Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year around the world

[Guest]

.

[Dagfinn]

I would like to see if we can put together a little story from each native tongue here and gather the national phrase for Merry christams & Happy New Year - so I start with my native tongue (and please only your native greetingt and to share a story) :

Norwegian:  God jul og godt nytt år!

My story;  as  8 year old I lived on the west coast (Ørsta) and my parents planned to spend Christmas with family further south.  That meant going by coastal steamer (yes out the fiord and down the coast from early evening and arrive the next morning.  My mother was already in Bergen so my younger brother and I left the house with our father in the middle.  It had started snowing and no people to se outside.  Wherever I looked I saw Christmas cards; houses covered with snow and lit for Christmas, birds eating corn put out in the trees and walking down to the boat in the middle of the road all quiet and snow slowly falling.  I felt so good as peace was everywhere!

God jul og godt nytt år to all my Kiva friends!

Dagfinn A

[alan]

What a lovely thread, Dagfinn!

My story: it was my first Christmas away from family. I had been living in Montreal for three years, but previously had always travelled at Christmas to be with my family. But this year I was going to go on a trip, leaving on December 26th, so it wasn't possible to do both. A family that I had got to know invited me to come and join in their Christmas dinner. I set out by bus to go to their house, waiting for quite a while to catch the first bus because the transit was operating on a reduced schedule. Then I had to transfer to a second bus, and stood for 20 minutes on a windy corner in -25 degree temperatures. When I finally arrived, I was welcomed to the warm house and invited to sit by the fire. It must have taken 20 minutes for me to thaw out! Two or three other guests also came to join the family of 6, and we all joined in the day's visit and cheer "en famille". In the evening we all squished around the table for a lovely meal. The next day I left North America for the first time, off to visit the Soviet Union.

My greeting (French, being in Quebec): Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année à tous!

[carien]

Zalig kerstfeest (zalig for Catholics) en een gelukkig nieuwjaar

My story starts always at the end of November when I chance the house it is like a Christmass shop and then me and one neighbour start to decorate the complete building. After all that work it is so nice to come home from work see the building and home changed everywhere lights. Then Christmas can start always with my brother and his family that's what is Christmas for me. Sorry that my husbands family is so far away.

Zalig kerstfeest en een gelukkig nieuwjaar

to all Kiva Friends

Carien  the language Dutch

[P, B and J]

I can't seem to write a good story at this time but want to send my holiday wishes to everyone.  Most of my childhood Christmases were spent in Quebec, Canada.  Midnight mass, tourtiere (it's not the same as, and much better than meat pie, contrary to what Ontarians think! ), staying up all night (gifts could only be opened after midnight mass), snow, snow, snow and beautiful coloured Christmas lights everywhere.  Since Alan's already taken care of the French season's greetings, and since my mother tongue is English...  Merry, merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

[Alaska Pack]

Although most of you are in the New Year, here in Alaska, we are still in 2009 for just under one hour more,
so I thought I would post this.



HAPPY NEW YEAR

Since many of my relatives and friends are in Hawaii, I thought I would add the following:

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou - Happy New Year. The western Christmas and New Year fell during this same time of the year that the Hawaiians traditionally honored the earth for giving them plenty to eat. This period of resting and feasting was called Makahiki (mah-kah-HEE- kee). It lasted for 4 months, and no wars or conflicts were allowed during this time. Because makahiki also means "year", the Hawaiian phrase for "Happy New Year" became "Hau'oli (happy) Makahiki (year) Hou (new)"(how-OH-lee mah-kah-hee-kee ho).

Wouldn't it be nice to have a 4 month break with no wars or conflicts?

Bernice 

[cjp1973]

With a little over 6 hours left until the end of 2010 the girls are out doing the norwegian version of trick or treating, and we are preparing beef for dinner......yummmm can't wait.  I hope all of you have a wonderful 2011.  I leave you with a bit of Scandinavia!

Charmaine.

[Jan & John]

 love ABBA, thanks Charmaine...



I will raise a glass tonight...
to all the Moderators here at KF...
to our KF/Kiva liason...
to the calendar volunteers...
to all the staff and translators and Kiva Fellows at Kiva...
to all the people who contribute to make this place a positive experience...

and to all the Kiva Friends...
well, perhaps a couple of glasses

Wishing a Happy and Healthy New Year to all, borrowers and lenders alike.
-jan-

[David2051]

Thank you, Jan!  Cheers to you and everyone you mentioned.   

I got this new years wish from my neighbor and thought I would extend it to all of you.  Happy New Year 2011!

New Year's Wishes

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, podiatrist, cardiologist, urologist, ETN,  proctologist, psychiatrist, plumber and the I.R.S.

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure,  triglycerides, cholesterol, white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.

May New Year's Eve find you seated around the table with beloved family and cherished friends. May you find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching, and may your check book and budget balance - and include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, partner, child, parent, siblings; but not to your secretary, nurse, masseuse, hairdresser or  tennis instructor.

And may we live in a world at peace and with the awareness of God's love in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile, every lover's kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.

[JohnAtKiva]

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

It's been an amazing year.  I've emailed and messaged with many of you, and talked on the phone with a bunch of you too.  I even hired someone from KivaFriends!  Well not me, but Kiva Engineering hired nuclearspike after I called him to thank him for his amazing work with the Kiva API.  I was so happy when he mentioned he might be interested in applying for a job... and even happier when he accepted a position!  We actually got a chance to meet in person recently too - my only regret is that we didn't have time to grab a coffee or better yet, a beer.  Nuclearspike, thanks for all your hard work to make Kiva better and more lender-friendly!!

I also want to give a big thanks to everyone on KF for your thoughtful feedback on how Kiva should work... we've really tried to be increasingly responsive, and show you guys that we're really listening.  I want to give a special thanks to the people were so warm and welcoming, both when I first joined Kiva and more recently as well!  You kept me going when I often thought of giving up...  thanks so much for all the PMs, emails and phone calls.

Happy New Year to you all, and I hope your new year is absolutely wonderful!!!

Best,
John