Another episode....
As more and more team reindeer appear, and our antler lights and flashing harnesses rival a balloon glow, I am amazed at how everyone fits the Holiday Challenge into a season already packed with extras....and yet there is the TRADITION of getting those meters rowed. Rowing the Holiday Challenge gives plenty of time to ponder some of our other traditions, too. The Advent Calendar is one of the traditions of my family, and sometimes those kinds of daily pictures appear here on the forum pages during the Challenge. I usually start looking for a different calendar in the fall, and this year found one that looked like it might add kind of a modern twist to the season. It's one from the UK.
After the first calendar day, it was apparent that this year's calendar was indeed different....not just sugar plums, candy canes and brightly wrapped presents. Yes, the day the frog with the Santa hat appeared as the image of the day...well, I knew I'd been missing out on some Advent calendar updating. Opening the numbered calendar flaps (whose turn is it today?) went from sometimes guessing correctly what the hidden image might be to saying "haven't a clue." Gotta say that yesterday's image was the biggest surprise thus far...
What were those things? Cabbages? Noooooooo....not brussels sprouts! What could possibly be Christmas-sy about brussels sprouts?! So, in the best traditions of Wiki research, I went online to see what was up with this brussels sprouts thing, and was it just a British tradition or European or ? Turns out that there is indeed some tradition to having brussels sprouts as part of the big Christmas feast, and some say that this is because of the availability of these maligned veggies at this time of year, and their frost-worthiness. Now I realize that many, MANY of our teammates might indeed find these little greenies to be tasty. No, these divisive veggies were a battleground in my house...yet now there's a claim by some that hating brussels sprouts could be in my DNA. Scientists working on the Eden project in the UK claim there's a particular mutated gene that decides whether or not we humans will like the taste of sprouts - and that mutated gene is present in only half of the population. The rest of us can't get past the bitter taste of these little hummers (slingshot fodder). Wish this explanation had been around many years ago...I could've tried using scientific fact to save me.
Cupid (aka Jaybird) earns the red harness !
Day 17 or 18 of 33
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Another rower meets the Concept2 donation milestone... and frees a reindeer!
... and we've been down that particular bunny trail just recently with Stephen W.'s reindeer. Mike says he moved his family to Washington ten years ago, but I'll bet the Brit accent is still there! Mike's new location has some pretty amazing scenery and outdoor life with the Columbia and Yakima Rivers nearby. Good hiking and fishing for sure. There's a bike trail network called the Sacagawea Heritage Trail that's a 23 mile blacktop scenic river ride. The historical figure Sacagawea was hired by the explorers Lewis and Clark because she was a Shoshone Indian (she had been kidnapped at a young age by another tribe). Lewis and Clark knew they would need the help of the Shoshone at a point in their explorations, and Sacagawea was to be their interpreter in the negotiations. When Lewis and Clark finally reached the Shoshone, it turned out that the chief they were negotiating with was Sacagawea's brother. Needless to say, it was a more emotional negotiation than could have been predicted. 
Dasher (aka Michelle!) gets antler lights !! Congratulations on earning $8.41 in Concept2 donations AND the Holiday pin !!
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