From our family to yours, a very Merry Christmas.
Tag: christmas
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Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. -
If you’ve never seen a Christmas pyramid before, or sometimes called a Christmas carousel, then here is your first glance. They’re very cool. It’s essentially a scene, usually nativity, that’s set on a rotating platform. There is a rod that goes up through the pyramid and connects to vanes that sit above the scene. Small candles are placed around the edges and lit, and the heat from them makes the vanes turn, which in turn moves the scene. This one is my father-in-law’s. He’s had it for nearly forty years. But you can get your own if you want to spend the money. -
Santa came to the local paint your own pottery place to say hello to all the kiddies. -
In honor of the warmest March 9 in Boston’s history, I bring you a picture of a Christmas light.Well, sort of.
Today was in fact historic for Boston weather, as the temperature hit 75 degrees today. Which is fine by me. We’ve been fairly fortunate this winter, having not had a lot of snow. Then again, given last winter and the winter before that, we were kind of owed a milder winter. And with today’s temps, we’re starting to feel like maybe spring really is right around the corner.
One of the ways we decided to survive this winter was to embrace a Norwegian concept called koselig. It loosely translates as “cozy”. It basically involves making your home as warm and friendly as possible. This can cover a lot of ground. From extra blankets to candles, from warm slippers to wine, from friends over for dinner to fireplaces. One of the many ideas is to have as much warm light as possible. Makes sense if you think about it. Norway is pretty far to the north, and the days get super-short up there. So more light is a great way to ward off the long dark nights.
This year, in an attempt to survive another long New England winter, I strung white Christmas lights around the ceiling of the downstairs. I also hung a string of the “icicle” lights in the front window. The effect has been noticeable for us this year, making the downstairs feel a little more magical than in years past.
So today, in honor of the coming end of winter (and hopefully we’ll avoid any late season snowstorms that we’re prone to), and in anticipation of the coming spring, I’m offering up a close-up shot of one of the lights.
Taken with the Ztylus macro lens, cropped in Snapseed.
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Have yourselves a merry little Christmas, everyone.
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I was having a discussion with a coworker today about the Elf On The Shelf. I hate that thing. Seriously. Hate. It. And let me tell you why.
First, let’s start with some history. The Elf On The Shelf is based on a book that was written by Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell, a mother and her daughter. Back in 2004, if Wikipedia is to be believed, it was conceived by mother and daughter over a cup of coffee to provide a backstory for their own holiday tradition. Apparently they had their own version of the Elf On The Shelf that “moved” around and reported back to Santa the goings-on of the children in the house. Once the book was published, the toy was introduced as an additional product, followed by a TV special, etc, etc.
There are two reasons I loathe this thing.
The first is ideological. I find the idea of a “purchased” folk tale character incredibly crass. Here we have capitalism at its most noisome. You can walk into any Target or Toys R Us in America and buy the elf for $30. What do you get for your $30? Along with the book, you buy a fairy tale creature that magically comes to life the moment the cellophane comes off. Suddenly the elf is watching you and flying home to Santa nightly to report your foibles. This “magic” has been introduced to countless children who delight at the idea that they might have some sort of direct line to Santa. Never mind the obvious questions that children are too young to conceptualize. Questions like: how does the elf end up in the cellophane in the first place? What’s he living off of while under wraps? What happens to the leftover elves that stores don’t sell? A fairy glue factory? And of course, the incredibly cynical side of me is asking darker questions like: does Santa get a cut of the profits of each elfin sale? With each transaction, given that Santa is selling his own factory workers, is he the single largest and most egregious plantation owner of all time?
The second reason I don’t like this thing is cause it’s Just. Frickin. Scary. Hey, look kids, here’s a little creature that’s watching you ALL THE TIME and during the night MOVES AROUND THE HOUSE. If I brought that kind of mythos into my house my kids would never sleep again. “What if it comes up the stairs? What of it comes in my room?? What if it’s an EVIL ELF???”
I’m like Charlie Brown. I find Christmas to be an incredible commercial enterprise that has moved, and continues to move, further and further away from the heart of the season. But, for me, the Elf On The Shelf sets a new low. Apologies to you have one and if your family loves it. But it will never–I mean NEVER–find its way into my house.
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My weekend was busy. In fairness, with two kids and the associated kid activities, my weekends are always busy. But when you throw the holidays into the mix, things get downright crazy.
But, despite having little to no time to sit down and just take a deep breath, the weekend was pretty good. We got the tree up this weekend and started putting up some decorations. My younger daughter was so desperate to get the tree decorated that she started plowing into the box of decorations before I could finish separating them out. And separated they needed to be. One pile for one girl, one pile for the other, then the collective pile that was fair game for both, and lastly, the heavy and fragile stuff that only the mommy and daddy were allowed to touch. That mostly worked…
Still, no ornaments were hurt in the making of this tree.
Bonus for me, I got in a really good run on Sunday, which was sorely needed. I was a very grumpy man on Sunday, mainly because there was so much going on and I had control of maybe ten percent of it. When I feel like things are a little out of my reach, i.e. kids yelling at each other, daughter number two digging through fragile ornaments, watching the clock to see if I’d actually have time for a run before starting dinner–it was just a little bit of everything closing in.
So I put on my (new) running shoes and out the door I went. As I was leaving, the girls decided to put in Shrek The Halls. I think perhaps in was in my honor…
And then I ran. Five miles, nice easy pace, and just absorbing the stark beauty of the waning day. The storm that was beating the crap out of the mid-Atlantic was headed our way, and the sky was clouding over nicely. I actually stopped and took some pictures of the sky that didn’t turn out sucky.
So passes another weekend in a blur of motion as we rocket toward Christmas. I’m actually looking forward to Christmas this year, because it means a ten day vacation for me. I’m hoping that will translate to some rest.
Hope springs eternal.
Scott Lyerly 