Merry Christmas Hornfans

[Dionysus]

Merry Christmas everyone!
Is this the 25th Christmas here?

Must be. Rob and Katy started Hornfans in January 1999.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

24th Christmas.

The site, to my recollection, was started the day after Ricky and the Horns slaughtered Jackie Sherrill and MSU in the Cotton Bowl. Assuming my rickety old brain is reliable, then Jan 2, 1999.

So the 25th anniversary of HornFans comes in a week, and the 25th Christmas in 365 more days (2024 is a leap year).

 

[Giovanni Jones]

I spent one Xmas in Norway with a friend’s family back in 1998.

My mom's grandparents and great-grandparents were all Swedish immigrants who settled in the Midwest. Mom married a guy of English/Scottish/Welsh descent, and her brothers married gals of German descent. My cousins all married guys/gals of German descent (the next generation of cousins, too), so now my younger cousins with the Swedish surname have less Scandinavian DNA than me. But they maintain the customs (St. Lucia and the hot cross buns) and haul out the Swedish Julbock and the other Scandinavian ornaments.

Swedesburg, IA - Swedish Straw Goat

 

[1sahorn]

My mom's grandparents and great-grandparents were all Swedish immigrants who settled in the Midwest. Mom married a guy of English/Scottish/Welsh descent, and her brothers married gals of German descent. My cousins all married guys/gals of German descent (the next generation of cousins, too), so now my younger cousins with the Swedish surname have less Scandinavian DNA than me. But they maintain the customs (St. Lucia and the hot cross buns) and haul out the Swedish Julbock and the other Scandinavian ornaments.

Swedesburg, IA - Swedish Straw Goat

So you have what, pickled mackerel for Thanksgiving & Xmas dinners.

 

[Dionysus]

The site, to my recollection, was started the day after Ricky and the Horns slaughtered Jackie Sherrill and MSU in the Cotton Bowl. Assuming my rickety old brain is reliable, then Jan 2, 1999.

I think that's right.

If so, then Christmas 1999 was the first Christmas of Hornfans’ existence, making yesterday the 25th Christmas. The 25th anniversary of the site follows the 25th Christmas.

I prefer not to do any more mathing today.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

So you have what, pickled mackerel for Thanksgiving & Xmas dinners.

Pickled herring. I really dislike pickled herring by itself. I also don't particularly like Aquavit either.

But I swear to you, when you put both of those things in your mouth together, it is a flavor revelation. My mother-in-law just sat and smirked to herself the Christmas eve I discovered that combination. She was more than happy to watch me get almost fully shitfaced on Aquavit before I even realized how much I was drinking with that herring. Come Christmas morning the hangover was fierce. The sound of ripping wrapping paper has never been quite so piercing deep in my skull.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

I gotta' do my mathing again. I was off. I blame aggy.

 

[everette]

IIRC, Hornfans was around longer than reported above because I remember all the folks criticizing Coach Mackovic.

 

[Driver 8]

IIRC, Hornfans was around longer than reported above because I remember all the folks criticizing Coach Mackovic.

HF started early 99 as noted above. Mackovic has been criticized off and on ever since.

 

[Giovanni Jones]

So you have what, pickled mackerel for Thanksgiving & Xmas dinners.

The older generations in my mom's family were into the lutefisk and pickled herring. My generation and younger, not so much.

As for my branch of the family, we have our own tradition dating back to the 60-70s:
On Xmas Eve, it's boiled shrimp with cocktail sauce, roasted potatoes, and cocktails.

Xmas day is a brunch with scrambled eggs and pigs-in-blankets, and the main dinner is Swedish meatballs* with rice, crescent rolls, and roasted asparagus.

*for many years I assumed that my mom's SMB recipe was an old family recipe from across the sea. Nope. She got it from the wife of the pastor of a Lutheran church in Long Beach back in the early 60s (and that lady had gotten it out of a women's magazine). So they aren't really authentic SMB, but we call them that anyway.

 

[NJlonghorn]

@Dionysus, I was gruntled to see that your OP included those of us (or maybe just me) who go to a movie and eat Chinese food on Christmas day. Merry Christmas to the rest of you! And Happy New Year to all of us.

While I'm at it, lets extend that to a Happy first 8 days of the New Year!

 

[X Misn Tx]

24th Christmas.

The site, to my recollection, was started the day after Ricky and the Horns slaughtered Jackie Sherrill and MSU in the Cotton Bowl. Assuming my rickety old brain is reliable, then Jan 2, 1999.

So the 25th anniversary of HornFans comes in a week, and the 25th Christmas in 365 more days (2024 is a leap year).

I lived in DC at the time. We had been trying to get back (hence my user name). Moved back in 2000.

 

[WorsterMan]

Wasn't Horns 360 some early factor in HF?

Need a lifeline on that question.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

Wasn't Horns 360 some early factor in HF?

Need a lifeline on 5hat question.

That was an old school (ancient by today's standards) board hosted by the Statesman. Robert and Katy and Longhorn Bob Wheeler put the initial Hornfans website together, and essentially poached the majority of the early posters from that place.