Sunday, November 27, 2005
Holiday Decorating
GLS found some holiday lights made out of red and green shotgun shells at Breed & Co. and was so amused that he bought a strand and hung it over the arches in the foyer.
We also decorated our tree, which stands some 8' beneath our 10' dining room ceiling. It's funny, the history a decorated Christmas tree reveals. From the Field Museum's Sue in gold and Chicago Art Institute ornaments (one a snow globe featuring a lion; the other a silver depiction of the front of the building), it's clear that the Windy City is significant, and in fact, it's GLS's home town. Mine is recognized with a white ball commemorating the Plaza Lights of Kansas City. We also have a "Beauty and the Beast" (Beast with rose) silver disc from the Broadway production, which we saw in Chicago.
But the Texas influence is growing fast with ornaments of armadillos and geckos, Mexican-styled angels and crosses, mostly purchased at Mi Casa Gallery on South Congress. And of course, as people owned by four cats, more than one kitty graces the limbs.
That said, the global theme of the tree is music, which we selected because our 1920s house was built by the family that founded the Austin Symphony.
What else? The hard-carved nativity is displayed on the display cabinet atop copies of: Merry Christmas, Merry Crow by KA (Harcourt, 2005); Santa Baby by JB (Little Brown, 2005); Hanukkah, Shmanukkah! by Esme Raji Codell (Hyperion, 2005); When Cows Come Home for Christmas by DC (Albert Whitman, 2005); Christmas Mousling, also by DC (Viking, 2005); and 'Twas The Fright Before Christmas by JS (Harcourt, 2002)(a particularly good choice for spookycyn readers who celebrate Christmas).
Spooky Link
Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne Ultra-Condensed by Samuel Stoddard from Book-A-Minute Classics. I read YGB in three English classes in college, which inspired me to feature it in Q's English class in my upcoming novel, Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007).
