone and thankyou for allowing me to be a member of this excellent discussion group.
    I look forward to taking the fight to the Torys in the New Year
    Cheers everyone

  4. Michael Taylor

    What Kaye Lee said. She speaks for me too.

  5. Sen Nearly Ile

    the presents are wrapped the garlic and rosemary is into the lamb and I have a glass of galway pipe in my left hand.
    Pipe of peace is warming and the wet wind is chilling, port completes the trilogy so having just finished santa’s mince pie and milk, I shall sleep like a log and hope you all suffer this nirvana as well.

  6. Ricardo29

    Steady rain in Darwin, presents wrapped and ready to go. Just baked the Christmas dessert, a Maggie Beer bread and butter pudding with panforte, and now glass of red by my side. From a newbie who only came to AIMN this year, thanks to all for the thoughtful contributions, the sage advice and the very funny and creative words and phrases (clauses even) of disparagement of those who need it. Kaye Lee, your contributions stand out for me, not only for the logic you bring to your arguments but your ability to Marshall the facts while remaining readable. I will always appreciate your self deprecatory description of a middle aged woman in jim jams sitting at your computer. Long may your typing fingers, and your mind, stay supple. But to all contributors, thanks for making these my must reads of the day.

  7. Roswell

    Merry Christmas, one and all. And I’m sure that people are very busy wrapping all my presents.

  8. Kaye Lee

    I have to make a confession….

    Both of my children are travelling this year so I gave them holiday money before they left. I have put up no decorations, sent no christmas cards, bought no presents, and have no-one coming over tomorrow. I will visit my mother and in-laws tomorrow (all of whom are in their 90s). I am giving money to charity in lieu of presents to my multitudinous nieces and nephews.

    Gawd it’s liberating 🙂

  9. mmc1949

    Thanks to all at AIMN … Christmas greetings to you all.
    Thanks and best wishes also to all who have made thoughtful comments.
    You are all bright stars in an otherwise dark firmament.

  10. RosemaryJ36

    Thank you to all those who contribute in articles and comments. It makes for a thought provoming mental exercise and exorcises a few demons on the way.
    I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

  11. Garth

    Thank you AIMN! In a country I thought I once knew you give me hope that we’ll have it back again. You have no idea the lift your site and articles provide just when I’m despairing the most about where we are headed.
    Best wishes to all the contributors and readers. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that we all have a 2016 we can smile about.

  12. stephentardrew

    Another year of excellent articles. My presence has been limited because of other commitment however I read articles and as usual learn heaps. Thank you all once again team it is much appreciated.

  13. Kaye Lee

    It is always a good idea to check on reports being released around Christmas because you know they want to hide them. Australia’s Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory to June 2015 was published on Christmas Eve.

    According to the report, total Annual emissions for 2014-15 are estimated to be 537.0 Mt CO2-e, which is an 0.8% increase in emissions when compared with the previous year (excluding land use change emissions). If you include emissions from land use clearing and deforrestation, then our emissions increased by 1.3 per cent.

    The unadjusted emissions by sector table shows that electricity emissions, the largest sector by far for Australia’s total emissions, jumped 3 per cent in comparing the 2013-14 year to 2014-15 year. Ploughing a bit deeper into the report reveals that “generation from black coal increasing 1.4%, brown coal increasing by 9.7%, and from wind and other renewables (excluding small-scale solar) increasing 12.2% when compared with the previous twelve months.” Over the same period Gas generation decreased by 6.2% and hydroelectric power was also down by 30.3%.

    Burying the bad news at Christmas: Greenhouse Gas emissions rising reports @takvera #Auspol

  14. Terry2

    All the best to the AIMN family for Christmas and for a safe and healthy new year.

    We have made a contribution to the shape of the Australian polity in 2015 and we should never underestimate the influence a few reasoned voices can have on our national dialogue.

    In 2016 it is my fervent hope that we can bring pressure to bear and finally do something for those imprisoned without trial, particularly those on Manus and Nauru Islands and that these appalling prison camps can be finally and permanently closed.

    All the best, folks.

  15. hilderombout

    Kaye Lee, i envy you, no presents, no visitors and no cards this year. Cards i have not been writing for many many years, presents i only buy for my grandkids, though the parents can have a box of chocolates for their trouble. But i will get visitors and am just having a break from cooking and baking. And with temperatures around the middle of the thirties expected, i wish the day had passed. Got up at 4 am to start preparing the meal and water my veggie garden. Not really complaining though but already exhausted before the “fun” starts (must be old age, though 70 is not considered to be that old these days). However, i appreciate that i can still have a look at AIMN and like the other responders here, i am grateful for this site and the sanity it provides. Thank you all for your contributions throughout the year and wishing you all an enjoyable Christmas and the very best wishes for 2016.

  16. mark

    wish all a merry christmas and a happy new year.mark.

  17. Matthew Oborne

    As I look at the mini las vegas light show in my lounge room I am reminded of the meaning of this season. I hope you all have a great day and spend time with family as we celebrate the birth of the iphone or something like that.

    Merry Christmas
    and lets Hope next year is a bigger and even better year for Aimn.
    after all it is an election year.
    Cheers.

  18. kerri

    Thank you Michael and all AIMN contributors for keeping some hope in Australian life.
    Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

  19. diannaart

    Thank you, Universe, for communities such as AIMN – a rational oasis in a world where wealth trumps (is there another word for ‘trump’?) reason.

    May the force be with everyone and a big thank you to all.

    Cheers

    Dianna

  20. Ruth L

    AIMS introduces a little bit of sanity into my world.
    Instead of buying Xmas cards I bought some of the Salvation Army ‘gift cards’ which hopefully may help ‘someone’.
    Aren’t I the lucky one to still be alive and able to read Kaye Lee.

  21. Bronte ALLAN

    My thanks to all in the AIMN “crew” for another excellent year of very thought provoking & often wryly humerous articles! Please keep the “flag” flying in 2016 & beyond! Well done & Best Wishes to you all, for a very Merry Christmas & an especially healthy, happy & prosperous New Year. May you all never lose the “fight” to publish what you all sincerely believe in & keep us up to date also!

  22. Kaye Lee

    Writing for the AIMN is like inviting a whole heap of interesting people over for a dinner party without having to shop, cook or clean (or get out of your jammies). Dinner parties are no fun on your own. I thank you and my family thanks you – they can only listen to so much of my ranting.

    I hope everyone has had a happy peaceful day and has had a chance to remember what is actually important in this life.

  23. Michael Taylor

    Carol and I had a quiet day at home, thanks Kaye. We had other plans but things got in the way. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful chance to spend a great day with the most important person in your life.

  24. Michael Taylor

    BTW readers, tomorrow we begin a six-part series that asks the question “is Charles fit to be our King?” Here’s a spoiler alert: the answer is NO.

    It’s a brilliant MUST READ series.

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