Category Archives: Stories and Writing

Predictions and the New Year

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We don’t go to New Year’s Eve parties, resplendent in sparkling attire, and dance the year in. We don’t brave the chill and the crowds (probably more crowds than chill, given where we are) to enjoy First Night or watch an illuminated acorn drop. Our New Year’s Eve is more along the lines of chocolate chip cookies and a game of Scrabble.
We do, however, like to make New Year’s predictions. At least I do, and the rest go along with me.
After making new predictions, we can read last year’s and see how completely we missed the mark.
The first step is to come up with some questions, then print out a copy for each person. Some questions may be about family and friends–“Will (name of person not in immediate family) get a new baby/dog/car this year?” Others are about the larger world and its events–lots of options for questions there, especially this New Year’s. And usually we have questions like “What will be the big medical discovery/invention of the year?” “What food or ingredient will become the new thing and show up everywhere?” People who like to follow the doings of particular celebrities could add questions about their coming year as well.
After everyone writes down their answers, the papers should probably be put away, unread, till next New Year’s Eve. We are too curious about each other’s predictions to wait, though, so we compare answers right away. Then the papers get folded and forgotten till next year.
Just make sure you put the papers somewhere you’ll look come December 31st. Our Scrabble box is getting a bit full.
Happy New Year.

Every tree tells a tale… and every ornament

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I favor the sentimental, eclectic school of Christmas tree decorating.
old clear red glass Christmas ballSomeone in a book I once read was thrilled when a visitor told her that her Christmas tree looked like it belonged in a department store. I guess that means the colors and shapes were all coordinated. Personally, I would hate to have a tree like that at home.
No danger of that. The ornaments on our tree span decades of ornament styles (not a full century, as far as I know) and were not chosen with any color scheme in mind. They do, however, have a lot of stories to go with them. And even the ones that don’t actually have stories, often suggest stories.
oddly shaped ornament with stripesOne of the oldest came from my father’s parents’ tree—a clear, red glass ball. My father told me that during the war, they didn’t sell silvered ornaments because they were saving metals for the war. At some point, he tried to make one of clear red balls shiny by putting scrunched aluminum foil in it. It didn’t really work.
Other ornaments of indeterminate age came from Tom’s parents—a lot of baubles of interesting colors (pink, lime, peach) as well as some odd shapes. Though age is slowly taking away some of their shine, they add some interest to the red, green, blue, gold, silver of our more recent baubles.

wooden skier Christmas ornamentThere are ornaments that I remember choosing with my brother when we were young. He got Mrs. Santa and an angel on a sled (long gone now), while I chose an angel on a horse and a pink bell. We used some of those to mark out our places under the tree, and later on there were ornaments to stand for other people: a skier for my father, an angel on a piano (of course) for my mother.

silvery wire Christmas tree ornament on treeSome ornaments came as gifts—or attached to gifts. When M was a baby, relatives gave us an elf. Though I hear elves tend to roam about most people’s houses in December, ours likes to take up a spot on the tree and stay there the whole time. And when Tom and I decorated a tree together for the first time (which is when we got a lot of the more recent colored balls as well as the clear “soap bubbles”), I gave him a silvery wire tree ornament.
We keep picking up ornaments here and there. There’s a Moravian star from Old Salem, a gourd decorated like a cat from a museum gift shop, an owl I found when visiting a friend in Indianapolis, a scrollwork penguin from the State Fair, and quite a variety from Holden Beach.
With all these ornaments, we have new problem. We have more ornaments than tree. The most favored ornaments are guaranteed a spot, but the rest just have to hope that this is their year. If not, well, there’s always next year.
Till next post.
Christmas elf on the tree

Wall of Quotations

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When I was in high school, I liked to post quotations on my walls. There were funny mottos that I borrowed from the pin-buttons at the science-fiction bookstore, inspirational lines from my favorite poems, and memorable words from books I’d read a million times.
But I didn’t just scribble the words on a card and stick it on the wall. No, I wrote them out in my best calligraphy so they’d be a pleasure to look at.
Like these:
Several quotations written out in calligraphy
For years I’ve been meaning to do this again. For instance, I wanted to write out “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe—maybe blackletter would look appropriate?—and stick it on the pantry door. Of course, it would probably take up the entire available space. I never even got started on the first verse.
They say “the perfect is the enemy of the good.” Sometimes it’s better to scribble a few quotations on index cards and stick them up with painters’ tape than it is to wait until you finally pull out the italic nibs and ink bottle.
The other advantage of the casual approach is that the whole family can get into it.  Set out the index cards, some Sharpies, and off they go.
Here are some photos of the results. I’ve made the photos larger than usual in the hope that you can make out some of the words.

top left

 top right

lower left

lower right

You may have noticed that there aren’t any attributions on these cards. That’s deliberate. It’s a great feeling to see the spark of recognition in someone else’s eyes and hear, “Oh, yeah! I love when he says that!”  It’s also fun to answer the question, “Now, where does that come from?”
Eventually these cards will have to come down to make way for some other display. I’ve been told that they must remain up until the new year—but apparently it’s okay if we switch to song lyrics some time in January…
Till next post.