Posted by msfish on 2004-12-06 16:29:05
Post Subject: guerrilla christmas cards
i had great fun a few years back making holiday collage cards out of "arty postcards" at the book shop where i worked. brightly colored christmas stickers and magazine snippings on simple black and white photos made a nifty contrast. some of my favorite scenes:
- brigitte bardot reading "the night before christmas" in a subway car
- santa and his sleigh beside water-skiing bathing beauties
- gingerbread men dancing down james dean's shoulder
- mermaids swimming in a sea of gifts
i bet this would work well with touristy cards as well - i like the idea of ornaments hanging from the golden gate bridge, or the statue of liberty holding a fruitcake. my family got a kick out of the first batch.
Posted by Mother Goose on 2005-05-21 15:13:15
Post Subject:
OMG! My grandmother also made all of those things. I still have a Mr & Mrs Santa she made over dish soap bottles, and put them out every Christmas! In fact, I hate to admit this, but it's true, I have some bottles that she saved and fabrics, etc to make them for my sisters who never got a set from her. They're on my "one of these days" list....and have been for a very long time! I am such a junk collector! :)
Posted by creativecat on 2006-12-14 01:24:38
Post Subject:
This is the first year in a long time that I've felt "in the Christmas spirit." It's also the first year in a long time that I haven't dealt with holiday customers. I think part of it is thinking about what Christmas is to me--not what it is to corporations. For me, the season is about making cookies, ornaments, and Christmas cards AND taking time for those that I care about. Concentrate on what YOU love about the holidays, and you may find a little bit of hidden Christmas spirit.
Kindarana, I'm in the same place as you with the climate thing, but I've found different holiday traditions. For example, seeing light displays on the islands. I prefer the "tropical Christmas" in a warm climate to fake snow themes. And Christmas decorated sea shells are just too cool!
Posted by redheadedali on 2005-10-05 08:49:13
Post Subject:
I have not been reading all that much lately. I seem to be in a slump. ;(
That said, in September, I read Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters, which I LOVED. I am now torn between running out and reading everything she's written and rationing her books so I don't read all of them and leave myself with nothing of hers to look forward to. Compelling story, great main character, all-around wonderful read.
I also read a couple of YA novels for work (I'm a librarian). One was Poison by Christopher Wooding. It was all right - not terrible, not great. The use of language was impressive and there were some unique twists, but overall, I'd say it was pretty much just an above average fantasy novel. I also started reading Rebel Angels by Libba Bray (I finished it last night). It is the sequel to Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty, which was sort of a supernatural thriller set in a boarding school in Victorian England. The first book took place almost entirely in the school, but in Rebel Angels, the main character, Gemma, and her friends spend Christmas in London, which means there's lots of high-society stuff - the opera, balls, etc. - which gives them lots more opportunities to get into trouble in the real world even as they are trying to fight evil in the magical "realms". I actually liked the second book a lot better than the first, and there are hints that there might be a third, which I would defintely read.
Posted by sarabell on 2005-12-16 16:12:06
Post Subject:
christmas in hollis - run dmc
santa baby - eartha kitt
the christmas song - stevie wonder
(actually, any christmas song by stevie wonder - what christmas means to me, someday at christmas....)
by far, my favorite entire christmas cds (where i don't skip every othher song) are:
ella wishes you a swinging christmas - ella fitzgerald
merry xmas from the space-age bachelor pad - esquivel!
Posted by Athos on 2004-12-15 17:14:45
Post Subject:
okay, here's the track list for the merry mix i just made and mailed out to my friends and relations. i love all of these songs!
1. Go Where I Send Thee JOAN OSBORNE
2. Christmas In Hollis RUN-D.M.C.
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas JUDY GARLAND
4. Hark The Herald Angels Sing WENDY AND CARNIE WILSON
5. What Child Is This? DAR WILLIAMS
6. Merry Christmas Baby BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
7. Santa Claus is Coming To Town THE POINTER SISTERS
8. Peace on Earth, Little Drummer Boy DAVID BOWIE & BING CROSBY
9. The King LOREENA MCKENNITT
10. 25th December EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL
11. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer JEWEL
12. My Christmas TONY TONI TONÉ
13. Merry Christmas From The Family JILL SOBULE
14. Make It Home JULIANA HATFIELD
15. Silent Night SISTER ROSETTA THARPE
16. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen LOREENA MCKENNITT
17. Gabriel’s Message STING
18. My Favorite Things OMC
19. Please Come Home for Christmas AARON NEVILLE
20. Coventry Carol SUZANNE VEGA
21. O Come All Ye Faithful RITCHIE SAMBORA
22. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas TORI AMOS
Posted by redheadedali on 2005-12-15 12:21:55
Post Subject:
Oh, man.
Contemporary:
I'm stealing "Fairytale of New York" and "Christmas Wrapping" from cackalackie ;). Also, "Merry Christmas from the Family" by Robert Earl Keen, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" by John Lennon, and the original "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in all it's silly, overwrought glory. And Dan Fogelberg's "Another Auld Lang Syne", because I'm a sap.
Traditional:
For standards, you just can't top "Silver Bells". And for religious Christmas songs, my favorite is definitely "O Holy Night". I think most people who sing this trick it up too much (Celine Dion, anyone?), but Tracy Chapman does a beautiful, simple version that I just love.
Posted by yardenxanthe on 2005-11-17 19:13:13
Post Subject:
My mom always put practical things in our stockings, too -- stuff like deodorant, underwear, brushes, barrettes, toothbrushes, etc. Usually some candy, too.
I will be home for the first Christmas in like 8 years this year -- wonder what I'll get?? :)
Posted by Diana on 2005-11-23 15:17:24
Post Subject: Stockings are my favourite part of Xmas!!!
When my nephews and niece were little I gave them coupon books that entitled them to activities with me such as an afternoon with me baking cookies, a trip to the park to fly kites, or a special dinner or lunch at their favourite restaurant (unfortunately that was usually Chucky Cheese!) with just me, no siblings or parents. I made the booklets so that there was a coupon for each month of the year so the fun was spaced out. And July was always Christmas in July where we made Christmas cookies, played Christmas music, and made some sort of craft. All three of the kids really enjoyed these booklets.
Personally, I like to get fancy teas and bath goodies in mine. And one year my Dad filled my stocking with lots of great embroidery threads. Last year my brother put a hot pink rubber ducky peeking out of the top of my stocking. Very fun!!
Posted by cackalackie on 2004-06-29 10:00:16
Post Subject: LILA LIPSCOMB
FYI - There's an article on her in today's USA TODAY, shown below:
'9/11' documents a mother's grief
By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY
Fahrenheit 9/11 might be polarizing much of the nation, but there's one thing about the controversial Bush-bashing documentary most viewers probably will agree on: Key scenes featuring Lila Lipscomb are gut-wrenching and haunting.
Lipscomb initially appears, literally, as a flag-waving patriot. Later, when her son Michael Pedersen is killed when his Black Hawk helicopter is downed in April 2003, Lipscomb breaks down as she reads his jaded letter from the front. By film's end, when Lipscomb makes a tearful pilgrimage to the White House, her sorrow — punctuated by a woman who questions her motives — is excruciating.
At many screenings, her latter vignettes move audiences to tears. Documentary filmmaker Cory Kennedy says Lipscomb's scenes are among Fahrenheit 9/11's most moving. Former New York governor Mario Cuomo, hired by the film's distributors in a failed effort to get it a family-friendly PG-13 rating, says he found it difficult to watch her. "You see Lila living through a despair that will never leave," Cuomo says.
Lipscomb has seen Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 several times. She finds it difficult to watch herself and tearfully concedes that the raw emotion surrounding her son's death remains intense.
"I don't want any more mothers — Americans or Iraqis — to feel this pain," Lipscomb told USA TODAY on Monday. Still, moving from Bush supporter to war critic has been hard.
"I grew up with the understanding that you support the president, no matter who he is," says Lipscomb, an office administrator in Flint, Mich.. "But after reading Michael's letters and seeing how angry and frustrated he was becoming and wondering why he was there in the first place, I started questioning why we were there."
Lipscomb last saw Pedersen — nicknamed "Pistol Ped" for his basketball prowess — when he returned to Flint for Christmas in 2002.
"There were a number of things he did that might have made him think he wasn't coming home," Lipscomb says. "He had a clear commitment to fulfilling his oath for this nation. Yet he had a clear understanding that he had been sent into harm's way for things that were not true."
Lipscomb turned 50 Sunday. "I went to his grave hoping I could hear him say, 'Happy birthday, Mom,' " she says. "But I didn't get it." She has three other kids and seven grandchildren. Her oldest daughter, Jennifer, served in the military during the 1991 Gulf War but wasn't in the conflict.
Pedersen, her second oldest, joined the Army at 19, when his job at a local Long John Silver's fast-food outlet failed to pay enough to buy diapers and formula for his newborn daughter, Destiny, now 8.
Like many teens with limited job prospects, Pedersen had his mother's blessing. Two of Lipscomb's older brothers are Vietnam vets, and she believed military service would be a good experience for her eldest son: He could travel, learn a career and earn a decent income.
"Who knew?" she now asks, shaking her head.
Pedersen rose to Black Hawk crew chief and was planning to train as a pilot, put in his 20 years and then retire from the military. He was shipped first to Kuwait and later to Iraq.
"We would send him boxes of beef jerky, Rice Krispies treats and Pepsi," Lipscomb says. "He loved cold Pepsi and Rice Krispies treats."
Although Lipscomb and her husband, Howard, are both longtime Flint residents, they knew little of Moore, who was raised in nearby Davison and had made Flint a focal point in 1989's Roger & Me and 2002's Bowling for Columbine. A Moore staffer contacted Lipscomb after learning of her son's death.
Though Moore has a reputation for being manipulative, Lipscomb says he made sure that she would not be offended by her scenes in the film, offering to remove anything she found troubling.
"Michael was fantastic," Lipscomb says. "I hope everyone will see the film. I hope it will open people's eyes and make them begin to ask questions and start speaking up for themselves."
Posted by Athos on 2005-01-03 15:01:45
Post Subject:
i always reuse bags and i have for years. i have a few canvas bags, and one bag that punky brewster made me that has held up amazingly well. my partner keeps bags in his car for all occasions as well.
after being in NJ for the week, it's shocking to me how wasteful all the bags are. and christmas in general. i made fabric bags this year to put my presents in, and though my family protested a little, they still accepted the presents!
i get ten cents credit at my local co-op for every bag i reuse, and for using my own containers for bulk purchases. i wish people were charged fifty cents a bag everywhere. there'd be SO much less waste.
ETA: also on the subject, i started using cloth napkins over a year ago, and have been so happy with the results. i picked up a set of 6 for a dollar from a thrift store, and i have some nice ones too. i use them to wrap my water bottle to prevent condensation, and i use them at every meal. i gave my man some and he brought them to work, now some people at his work started using them. actually, i think i'm going to start another thread on favorite ways to reduce and reuse.
