And after the snow came the ice. That's our next door neighbor Leo's house. Here is our backyard transformed into a winter wonderland. It was a white and drifting snow as you can see by the snow on the back porch and even above the shed door. Our porch light was not immune. I set out for the grocery store and found that the coffee shop not only was closed, they had posted a notice on their door. They know their limits. At least they shoveled. Despite a coating of ice, this truck made it to Fred Meyer. Trees were covered. The Max line wasn't running due to a problem with the switches. Matt and I walked to Pizza Fino to have dessert and found fun examples of ice. Covering the Kenton neighborhood rose garden. And these impressive icicles on Leo's house. Deep snow with a layer of ice over it isn't the easiest thing to walk on, but it was doable. I may buy some crampons though, so I am ready for the next storm.
Hey, so it is snowing, but that doesn't keep me from the tree decoration. I took the Max to downtown and the #12 to the Burlingame Fred Meyer where my mom came to get me in her car with chains. She also picked up my Aunt Carol. We drove to my Aunt Pat's house where tree decoration ensued.
There was a bit of trouble getting the tree into place. It scraped the ceiling so there was some emergency pruning before the angel would fit on top. This year, I had everyone pick out an favorite ornament for their picture. Here I am with the Angel. I also like these little pipe cleaner ornaments that are wrapped around the branches, rather than being hung from them. Aunt Carol chooses one of the antique ornaments. Mom holds up a glass raindrop. Aunt Pat has both an antique glass bird and a glass candy cane. It was still snowing when we were done. We ate soup and then Mom and Aunt Carol drove me to a bus stop where the bus transported me downtown. I decided to see if the library was open so I could pick up my things on hold. It wasn't but in the meantime, I saw a portable snowman. And walked through the sculpture garden outside the Art Museum. It was still snowing as I took the Max home. And it snowed all day and into the night.
I pity those of you who haven't had the joy of receiving the Oriental Trading Company catalog. Full of crap, that catalog is. But crap that somehow transcends the crappiness of crap and ascends to a new level, a level that motivates a person to buy their multitudes of holiday themed craft kits and items.
So it was for Allegra. Allegra is a teacher at my school and also happens to be Jewish. She was raised in Brooklyn, and didn't really understand the true extent of Christian culture in the US until she moved away from her Jewish neighborhood to Oregon. Allegra also has a good sense of humor and when she came upon the marshmallow-themed nativity scene in the Oriental Trading Company Catalog, she first died laughing, then pulled herself together and ordered one for every staff member. When I joined the staff in May of 2006, she gave me my very own kit as a welcoming gift. I was thrilled. Two more Christmas seasons have passed since then, and this was the year of assembly, thanks to the many snow days I enjoyed this week. And so I give to you, the glory that is the marshmallow-themed nativity scene as assembled by me on a snowy night: Aside from hilarity the concept of fake-edible-themed-sacred-objects brings me, I love that when I glued Joseph's beard on, it intercepted his smiley mouth in a weird way making him look entirely horrified to be standing before you on, yes, a foam chocolate bar and graham cracker.
It wasn't yet an heirloom when I was a child, but now that I am closer to antique than child it is more of an heirloom. My mom made this advent calendar from a kit in 1978, she thinks. She's guessing 1978 because by that time we were attending Southminster Presbyterian Church and she thinks the whole "going to church" thing would have inspired her to make an advent calendar. Each day on the calendar has an ornament. The first was always either the angel or the star, depending on who was picking first that year, and their preference. The 24th was always the Santa Claus, and a very exciting ornament it was. It was considered an honor to draw the ornament on the 24th. In between those monumental ornaments were other ornaments, each one with a different shape. Chris and I traded days choosing the ornament and, due to the sibling rivalry that was present the majority of our childhood, each year we traded off who got to go first. That way, it was fair. "Fair" and "Not Fair" were the two main arguments of my childhood. Now that we are grown and my brother has lost interest, I get to draw an ornament every day and put it wherever I want. It's not quite as fun. Looking at the advent calendar from an adult perspective, it is an impressive specimen. Each ornament is different and each one has varying levels of beading. I'm happy that it is hanging in my home now.
Back in 1994, my friend Cindy gave me a mix tape of Christmas songs. I know it was in 1994 because it's title is "Merry Christmas Patty 1994" written in alternating red and green letters. This tape is something I look forward to every Christmas season and, due to a week of no school due to "snow", and the magic of YouTube, and a bunch of people who choose to spend their time creating video of songs, (perhaps they too had five snow days in a row?) I can bring almost every song on that tape to you.
I remember a couple of things Cindy told me about the creation of this tape. One was that Christmas songs are short. She used a 60 minute tape--our usual mix tape length was 90 minutes--and still had trouble filling it up. The other thing about this compilation is when she made it she used four forms of music recording technology: Cd's, cassette tapes, albums and even reel-to-reels(!). Super cool.
Now with a few clicks, you can enjoy this mix tape too. Although you miss out on the various hisses and pops from the albums that I get to hear. Except for on the first song on side two.
Side 1 White Christmas--Otis Redding
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)--U2 (Special "Night Tracks" bonus opening and closing)
Blue Christmas--Elvis Presley
Father Christmas--The Kinks A bit of a rough cut, but more fun because you get blurry footage of the band. Also, perhaps my favorite Christmas song written after 1950.
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem--Ella Fitzgerald Alas, YouTube has nothing with Ella singing this so here is one minute of Bing and Frank.
Let it Snow--Harry Connick Jr. This video is AWESOME!
Santa Baby--Madonna
Happy Christmas (War is Over)--John Lennon
Sleigh Ride--The Ventures Music only, no video. Go read some email or something.
O Holy Night--The Lettermen
Jingle Bells--Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me--Elvis Presley
Side Two Joy to the World--Julie Andrews With special bonus record needle album noise! Right at the beginning! And some extra bonus album noise around 1:20! What a treat!
Sleigh Ride--Harry Connick Jr. These ladies rock! In a sort of smooth older woman sort of way.
Silver Bells--The Ventures I find this girl a little disturbing, but this is the song. Maybe you can read some more email or something.
Silent Night--Tennessee Ernie Ford I can't find this, though I was distracted with a nice clip of Tennessee Ernie Ford and Johnny Cash. Let's go with Bing again. You can't go wrong from Bing.
Merry Christmas Baby--Otis Redding
Gabriel's Message--Sting
The Christmas Song--Sandler & Young Nothing of this song. Let us hear Nat King Cole.
What Child is This--Empire Brass Alas, the Empire Brass are scarce on YouTube. Shall we hear a nice choir?
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus--John Cougar Mellencamp This is one of my least favorite Christmas songs, but John Cougar Mellencamp has that cool fiddler and that little girl in the video is his daughter. Plus bonus 80s fashions
I'll Be Home for Christmas--Elvis Presley Elvis' diction is very funny--"snow and mistletoe" especially.
Oh Tannenbaum--They Might Be Giants Argh! Why must we be denied TMBG? Why? Instead, see the less hip, but most earnest Vienna Boy's Choir
We've chosen a name. Sentinel, because he stays at home and guards the house, Damascus, because he was found in Damascus, and Collins because he is my cat. In the week Sentinel has been living with us we have discovered quite a bit about him. This is where he spends a lot of time. Not on top of this lounger, but under it, sitting on the wool blanket that is poking out from under the couch. He spent all of Sunday there, hours and hours and hours. This morning he came out and followed me around from place to place, but after awhile, back he went under the couch. It's hard to predict when he will be there for entire days, and when he will be there for just a few hours. I think he feels safe there, and it probably is warm. Or warmer than other places in the house. Right now it is very cold here.
I don't think any of these picture convey quite how large this cat is. I took him to the vet on Friday and he was over 12 pounds. I was glad about that because he was just over 12 pounds when he came to the Humane Society--and that was when he still had both front legs. So he lost a leg but also gained some weight. I think he was a bit scrawny when he was found. This was our one day of play, last Monday. Subsequent attempts to play have resulted in a retreat under the couch. He was very into that mouse and had fun grabbing for the feather. I'm hoping that as he feels more secure we can spend more time playing. He has a very small meow, more like a "mew" than a "meow." When he is in a following around mood, he punctures his following with chatting. I think he still gets sad sometimes that he doesn't have all four of his legs. One attempt to jump up on the couch resulted in a miscalculation and a fall and he retreated under the couch for the rest of the evening. It has only been three months and I hope that as he gets more used to having three legs, memories of his four-legged self will fade. I think he was a very handsome and proud four-legged cat and I hope he will be just as handsome and proud of a three-legged cat.
When he is out and about he enjoys being petted and loves to lick your hand. He could lick your hand for the next four hours if you let him. He rolls around a lot as you pet him and also purrs a lot.
He's a very nice kitty and I'm glad that he has come to live with us.
I've been wanting a cat for some time, (ahem, nine years, ahem) and Matt has finally come around. We've had our eye on a cat at the Oregon Humane Society, for about two weeks now, but yesterday was the first chance we had to meet him. So last night we got on our bikes and arrived at the incredibly lovely shelter. They have traditional cages, you can see some of them on the right-hand side of this picture, but they also have these very cool themed rooms for the cats to hang out in. This was my favorite. A whole room like a soda fountain, with jukebox and soda fountain stools and records on the wall. The best part about this setup was that there weren't the typical smells I associate with an animal shelter. The cats seemed very relaxed. We met a few cats before meeting the one Matt was most interested in. I have a soft spot for Norm (#64869) but Norm wasn't going to be a good cat to begin our cat ownership. Then we met Admiral Jones, who is much bigger and fluffier than his picture. He has been in foster care, because his front right leg was amputated, and his foster mother couldn't say enough good things about him. The woman at the shelter really liked him too. As did Matt and myself. So today Admiral Jones came home.
The first photos: Coming out of his box Checking out the litter box. And he's off to a quiet place. We'll let him settle in a bit and then take some more pictures.
Yipee! A kitty for The Orange Door.
Also, we are going to rename him. There are a few names floating around, but we shall live with him for a bit before we commit to a name.
Here is our backyard transformed into a winter wonderland. 
It was a white and drifting snow as you can see by the snow on the back porch and even above the shed door.
Our porch light was not immune.
I set out for the grocery store and found that the coffee shop not only was closed, they had posted a notice on their door.
They know their limits. At least they shoveled.
Despite a coating of ice, this truck made it to Fred Meyer.
Trees were covered.
The Max line wasn't running due to a problem with the switches.
Matt and I walked to Pizza Fino to have dessert and found fun examples of ice. 
Covering the Kenton neighborhood rose garden.
And these impressive icicles on Leo's house.
Deep snow with a layer of ice over it isn't the easiest thing to walk on, but it was doable. I may buy some crampons though, so I am ready for the next storm.
