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Posts Tagged ‘christmas tree’

Grateful at Christmas

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 24, 2023| 17 Comments »

Photos: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
My older granddaughter made a gingerbread house from a kit, and I helped a little with decorating.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. A few photos for Christmas Eve.

In addition to helping out on the gingerbread house, I managed (on the peaceful days between Covid and the Covid rebound) to make the cookies from John’s preschool recipe in the tiny new kitchen. Sometimes it feels like we are in a boat cabin here.

On a recent walk in the lovely Sleepy Hollow cemetery, I noted that some family couldn’t bear thinking of their departed loved one without a decorated tree. So they brought a living one to the cemetery. I want to get one like that next year as I just found out cut trees are not allowed here.

Still, it looked cute when it first went up.

The Nativity scene was from another walk.

Now be sure to listen blogger Will McMillan sing John Bucchino’s song “Grateful,” here. It expresses my exact feelings, and Will is so good at conveying the emotional side of every song.

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The Same and Different

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 25, 2016| 1 Comment »

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I like this about traditions: they are always a little the same and a little different. You carry forward the old activities, but you and the people around you are a little different every year and customs get tweaked.

I’m posting a few pictures of holiday doings that are both the same and different in our family.

The youngest grandchild decorating a reindeer cookie. My collage gift tags made from scraps. Another grandchild’s Christmas tree watercolors. Luminaria bags with candles. A traditional light display.

My husband and I and Suzanne’s family gathered for a magnificent meal at John’s house, and everyone ended up dancing to Gummy Bears disco videos in the dark.

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Christmas 2015

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on December 25, 2015| 6 Comments »

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Wherein the grandmother is too tired to talk but will describe the photos. Wreaths on the Colonial Inn, grandson with new truck, church nativity scene early Christmas morning, Christmas tree at John’s house, grandfather with two granddaughters.

So much fun to be around little kids at Christmas. Also very good for sleeping soundly the following night.

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Allowing Time to Take Down the Tree

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 6, 2013| 6 Comments »

When I take down the tree, I like to allow myself time.

Time to unroll the strings of lights and re-roll them in tissue paper. Time to lift off the sparkly cobwebs of tinsel and store them in a basket for another day.

Time for the ornaments, nearly every one eliciting a memory of something.

The small wreath of green and red puff balls that Suzanne made in the First Parish craft workshop (attended by nearly every kid in town, regardless of religion). The cross-stitch embroidery John made with hardly any help at age 3 or 4. The fishing tackle box and the saxophone representing past interests. The smiley felt-and-sequin jobs that 90-something Aunt Mae kept secret until Christmas. The coffee grinder for my husband. The goofy red ornament that I made from egg cartons when I was first married. The bird-in-a-nest that is supposed to bring good luck. The Chinese doll I got at Niagara-on-the-Lake the year we took turns babysitting the kids in order to see shows at the G.B. Shaw festival. The frosty ball from DeAnna’s winter wedding. And my new “tradition,” quotations hung on a ribbon.

I am the only person who remembers the things I remember exactly the way I remember them; you are the only person who remembers the things you remember exactly the way you remember them.

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Stealth Poetry Project

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on December 2, 2012| 4 Comments »

Last year around Christmas my husband visited Southeast Asia on business and came back with descriptions of Christmas trees decorated from head to toe with written words on strips of paper.

That got me thinking about a new stealth project, one I hinted at here.

I printed out the quotes below and covered the paper with sticky plastic. I will put one set of quotation strips on our Christmas tree, but the first strips are now posted here and there around town. We’ll see what happens to them.

Feel free to use the lines here for a stealth project of your own, with or without sticky plastic. Or send some other quotes that I can use. If you are really ambitious, you might put strips of poems at the bottom of a poster headed something like “Help Yourself to Poetry” so people will be encouraged to take one.

“The roses had the look of flowers that are looked at.” T.S. Eliot

“The endlessly changing qualities of natural light, in which a room is a different room every second of the day.” Louis Kahn

“God inhabits the praise of his people.”

“Flowers have their agendas.” Mark Jarman

“I’d like to have a hand in things, what’s going on behind the screen.”  Kate Colby

“I don’t know where I’m going but I’m on the way.” Carl Sandburg

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Nova Scotia Still Thanking Boston

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 29, 2012| 4 Comments »

I learned something new about gratitude today.

It seems that years ago the people of Boston sent emergency aid to Nova Scotia, and now every November, Nova Scotia sends Boston a Christmas tree.

Geoffrey Agombar writes in Canada’s Annapolis County Spectator, “All Nova Scotians are familiar with the legend of Boston’s speedy and heroic support when just week’s before Christmas 1917 two ships collided in Halifax Harbour leaving 2000 dead, thousands injured, and flattening surrounding buildings. Every year since 1971, Nova Scotia has sent a big thank you card to the city in the form of a 12-16 metre tall Christmas Tree.” More.

Canada Online has a story by Susan Munroe: “For more than 40 years it’s been a Christmas tradition for the province of Nova Scotia to ship one of its biggest and best Christmas trees to Boston to thank the people of Boston for the emergency assistance they provided after the Halifax Explosion in 1917. Relief from Boston was the first to arrive the day after the horrendous explosion which killed 1,900 people and wounded another 9,000. The New Englanders were also the last to leave.

“The 2012 Christmas tree is a 70-year-old, 15-metre (50-foot) white spruce donated by Paul and Jan Hicks from Jordan Bay, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia. On November 13, hundreds of children from local elementary schools attended the Christmas tree cutting ceremony, where Nova Scotia storyteller Bruce Nunn read from his book Buddy the Bluenose Reindeer and the Boston Christmas Tree Adventure.

“The tree was loaded onto a flatbed truck and made its way to Boston. It arrived on November 16, and was escorted by the Boston Police Department to the Boston Common where it is being installed. The Christmas tree will be the focal point of the annual Boston Common Tree Lighting Event on November 29. The ceremony will be televised and is expected to draw a live crowd of about 30,000. The ceremony will feature two performances from the Nova Scotian percussion ensemble Squid, and remarks from [a representative of the ailing] Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and the Deputy Premier of Nova Scotia, Frank Corbett. The RCMP and Santa Claus will be on hand, and there will be fireworks too.”

Update 4/20/13 — After the Boston Marathon tragedy, Nova Scotia is making a $50,000 donation to Massachusetts General Hospital. Read.

Photograph: The Spectator

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