Category: <span>Holidays</span>

Published December 2, 2008 by

Christmas tree personality

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Last night I decorated our Christmas tree. After some enjoyable trips to scout out a few more decorations (One with my friend Beth) I had plenty to fill in the gaps. Finding nice decorations is a sometimes difficult thing – because I am well into interesting wooden and perhaps some less conventional decorations as well as some of the kinds I’ve grown up with (Scandinavian influenced little wooden painted things). They don’t sell them like they used to… or rather they slather on the glitter and strange colours.

I like the reds and greens, golds and silvers and aren’t a huge fan of highly structured bauble-only trees. If I really want, I can get that at a shopping centre.

I shall post a full picture of the tree once I get some decent light happening and clean up the area around it a bit more – or at least work out how to cut the ugly wall heater out of the image.

So, last night was done in proper style by cranking what I’ve got of Handel’s Messiah. It felt as good as it has every year.

My mother maintains that I get strangely traditionally anal (although perhaps she wouldn’t use that word) around this time of year – possibly because of our unusual and nomadic upbringing.

Create Holidays Life

christmas decorations tradition tree

Published November 28, 2008 by

Our other stuff

I dropped by Myers today to check if they had any Christmas decorations worth bothering with (and not ridiculously expensive) as I no longer can leech off my parents supply being married and all… While I was there I overhead a woman say to her friend.

“We gave the poor our other stuff, so now we’ve just got the good stuff out”.

Naturally, this evoked a kind of (righteous – which is perhaps over justified) indignation. I still went and bought the decorations in my hand.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about how to treat Christmas this year and how to balance how I think I want to live – unbound by consumerism, which I do so incredibly poorly, and how I actually live – which is mostly as I always have.

How do you balance the giving of presents, because you love particular people and it’s part of Christmas, with giving where giving is more about life than about making people feeling good?

I like the idea of Advent Conspiracy, because of the principle of cutting back and yet giving more where it counts works. It’s not flawless though.

Surely you can’t truthfully have a parallel philosophy in wasting money on mostly useless stuff to give to your family and friends, and using money on something as key to life as water, health care, security, food.

Undoubtedly I am driven my selfishness, by the expectations around me, the traditions I love… because I am inconclusive about how to deal with it.

So for yet another year I will sit on this wobbly middle ground, which in reality is probably still closer to the bank I started on, just as far from the side I would idealisiticaly like to want myself.

Christianity Holidays Life Social Justice

christmas consumerism giving tension

Published November 27, 2008 by

This Christmas… Advent Conspiracy

Christianity Church Cooking Create Culture Experiments Holidays Relationships Social Justice

advent christmas Jesus Life presents

Published November 22, 2008 by

Bodum, Hahndorf, Doncaster

coffeecup1Since our honeymoon, back in January, Geoff and I have been casually searching for these round double layer bodum latte glasses. We were first introduced to them at Hahndorf Hill Winery after an exceptional meal and probably the best wine I’ve ever tasted (White Mischief), so the appeal is part memory, part design lust.

Yesterday I finally found them at Wheel & Barrow, after I braved the new Doncaster Westfield. They were tad pricey but a little too pretty to resist.

The verdict on the glasses is good, the verdict on Doncaster is that it’s far too showy and self important. I’d only return for the paper shop, the rest is somewhat ridiculous and I didn’t enjoy the experience.

Coffee Culture Holidays

Coffee shopping wine

Published June 9, 2008 by

A holiday mix

Holidays have come around again. I have 8 weeks off. It is time to be thinking about a new blog theme. I will be going here for some inspiration: Design Meltdown & Designer Portfolios. They are exciting and I’ve barely explored the site at all.

Other things I hope to get done in the next 8 weeks.

  • Get the house clean
  • Get the washing done (yes it is that bad – I was going to do it all today but the weather is pretty shonky and we don’t have a dryer. Bah!)
  • Print a stack of wedding photos – which I still haven’t done. I want to put some kind of album together, so that will either look like me setting it out myself or cheating and going an Iphoto photobook, that at least one big one for the wall (not that we can put anything up)
  • Get a new couch, ours is practically dead and hey, it’s orange. I won’t be sad to lose it.
  • Have some people around!
  • Use some ‘free’ time to get a bit more creative with graphics related stuff, it’s been a bit dry for anything hugely original lately.
  • Catch up with all the friends I have neglected
  • Visit the Solomon Islands (where I grew up) and not get Malaria while I’m there. I hate you mosquitoes.
  • Sleep a lot. Read a lot. (Stock standards for every holiday mix)

The list is by no means exhaustive.

Holidays Life

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