Saturday, December 26, 2009

"I'm so glad it's over - aren't you!"


A woman I know once said that to me the day after Christmas.  She also boasted she had taken the tree down Christmas night and had the ornaments all packed away before she went to bed - explaining garbage day was the next day and she wanted the tree picked up rather than sitting out on the curb for a week.  How neat and tidy.
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Christmas in the United States.
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Photo: Jayne Mansfield showing off her ornaments.

16 comments:

  1. You are talking about the ornaments on her tree, right? Right??

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  3. She could well be a topper on the Christmas tree, she just need her wings. LOL

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  4. Ohhhh, she's standing on a bench!
    I was thinking, "My word, she looks like one of those aliens from the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man."

    Phew. Sorry, Jayne.
    Nice ornaments, babe.

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  5. Austringer10:50 AM

    Good heavens, what a stupid, phony, self-conscious pose: "Here are MY ornaments -- wouldn't you kill to have me deck your halls?"

    Terry, our tree got decorated yesterday and will stay up until Epiphany (or later, if I'm busy). Does that count as a redemptive action for the woman who took her tree down so soon?

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  6. Anonymous11:17 AM

    I just barely got the tree up and decorated--it's staying till Epiphany! But it does feel a bit weird that were just starting Christmas, and the secular world is done--finished--nada. I have enough cookies and chocolate to last till Epiphany, and then maybe, just maybe, I'll join the secualar world in the January get-fit mania--nah--they will be done with it by then :)

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  7. A Christmas tree is not necessary to celebrating this holy season. So who cares when it goes up and when it comes down??

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  8. Austringer - her pose is the last part of the essential, "bend and snap!"

    Tara - I always want to burn used Christmas trees left out on the curb.

    Angie - that may be true - but ornaments are essential. Aren't they Larry.

    Fr. - I thought that too. ;)

    Cathy - I thought the bottom of her dress was mismatched with the dress until you told me it was a stool.

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  9. My hubby likes big flashy ornaments.

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  10. Wow! My cousin had her tree on a table this year too, to ward off the small child who will be a year old soon and who has discovered the joys of ripping paper and gnawing on cardboard.

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  11. Angela M. said...
    "A Christmas tree is not necessary to celebrating this holy season. So who cares when it goes up and when it comes down??"

    might not be necessary ... but it might lead to deeper reflection on the "holy season" and what the season points to ...

    ...once while listening to a tape recording of a scripture lecture by a priest in town on Ezechiel 9:3-11, something said caught my attention and it was on the Hebrew word "Tau".

    The "mark ... upon the foreheads of men that sigh and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst thereof."

    This prompted me to visit some Orthodox Jewish sites to find the meaning they have applied to the letter "Tau" (the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet)... after several searches and readings, I came upon one that brought me to our "traditional" Christmas fir tree ... and, by the way, the Evergreen symbol that is on by Catholic college ring too.

    What I read was this, note the illustration that can be used to represent the letter:

    Taw/Symbol of TOTALITY

    x vane; the four areas of the earth, comprising all; the total sum of a world/age; wholeness; four corners,directions; composite of fire/energy/angelic, air/gas/spirit, water/fluid/soul, earth/solids/body; to weave; sinew, strings, cords;

    Sum, totality, infinity; sign, mark; finishes, completions; Torah, Tanach. Composition of all
    preceding; thus, idea of completion and perfection.

    Expresses further change, continuation, additiion, renewal, regeneration, resurrection;
    providing a continuum, endurance; perpetuality, connecting threads of PAST,
    PRESENT, FUTURE, the two sticks/crossed and
    joined; creates the diamond paths, created by i.e. aleph +Shin, Bet+resh,
    etc.

    2ND PERSON future indication. 400=SANCTIFICATION OF ALL
    THINGS/COMPLETION OF ALL

    ILLUSTRATIONS in plants: Evergreen tree, scroll ... (Chronicles)

    ...and I further learned St. Francis wrote a mediation on the Tau (Taw, Tav).

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  12. I'm gonna get in big trouble with this, but here goes...

    Reminds me of that Christmas song "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teats"

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  13. Treats - two front treats..

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  14. Terry - sorry. Skipped the 'r'. Which reminds me of a joke that I'll get around to telling some time.

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  15. The poor thing looks like she's gonna topple over...and I don't mean the Christmas tree!
    (Spoken like a confirmed celibate]
    custody of the eyes...custody of the eyes...
    Whew!
    We put up our Christmas tree on Dec.24th and it will stay there until the Epiphany (at least)...I enjoy being TOTALLy counter-cultural...plus you get 50-75% off on Christmas items!!

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  16. I always look like that first thing in the morning!

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