I feel like I might actually be able to do a CSI-style enhance on the cat's eye to pull detail from the street scene reflected in it.

Thankfully he is not trying to sell a kettle on ebay.

Interestingly enough, and in spite of its size, the 100mm is not particularly heavy, especially compared to the 24-70. That, coupled with the IS, makes it realatively easy to keep your hand steady while shooting.


Who is not doing what?

Thanks Bitt. Ok, I get the joke now.

As a matter of fact, I did try hard to take pictures where the reflection in my cats' eyes is somewhat interesting/intelligible, but I guess that's a bit too artistic for a novice like me. No nudity, though.

Oh, and also, he is actually talking about me in the third person as if I was posting on some other forum

Gah. I didn't even know that was a "thing" let alone a thing that had a wikipedia article. Living in the future is scary.

See Internet Rules 34 through 37.

edit: okay... Rules 34-36 are fairly constant, but Rule 37 seems to be list dependent. The gist of it is "there's a furry version."

So Christmas came 4 days early in Italy.

This year my gf and I agreed in having some more relaxed rules when it comes to timing for Xmas presents. It takes away a bit of the "magic", I have to say, so maybe next year we'll go back to traditional Xmas gift opening.

Which brings me to another question wich is well suited for an international forum like this one: those of you who happen to celebtate Xmas and somewhat stick to the tradition of opening gifts on Xmas day, when do you actually do so? On the night of the 24th, or on the monring of the 25th? I belong to the second group, but I found out that there are two schools of tought at least here... I wonder what is the tradition like in the rest of the world?

In Norway it's most common to open them in the evening of the 24th.

Stig

Agreed. This year, we took advantage of some Black Friday deals to do some Christmas shopping for things we need, but are far beyond the price range of Christmas gifts. So I knew what my Christmas present was a long time ago, since it required my assistance in getting it in and out of the truck (or else pay a $60 delivery charge). My wife bought most of her own Christmas gifts... I get to wrap them. Even the one thing I got her without her knowledge (but that she did want), she went out and bought two weeks later. Whee. Totally uninterested in Christmas, this year.


Mostly the 25th, but it has varied. A few years ago, when we were traveling for the holidays, we did our gifts early, so that we wouldn't have to take them with us. My wife's family sometimes does one gift on the night of the 24th, and saves the rest for the 25th.

Here the morning of the 25th is most common -- with family variations. When I was little I knew someone whose family only got to open one present each first thing Christmas morning, and the rest waited until after the morning church service. And I did once hear of a family who made the children wait for presents until after the Queen's Christmas message, i.e. 3.10pm.

Peter

I've done roughly 4-5 variations...

Late night/after dinner of the 24th.
12am of the 25th (continuation of party/dinner of the 24th).
One present on the 24th, rest in the morning of the 25th after waking up.
Your standard North-American-style morning of the 25th before or after breakfast.
Lunch-time of the 25th.

I think we may be doing a combo this year as we're going to be jumping around between family again. For the first time ever though, there are no Christmas decorations of any kind at my own house. No tree, no lights, nothing. It just sort of happened that way due to some recent renovations and then booking a last minute trip from which I just got back late this past weekend.

After spending a week in Jamaica, even with some lights and other decorations around, it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

That's what we used to do, minus the church service. We'd wait until after lunch. We also had Christmas stockings to open first thing, so it wasn't just the one present.

Oh, and TV was banned. Including the Queen's speech. Both VCRs in the house would be working overtime, though...

It's more of a family by family thing in the USA.

In my family, Christmas Dinner was a clan affair with maybe 20-30 gathering for Dinner. Not so much now that the grand parents are gone. They were the tie that bound every one together.

If travel was distant, and we had to leave early, all presents were opened on the Eve.
If just across town, one present was opened on the eve.
Now days, the Dinner is a smaller affair, no travel at all, presents are opened on the day.

I will say that when kids are involved, opening on the day is an excellent incentive for them to get up early.

Hmm... I need a disincentive.

edit: for the kid to get up early, that is...

Ditto. We could open our stockings as soon as we got up on Christmas morning, and play with any un-wrapped gifts we found under the tree (usually puzzles and board games... things that would keep us busy until mom and dad got up). Everything else had to wait until after breakfast.

In Atlantic Canada, our tradition was to open a single gift after supper ("dinner") on Christmas eve (24th), and the rest on Christmas morning (25th).

I now spend the holidays with my in-laws in Toronto, and they tend to wait until the afternoon of the 25th to open everything. Except my sister-in-law (+husband +daughter) opens all of theirs on Christmas eve.

Cheers

In Italy, as I was saying, also depends. Some open it on the night of the 24th (past midnight, in some cases). others, like my family, open them on the 25th, in the morning, which means that when I was a kid I spent the whole Christmas night awake. My sister and I, then, would "wake up" at 5 or 6 am to open the gifts (after waking up my parents as well). In retrospect, it must have been not so nice for them.

Now I spend Christmas eve at my gf's house, where a quite big gathering of relatives are, and presents are open after dinner, all together. very nice. Then, on the morning of the 25th, we get in the car and travel to my parents' house in the mountains, where we open other gifts in a smaller gathering. So, it is a mixture of both.

We always have done one gift on Christmas Eve. Kinda a teaser. Then all the rest on Christmas morning.

... and so Merry Christmas to all