Merry Christmas!

Looks like Santa came! Hope you two have a chance to celebrate and enjoy your own version of this day--even if you do celebrate once you get back home too ;)

Merry Christmas!!!

What news writers do on Christmas Eve

As one who has turned away many a ferret and monk parrot from the border, I have wondered "How exactly is Santa allowed to bring his reindeer into the state? Does he have to stop at the border and do paperwork like the rest of us?"

I am certain you've asked yourself this question many times, right? (Obvoiusly transporting reindeer is not anyone's favorite pastime)

Turns out Santa gets his papers in order before Christmas, silly! And the Western Farm Press, an agricultural newspaper, let us know that he gets a waiver for his reindeer. Phew!

Of course, the standby for news folks stuck working on Christmas Eve is tracking Santa as he makes his way across the sky.

Turns out this is a really big deal. As a member of our airborne defense, you may have special knowledge of all this. But some of this is new to me: NORAD tracks Santa very carefully for us. This year, you can check up on Santa comings and goings via Twitter (Santa's been playing golf recently, and Mrs. Claus was making alphabet soup). Once he heads out on his annual journey, we'll be able to track him via Google Maps and Google Earth. Very technical stuff!

So, if you're to believe the poor smucks that are stuck working on Christmas Eve: You better keep an eye cracked for a jolly guy and some reindeer!

No two alike

So I've been noticing what a wealth of Christmas cheer that Flickr can be! There are photos for every possible combination of Christmas words (What tipped me off was a fruitful search for "reindeer inspection" ... more on that later).

In case you were looking for it, there is a Flickr group for vintage Christmas decoration catalogs (and also for vintage holiday collectibles and vintage holiday advertising). But what really caught my eye were black & white Christmas-y images.

The Smithsonian has a winter wonderland set that is really rather wonder-ful, including these lovely shots of snowflakes.

Check out this description that the Smithsonian posted with each photo:

Wilson A. Bentley first became fascinated with snow during his childhood on a Vermont farm, and he experimented for years with ways to view individual snowflakes in order to study their crystalline structure. He eventually attached a camera to his microscope, and in 1885 he successfully photographed the flakes. This photomicrograph and more than five thousand others supported the belief that no two snowflakes are alike, leading scientists to study his work and publish it in numerous scientific articles and magazines.

That's a little awesome, right?

So I thought I was going to be slightly creative and now suggest you use these as inspiration the classic craft-your-own-snowflake activity. But it turns out the Smithsonian beat me to it!

A staff member in the Smithsonian Institution Archives created templates of these snowflakes in case you want to print them out and cut them exactly (kinda wish the templates were of the fold-and-cut sort, but we can't be choosers now can we?). Turns out someone else created digital brushes for using in Photoshop and the like using the snowflake images too.

Atop the tree

One of the things we've been looking for, since we started having our own Christmas tree, is a tree topper. Do you have one yet?

We were kind of appalled at our options, and vowed to just keep looking year after year until we found the right one. In the meantime, we took an ornament and kinda bent it around the top of the tree (an ornament which Milo has since pulled out several times during the year to gnaw on--our cat has taste). Our Christmas tree was always a little embarrassed by our shenanigans...

But this year our tree can stand proud!

It may not be our "forever" tree topper, but I think we found a pretty good one finally! I'd still like to take a Christmas shopping trip to Germany to get our own genuinely pretty wax angel (that's just to remind you what it kinda looks like... though it's still a little off... this one's kinda cute but wouldn't ya know, sold already).

Short a flight to Germany, we've been looking for a star. Here were our top three candidates (in case you're looking and in case any of these are appealing to you too):

• Retro tree topper Which looks kinda fun. But also looks like something we could do at home with a little styrofoam, some sticks, some paint, some glitter
• This paper star urchin tree topper, which I was thinking could be a stop-gap until we found something better--especially if I made it myself. Apparently the "star urchin" is also called a "Polish porupine" and directions for making them abound online. All you need is paper, a pencil, a needle & thread--and I think, patience. A lot of patience. More than I have!
• And what we decided was our favorite: this star from Pottery Barn! Made with sheet music and German glass glitter (ooh, sounds fancy! until you get it home and read the fine print to realize that it will "patina" with age... ooh, sounds like we'll need to buy another!). Because it's a papercraft, I briefly considered trying to make my own, but it was nice to swipe the card and call it done!

Anyways, we're excited to finally have a tree topper!

Are you still on the hunt for a tree topper? It was a topic of conversation at a recent holiday gathering, with everyone complaining about the dumb options that are out there. So I had to brag then--and now--that we found something...

Christmas, already?

Oh, there you are! I'm just sprucing this place up a bit and realized that the Christmas Countdown doesn't make as much sense anymore, seeing as it starts with the end (Christmas).

I'll be adding some more of your favorite obscure lyrics posts, probably along with some DIY decorations and maybe even Santa will make an appearance...

In the meantime, I'm open for requests!

Have a favorite Christmas song this year (I always do!)? A project that you wish you had accomplished (yeah, I always do too)? Let me know!

Today!

Christmas in Love ...
Originally uploaded by krisdecurtis

Ack! Is it time yet? Can I wake up now?

Today is Christmas!!!

You may now sing all twelve days of Christmas ;) both versions! Or you could check out the 12 Days of Christmas church humor cartoon from Cartoon Church.

You can even open Day 25 on the beautiful advent calendar.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!

I don't know if there'll be snow...

but have a cup of cheer! I think that's one of my favorite lyrical lines this Christmas: "I don't know if there'll be snow, but have a cup of cheer."

It's a reminder that things don't have to be perfect and match some Norman-Rockwellian idea of the perfect Dec. 25 with glittering snow and heaps of presents to be a pretty special day anyway. Usually this is not my favorite song b/c there's pretty much just one main version of it--the original by Burl Ives--and I think it sounds kinda hokey. But I heard a new version this year (coming to an Inbox near you ... soon, as I'm stuck in the land of limited computer capabilities) and it got me liking the song again. That, and it seems like *everyone* I know this Christmas is feeling a little short on holiday cheer and long on bah-humbug.

Here are the lyrics for your own singing pleasure:

Have a holly, jolly Christmas,
It's the best time of the year
I don't know if there'll be snow,
but have a cup of cheer.

Have a holly, jolly Christmas
And when you walk down the street,
Say Hello to friends you know
and ev'ryone you meet.

Oh, ho, the mistletoe
hung where you can see
Somebody waits for you,
Kiss her once for me.

Have a holly jolly Christmas,
and in case you didn't hear,
Oh by golly, have a holly, jolly Christmas this year.

...one ... blastoff!

What'd you think we were counting down to?

Well, there's one more day until Christmas! Yikes! You can probably be thankful that you're not getting last-minute requests to wrap other people's presents... if you know what I mean ;)

Of course, on the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree!!! (Or a partridge, une perdrix, right?) Finally!

Unless you're Andy Williams, and then your good friends brought you a song and a Christmas tree!

And the advent doors:

• A smidgen of truth from Cartoon Church
• Another door from the traditional advent calendar (Have I mentioned I really like this one?)

What's your schedule for the holiday like? Will you have the actual day off?