This Christmas...

Deck the halls

Hammering Man and the Mysterious Rabbi

We were downtown on Saturday afternoon for a Christmas concert at the Symphony.  First we had lunch at the Frye Art Museum, then stopped at the SAM gift store and said "hi" to Hammering Man.

It didn't get above 30 degrees all weekend, so I dug our dressy winter coats from the back of the closet-- it's usually too wet and warm for long wool coats here. That black overcoat and hat came from Bloomingdale's on a winter trip to New York, way back when in the 1990's.

Traditional Rabbi sightings are few and far between in Seattle, but back in NYC I look like a shiksa wife, trailing along behind him down the sidewalk. (Just our private little joke when John wears this get-up.)

Benaroya Hall looked festive for the holidays.

Cheap...Pricey...Very Expensive

Sunday morning we were out bright and early to hunt down a Christmas tree. For years we've been driving to McLendon Hardware in White Center for their weekend Christmas tree sale.  It's a circus, but you can grab a big, bushy Douglas fir for $20 or $30-- a bargain if you have room for the messy monster.  We always get a fat one because it seems like more for the money, and then somehow manage to cram it in our small living room.  By New Years the thing has become a dry pine needle bomb that literally explodes when we finally drag it outside.

Noble firs are much more expensive, and I figured there must be a good reason for this?   So when John asked where I wanted to look for a tree I said, "close to home."  No trip to White Center this year.  And in a few minutes we found a lovely cut Noble at the upscale West Seattle Nursery:  Slender but not too thin, tall and shapely, with branches in all the right places.  A real movie star of a tree with a price tag to match!

I'm looking at it now-- lights are on but no ornaments yet.  Usually I have the entire thing done in one marathon afternoon while John makes himself scarce in the basement. Instead I'll be taking my time on it today, and maybe tomorrow too.  It's a good stay-at- home project while our weather finally warms up and the precipitation goes from snow, to freezing rain, then back to plain old Seattle wet later in the week.

Frigid skies

The night sky is beautiful in that way it gets only when it's really cold. Venus looked shockingly bright next to the crescent moon this week-- like a jet's landing light when I pointed Sky Guide at it.

Except for Miami, the entire country is cold.  It's only 19 this morning in Seattle, but below zero over in eastern Washington.  I talked to Amanda yesterday and she said they are staying warm and cozy, although their outdoor cats "Mama Kitty" and "Jack" are hanging around inside by the wood stove.

Oh, did you know Christmas is coming?  It seems like we jump into high speed earlier each year! The parking lots and stores are already jammed, and heaven help you if you need to buy a simple potholder or something. I haven't even started to make cookies for Boeing Field.  The house isn't decorated and the Christmas tree isn't up, but this afternoon we're going to a Christmas concert at the Symphony for some light festive music.  Like being in the eye of the storm for a couple of hours...

Jolly old St. Nicholas

December 6th is always St. Nicholas Day in honor of the Christian saint. Nicholas lived in Greece, a couple hundred years after the birth of Christ. When he became a priest he gave up all his personal belongings and was known for giving to needy people, especially children. As the ancient legend goes, Saint Nicholas threw small bags of gold coins into the open windows of poor homes. After one bag of gold fell into the stocking of a child, news got around. Children soon began hanging their stocking by their chimneys in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. If you can't get enough, the information-packed  St. Nicholas Center website has all the details on his life and the evolution of Santa Claus. Here's some vintage images of St. Nick from all around the world. 

Austria

Belgium

Czechoslovakia

Dutch

Slovakia

France

Swiss

Hungary

Poland

Italian

Victorian England

America

God bless the child

Billie Holiday, 1917

Mama may have,
Papa may have,
But God bless the child
That's got his own!
That's got his own.

In her autobiography Lady Sings the Blues, Billie Holiday wrote that during an argument about money her mother spitefully said: "God bless the child that's got his own."  Later she turned her mother's words into a song she wrote with Arthur Herzog. "God Bless the Child" was first performed by Billie Holiday in 1939, and remains one of her enduring vocal masterpieces.

The lyrics refer to an unspecified Biblical verse: Them that's got shall get, them that don't shall lose, so the Bible says, and it still is news.

This is probably a reference to the (chilling) verse Matthew 25:29:  "For to every one that has shall be given, he shall have abundance: but from him that has not it shall be taken away, even that which he has." 

 
If you have nothing to start with, how can it be taken away?

Jerry Pinkey (born 1939) is a renowned American illustrator who has won many honors for his beautiful children's books.  When I was reading about this song, I found out Pinkey created a picture book interpretation that tells the story of a family moving from the rural South to the urban North during the 1930's.  It looks like an extraordinary book and even comes with Billie Holidays' recording of "God Bless the Child."

 

Inversion

National Park Service photo by Erin Whittaker

This was the spectacular and rare view of the Grand Canyon last Friday.  Temperature inversions are unpleasantly common here, but it's unusual in the Southwest.  The cold air gets trapped in the canyon and warm air sits above the rim, creating a once-in-a-lifetime sight for those lucky people who spent Thanksgiving weekend at the Grand Canyon.  The park rangers wait many years to see this.

Maybe you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but like every American, you carry a deed to 635 million acres of public land.  Even if you don't own a house or the latest computer on the market, you own Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon...

John Garamendi

Maybe you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but like every American, you carry a deed to 635 million acres of public lands. That's right. Even if you don't own a house or the latest computer on the market, you own Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and many other natural treasures.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johngarame512694.html#gSFYX2eCm7W4q4EW.99

Maybe you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but like every American, you carry a deed to 635 million acres of public lands. That's right. Even if you don't own a house or the latest computer on the market, you own Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and many other natural treasures.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johngarame512694.html#gSFYX2eCm7W4q4EW.99