Mementos of this year’s visit to the most spectacular Christmas spectacle ever – in our neck of the woods, anyway. This truly is a local institution – according to their website (the picture to the right is a link), their first Christmas was in 1964, the same year as my first Christmas. They’ve got a photo archive through 2005, so you can see how the display has evolved over the years – well, “grown” is […]
In honor of the season, these come from my “Christmas” playlist. “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey (A mildly guilty pleasure, this one, but fun)“White Christmas,” Bing Crosby (As far as Tall Paul’s concerned, no one else ever needs to record this song)“Holly Jolly Christmas,” Burl Ives (One of my top favorite holiday songs! It’s just so cheery.)“The Nutcracker Suite,” The Brian Setzer Orchestra (Not the version from your ballet class…)“Winter Wonderland,” […]
Suzanne made a little goof in her daily DearReader.com letter on Tuesday 12/17, and I wonder if this is a common misperception: This morning, first thing when I woke up, the realization hit me–Christmas is almost here–should have started singing The Twelve Days of Christmas four days ago, because there are only eight days left. No, Suzanne, you’re fine. But the confusion is understandable, I guess, in a time and place where signs of Christmas […]
Christmas is just days away, Hanukkah is over…we’re smack-dab in the midst of “the holidays” pretty much everywhere, including at work. Office holiday parties are sometimes more of a source of anxiety than a cause for celebration – and in my experience, so does their less-discussed relative, the office gift exchange. Unless you call a staff meeting to outline gift-giving ground rules – which rarely happens, in my experience – or your office has a […]
The Cavalcade of Bad Nativities (see below)* has inspired me to contribute my own favorite bit of Christmas wackiness. I took these pictures last year at a house in town – not in my neighborhood, thankfully! – and they really don’t do full justice to a display that puts the “spectacle” in “spectacular.” My son posted them on his Flickr account (you can go there to see larger shots, and to check out his captions […]
Most of us are in winter-holiday mode right now, but what if you’re really a Fourth-of-July person? Here’s yet another “personality” quiz, this one via Thoughts from…Jennifer: You Are Easter You are an optimistic, hopeful, and genuinely sweet person.Sensitive and affectionate, you are easily touched.You love nature, animals, and anything cute or cuddly.For you, every day is a new chance – no matter what happened yesterday. What makes you celebrate: Almost anything. You love most […]
In all the hype and the shopping, let alone Santa and the elves, sometimes the origin the Christmas celebration can slip one’s mind. My friend Ann, who is in her final year at the General Theological Seminary in New York City (yes, I’m a near-heathen these days, and one of my good friends will be a minister in a few months – go figure), sent a link to a blog that can help remind us […]
