Saturday night – ’twas the day before christmas ..

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It was a long peaceful day.. we all decided not to do much today… Diane went out this morning for an early morning grocery run.. but aside from that we pretty much stayed around the neighborhood…. settling into the holiday spirit. We kept one of Sam’s lamps burning all day to keep him as part of our day, too.


The first order of business today was to finish decorating the tree.. The boys had decided that this year’s tree would be a pirate .. (last year a monster, the year before that a robot, … something different each of the last 5 years) .. They went up to the attic and fetched down our best pirate garb.. a skull mask. dreadlocks, a sword, a hook.. and sam’s pirate vest.. in only a few minutes our simple tree was transformed into the prettiest pirate tree you can imagine.. if that’s something you can imagine

 

then it was time to decorate tree number 2. Each year we go out in the woods to decorate a tree for the animals. We headed up the Catamount trail . we bundled up as it was just about 13 degrees..

 

we found a perfect little tree near one of our favorite swimming holes.. and started putting out the decorations, old bagels and doughnuts we’d gotten from the store. peanut butter, birdseed, old cereal, stale croissants . We’ll go clean up th string in the spring..

it was wonderful being all together today..  i love my family so much !

 

later in the day we drove around the neighborhood visiting friends.. here we are at freind martha’s.. she had a really nice gathering at her house..

 

she had one of the Sam ornaments we made on her tree..

 

now it’s about midnight.. I need to get some sleep…. I’ll be listening for reindeer.

merry christmas everyone.., merry christmas sam… we’re missing you very much tonight..

-me

 

Friday night – sweet by bitter-sweet

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Today was sweet, really sweet.. with a few tinges of bitter-sweet that come with the season..
That’s why I say sweet-bitter-sweet.. like north-by north-west. more north than north east.. you get what I mean.

I spent most of the day cleaning out my lab.. a huge and blissfully mindless undertaking.. getting ready for a few new big projects. Around 2, Max,Gab and I went out in search of a christmas tree.. we nearly came back empty handed..most of the places were closed for the season.. but we persisted and went back to our local tree farm (Puritan’s) and coaxed them out of the house to let us buy one.. It’s a great family ritual.. I could almost see Sam walking beside his brothers as we picked the perfect tree… sawed it down. strapped it to the car and drove it proudly home..



then home and on came the lights….

in the spirit of lights. tonight is also the 4th night of Chanukah.. and is our blended tradition, Diane shredded, mixed and fried up 15 pounds of potatoes into the most delicious Latkes I remember ever eating (really !)


with tons of toppings.. traditional (sour cream and applesauce and not-so–traditional (hummos, kim-chee, mustard, habanero sauce, sambal , barbeque sauce)

 


 

after dinner a bunch of the kids retired to sam’s old room for video games.. just like old times.. but… not exactly…

 

Fianlly, I did a quick recital of my new tesla coil doing it’s four favorite christmas carols.. again.. the sound i yoiu hear is only the spark heating the air.. it’s loud and scary when you’re in the same room..

 

ok.. that’s it for tonight.. I need to sleep off my latkes..
happy chanuchristmas everyone

nite all, nite sam
-me

Thursday night – nothing in particular

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I had a peaceful and industrious day.. I was finishing up the multitude of loose ends I’d generated in the course of the year that’s closing down.. work stuff, financial stuff… web site stuff. stuff, stuff, stuff. My head was full of stuff when I got up . and by the time the sun went down.. it was empty.. the way it should be I guess..

I made a point to listen to Christmas music today.. it was remixed electronic versions.. but Christmas music nonetheless. I was really getting in to it.. In fact.. I’m feeling the cristmas spirit more than I have in years.. which is sayign soemthing for a jewish/bhuddist/agnostic.. ..  The christmas spirit really does take over the world.. everyone is a funny mix of happy and stressed.., nostalgic and fun.. bittersweet for many.  it’s strange how one religions holiday can hold such sway on 300 million people That got me wonder just how many people actually have christmas as part of their religion. The numbers (see left) were pretty surprising..   >78% christian.. that explains the strong presence of Christmas.. ‘unaffiliated’ was the next biggest group.. which kind of surprised me.   My birth religion (Jewish)  1.7 % is the same as number of Mormon’s.. who knew ?! .. Though some days  I might count myself in the 0.4 % New Age group. or either of the ‘Nothing in particular’ categories.. Some days I’m feeling part of the 6.3 % secular unaffiliated and other times I feel very much part of the 5.8 % religious unaffiliated.  I was surprised that Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists make up such a small percentage of the US given the large number of persons of those faiths that I know..   and Unitarians ?.. only 0.7 % ?!   We definitely need more of them.. they are such  fun and interesting folks ..  I think we need to create some evangelical  Unitarians to turn that number around.. !

Anyway.. I love the mix in this country..we all put something into the christmas spirit.. viva la difference !..

merry everything folks !

nite all, nite sam

-me

Wednesday night – solstice

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First night of winter …. The longest night of the year. Our ancestors would light huge fires to chase back the darkness . My pagan friends still do that today . In fact most cultures have some sort of light festival around this time of year to lift peoples spirits as the nights grew longer Chanukah . Christmas , Yule, santa Lucias day, quanza, Diwali belting… All involve fire, gifts and prayer.
I for one news that now. I have to confess that the dark days and long nights burrow into my soul. Its a hard time of year to get through… But even tomorrow will be a bit brighter .. And the next day brighter still .. Lets keep our eyes on the dire for now
Happy Chanukah , hag sameach, blessed be

Nite all, nite Sam
-me

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