Meowy Christmas!

Cheesy title, I know. The cats were zonked out last night so there are some shots of them looking all passed out and puffy. And of course we are having a white Christmas this year, as evidenced by the photos taken this morning out the window.

The last one is a monster Bryn made by turning his stocking into a sock puppet and adding a spare googly-eye he had laying around along with a curly ribbon. Good times!

Origami Box Lights

These are my favorite Xmas decoration this year. We saw them at the Top Pot on Capitol Hill and Bryn recreated them for our windows at home with 100 LED lights and a package of origami paper. Actually, he's still folding as we speak. But at least he's over halfway through.

Oh Xmas Tree

I'm here at home studying before heading to school, listening to Christmas music and enjoying our tree. Did I mention we have a tree? We weren't planning on getting one this year, but then Bryn arrived at home on Sunday while I was slogging through homework with a tree and assorted trimmings. I'll admit that I was frightened by the selection of things he got. Mainly the lights. There are four different types of lights on this thing, white LEDs, colored LEDs, other colored LEDs that twinkle, and a strand of crazy starburst lotus light with glitter.

But we put it all together and it looks just fine. It may not be a designer tree, but it's the first time I've had a real tree in years and the house smells nice! Plus he bought some weird gadget for it so we have a Christmas tree with a remote control to turn the lights on and off. It looks like a keyless entry fob for a car. The only thing that would make it better is if it would "chirp" when I hit the button!

Xmas Shopping Made Easier

Are you finding it difficult to find the "perfect" gift for that "hard-to-shop-for" friend or family member? Here are a few suggestions:

If they live in Indiana you can always get them a nice gift voucher for Planned Parenthood. Now you can rest easy, knowing that their insolvency won't keep them from having access to sound family planning care.

Not living in Indiana? Well how about a lovely fetus cookie cutter? Don't worry about touching off political arguments, because it can be used for pro-life OR pro-choice purposes and is sure to provide hours of delight and indignance!

For the person who has everything, there's always a fully-loaded Four Seasons gift card? They'll have $100,000 to use toward luxury hotel stays, and you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you've probably given them the their most expensive gifts ever.

Do you know somebody who desperately needs a daily coffee fix? How about buying them a Starbucks Gold membership? (Note: this gift is perfect for "people who really love Starbucks.") It'll save them 10% off most of their drink purchases, includes a free birthday drink, and 2 hours of WiFi a day in selected locations. So it is your standard exclusive-seeming membership rewards program. No curbside valet parking. But you get the cache of carrying another "gold" card in your wallet. And if $25 is still too high for your budget, consider a grocery store rewards card as the gift that keeps on giving.

Lastly, are you tired of the big red bow that Lexus slaps on all of its cars in commercials every holiday season? Do you prefer German engineering to Japanese precision? Then consider giving a BMW this year instead. The Neiman Marcus Christmas Book has the perfect option on page 81, a NM Limited-Edition 2009 BMW Individual 7 Series Sedan. Only $160,000! And that price includes a trip to the BMW plant in Germany to "meet your new BMW and the engineers and designers who helped create it." In fact, I think that one of the fully-loaded Four Seasons gift cards would be a perfect stocking stuffer accent to go along with this gift!

Christmas vs. Easter

Scientists recently found spruce trees in Sweden that may be up to 8,000 years old. That beats the current 5,000 year old California record holder by three millenia! And since we're on the subject of conifers, we can easily jump over to Christmas, right? And from there compare it to Easter? And hey, how does Easter resist the commercialism of Christmas anyhow? I mean, both holidays have to do with Jesus. I suppose his torturous death does seem a little unsavory in comparison to the image of a newborn baby in a manger with some kings and shepherds trekking across the desert, following a convenient star in the sky. "Jesus remains the world's most famous victim of capital punishment." And that doesn't seem likely to sell quite as many Hallmark greeting cards.