I’ve spent some time thinking about religion today–primarily as part of working on my argument that Christmas as practiced in North America is essentially a secular holiday…with more pagan trappings than Christian ones among the commonly observed rituals, etc., and thus something I can celebrate non-hypocritcally. So I was already primed to appreciate the new map at Lapham’s Quaterly (for… Read more →
Tag: christmas
I Should Enjoy This While It Lasts, Right?
Sarah’s “big” Christmas present this year was her own iPod Nano, and a little clock/radio/dock that she could use to play it in her room. We had been having a lot of fun listening to songs in the car, taking turns picking songs, and she liked both being able to pick songs, and looking at the “pictures” (i.e. the album… Read more →
Merry Christmas
I hope you all have a good holiday, get to spend some time with your loved ones, to look back on the good parts of the year that’s ending, and find yourself filled with pleasant hopes for the one about to unfold. (I’ll go back to cynical and grumpy in a day or two, don’t worry.) Read more →
It doesn’t matter if it’s good, it’s still genius.
So, we know that I like Revelations, especially some of the bits at the end, and especially including God’s no-modifications open license. We also know that I like Hal Duncan, and especially when he’s being his most over-the-top flagrantly intellectual. You might not know that I have a sentimental affection for historical surrealists and Burroughs, and thus, by extension for… Read more →
Christmas Spirit (sincere)
I should note that while I maintain a little bit of hipster irony about the whole Christmas thing (for instance, this made me laugh right out loud) there are some other people in my household who are completely into it. And, since I am completely unable to say no to them, I have found myself singing carols and taking part… Read more →
Christmas Spirit
I just found this on my hard drive–I think it might have run in Harpers ages ago–and thought it was worth putting up here: A HO-HO-HO HOW-TO From the “Santa Manual” distributed by Western Temporary Services to employees in its “Santa Division” The Walnut Creek, California, firm provides as many as 3,000 Santas to department stores and shopping malls each… Read more →
Aside
While our family has several Christmas traditions, and these are very meaningful to me, there is also one Christmas tradition that is mine alone, and it brings me a great amount of pleasure. Every year, early in December, the people from Scrumptious Delights have a booth in Halifax as part of one of the Christmas craft shows. Every year, I visit them and buy one of their “Victorian Dark” Christmas cakes. It comes wrapped in a brandy-soaked cheesecloth, then cling wrap, then foil, then a lovely plastic packaging. I ration it out over as many days as I can–usually about five. If you dislike a good fruitcake, that’s fine with me–more for me. If you think fruitcake is a joke, then you have just never had one this good. I just had my second piece. So very, very good. I am leaving out one embarrassing part of this story.
Merry Christmas To All
Here’s wishing a hearty Merry Christmas to everyone who reads Homo Sum. (The image above links to a wall-paper sized version. It’s from here originally.) Read more →
