O come . . .
25 December 2009 Leave a Comment
Merry first day of Christmas!
O Come Let us Adore Him performed by Pomplamoose (via Old World Swine)
Christmas Eve
24 December 2009 2 Comments
When I was a kid I used to find auto fuses on the street and pretend they were spaceships akin to an X-wing fighter. And the Christmas tree was the mothership. Sometimes I miss my childhood imagination.
We got a little crazy this year and took advantage of the tall ceilings in our present living space this year. My wife and her parents went to a tree farm near Seward, Nebraska and felled an 11′ tall Canaan Fir (above). It’s the first tree we’ve had in two or three years.
Life itself is grace
30 November 2009 Leave a Comment
Digging for our advent devotional yesterday I also found my friend Joel Armstrong‘s recent book Wired (most of our books are still packed for lack of shelving). I kept it out — I’d been thinking of the book the previous week anyway — and thought this quote was good for the season.
Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
The Adam Sandler movie Click was on last night, which I’d seen at some point in the past, and it reinforces Buechner’s point that even the low points in life are worth savoring, as difficult as they might be.
Life itself is grace.
Sacrificial generosity
29 November 2009 Leave a Comment
I thought this post card from Post Secret was a fitting way to mark the first day of this Advent season.
I must admit, though, that I wish this person’s generosity was not a secret to his or her friends. In my opinion, we need more people in our culture setting an example of sacrificial giving.
Gifting Don’t: Wrapping like crap on purpose
22 December 2008 Leave a Comment
I just learned about a phenomenon called crapwrap, where people try to wrap things crappily. They’ll even do it for you, for a fee. The local news spot showed boxes wrapped with gaudy reused paper and brown packing tape.
The interview included a crap-wrapping employee talking about why they do what they do. He suggested it was a great way to present a package in a one-of-a-kind way.
He’s wrong. Really, the boxes just look like your four year old took a crack at the box. There are soooooo many creative ways to use ordinary objects to embellish beautifully instead of elementary-like. Crumpling up ugly paper, poor technique and using bawdy tape are just that, and they are not beautiful when combined. They are simple and ugly.
There are so many more so much more interesting textures and materials around your house that can be both recycled and unique. Think brown paper bags, foil, spray paint, old t-shirts for wrapping. For joining think clips, rivets, thread, thumb tacks; for tags use the inside of Avon boxes, last year’s Christmas cards (heck, use these for paper!), etc etc.
Of course, if you actually want an ugly gift to give to someone, be my guest. Just don’t say the the best way to make a gift unique is to make it ugly.
Gifting: Shopping aesthetics
14 December 2008 Leave a Comment
A bit of a tangent to this series, but . . .
My wife and I spent five hours shopping yesterday, which is pretty unusual for us. It was our first time to the mall in longer than we could remember. We had a few stops on our list. Banana Republic wasn’t one of them, but we ended up there and found some sales, some clothes for a wedding in January.
I used to shop Banana Republic regularly when I lived in Nebraska. Their sales on men’s clothes were significant. I regularly found wool dress pants marked down from $90 to $10. I bought a wool sports coat for $20 on sale five years ago or so.
The sales at the store here in Fayetteville are meager in comparison; I don’t remember if I’ve ever bought anything down here.
I remembered the reason I liked shopping there, besides good clothing on sale, this weekend. The store is well designed. Merchandise isn’t so crammed onto racks and shelves like it is in department stores. There is, so to speak, white space. The shopping experience is simply superior if you can’t afford boutiques on Fifth Avenue, or if you haven’t made a commitment to buy handmade. Other stores are set up similarly, such as Express, Lerner New York and Structure.
So long as the sales are good, I’d pick these stores over a department store any day.
Gifting: Beware of the doghouse
9 December 2008 2 Comments
I hesitate to post this since it’s an ad, but it’s a darn good ad that actually uses the phrase “thoughtful gift.”
My wife has actually expressed interest in a new Dyson. Is a Dyson better than a “dual bag?” The video also reminds me of a man I know who cannot bring himself to buy impractical gifts for his wife. Poor guy.
Saatchi & Saatchi did the video. Visit the campaign’s website here. There is an amusing and institutional audio loop on the website that goes through things wives wish their husbands would or wouldn’t do. Some of them are kind of funny, such as “Stop checking out other women in restaurants” and “Express your feelings.” There is also “Talk more, but don’t interrupt” followed by “Speak less.” Um, which is it?
Gifting: Consumerism ≠ happiness, memories or meaning
2 December 2008 Leave a Comment
This is the second or third Christmas, to my knowledge, that the Advent Conspiracy has been around.
The video largely follows the ideas behind this Gifting series. I like that it points out that consumerism doesn’t equal happiness, memories or meaning.
And speaking of Advent, my wife and I plan to read through the new book God With Us: Rediscovering the meaning of Christmas. It was published last Fall and covers Advent, Christmas and Epiphany according to an interview of Kathleen Norris, a contributing author in the book, by Gregory Wolfe. The hour-long interview can be heard or downloaded on the Rediscovering Christmas website. The same website describes the book by saying “Through daily meditations, scripture, prayer, illuminating history and fine art, we experience what saints have glimpsed through the ages — the wonder of God made flesh.” We have high hopes for the book which arrived on our doorstep during lunch today.
Consumerism causes death in New York
1 December 2008 1 Comment
Another short blurb for today. By now most people have heard that a Walmart employee was trampled to death in the 5am chaos of Black Friday. ThinkChristian points to a Times article where people are speculating on where to place the blame for the tragedy. They also note a Newsday article suggesting New York legislators are planning laws to require security in the future to control these mobs.
I can’t honestly remember if I’ve ever shopped for Christmas gifts on Black Friday. I’m pretty sure I have, but I certainly don’t make a point of it. I like shopping and don’t mind crowds, but I very much dislike dealing with traffic and lines on the scale one expects for that kind of outing. So at this point in life I don’t go. Further, shopping opportunities in little Siloam Springs aren’t exactly plentiful (I don’t really count Walmart as a place I buy Christmas gifts), so my wife and I get most of our goodies online anymore.
The ThinkChristian article ends by asking what people of faith can do to counter the consumerism of American culture on Black Friday in particular. My suggestion was to try and make it the day of the year when more money is given to charity than any other.
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Gifting: Fairness; ugh.
19 November 2008 4 Comments
One of the things my wife and I struggle with is fairness in gifting.
Personally, I find this annoying. The actual monetary value of a gift, in my opinion, is irrelevant if the gifts are of equal value to the recipient. This, however, is much more difficult to predict and control than deciding to spend $50 on both Sally and Rupert’s gifts.
Regardless of how annoying the idea of fairness is to me, our families seem to abide by this rule. In the last year or two it’s become more difficult than ever before, though. Our siblings are getting hitched, adding new in-laws to the gift giving fray — in-laws that we don’t necessarily know very well and who are therefore more difficult to find any gift for, let alone a thoughtful gift.
I’d be curious to know others thoughts and dealings on this particular issue. And in conclusion, here’s a Tim Jones painting that will be for sale soon on a new blog powered by Ebay. The starting bid for this nice little piece will be $85, making it a much more thoughtful gift than, well, lots of other things for $85.
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