h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Noooo.... we ned traditional, simple ornaments too - otherwise it won't be a proper Christmas tree!

*stuff an 'e' into previous post*

Morning all.

*holding a simple straw star, wondering where to hang it, when the tree stretches out an empty branch*

http://www.avoinmuseo.fi/joulu/kuvitus/olkitahti.jpg

My InLaws decorate their tree almost entirely with straw stars, tied together with scarlet thread. Very simple, very rustic, and so, so perfectly beautiful. I love them.

I have just been Xmas shopping in the local town centre - I say 'Xmas' because it makes me think of eczema, and that's more appropriate to the whole experience - irritating, unsightly, and distressing to the participants. Bah humbug.

Absolute and Utter Shop-Owner Fail Of The Day: Letting the pet dog roam about the shop. Which normally would not bother me at all - friendly quiet dogs are a nice addition to the greetingness of a place (though I freely confess I much prefer cats, but that's because my DNA is Cat Person through both sides of the family). This dog, however? Cr*pped on the floor. Of a food shop. And as the owners were busy, no one noticed right up to and until a small child announced in ringing tones: 'Daddy! You've stepped in POO!' And then of course there was much fetching of dettol wipes and mops and disinfectant sprays and trying to stop the silly dog from eating its own excrement while the patient 'daddy' stood stock still in the middle of the shop so he didn't track anything anywhere and the rest of us sidled out of the door... Accidents happen, of course. But the correct response to smearing your customers in dog-turds is 'oh, I am SO sorry. So very sorry. I am SO SO SO sorry.', and not 'The poor dog can't help it, people make her nervous.' IT'S A SHOP. ON THE SATURDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Why is a people-nervous expresses-emotions-through-bowels even IN a shop at ALL, A FOOD SHOP, let alone on the last Saturday before Xmas?

There. I wanted to use that smiley, and now I have. . Lovely.

And now a to cheer me up.

Ooops, after posting that link, I get an image of bewildered museum clerics wondering why the they're getting so many hits from abroad...

*nods in agreement with Ag while enjoying the beauty of her rant*

My contribution for the tree is a couple of dozen sparkly crackers in jewel colours, each containing a single chocolate and a small plastic doll (all different kinds, princes, knights, fairies, all sorts). Not to be pulled before Christmas day.

Ti, I believe we have one of those...

*hangs up an old-fashioned, traditional (!) Danish Christmas tree adornment: a chain of flags: http://www.dphtrading.com/c5grafik/1250706.jpg *

These are not to be taken as any kind of nationalist statement, mind you - we just happen to think our flag is pretty enough for a tree ornament and the red & white goes well with the green.

My 4 year old son wants me to tell you the specific brand of the plastic dolls inside the crackers is playmobil. Seems to ruin the somehow. Sorry.

Here Ag, and a dollop of balanced on the saucer. Hmmm, I wonder what a sympathy smiley would look like.

I still have the little papier-maché budgerigar studded with bits of mirror that I got from a flea market in Birmingham back in 1984. A bit faded, maybe, but still cherished. *hangs it carefully where the led lights will reflect from the mirror bits*

My h2g2 calendars arrived yesterday and they're gorgeous.

*rifles through her freshly painted and varnished salt dough decorations*

hmm . . . I've a star that's not too bad, or umm some hearts, and umm well there's a few little diamond shapes. Oh there's all the ones I haven't painted yet too . . . umm.

*pishes out a half sheet of paper, cuts a strip off one end, folds the remaining paper in half and cuts slits outward from the fold, opens it out, loins the two end pieces together and uses the strip of paper as a handle for her paper lantern.*

umm tree, could you bend down one of your lower branches a little only i'm a very small mouse?

*hangs the lantern carefully on the lowered branch while standing on tiptoe*

mini

*Closes her eyes and hums the 'Waltz of the Sugar Plum Fairies". She begins to twirl, gets dizzy and falls into the middle of her ornament box. *

I adore The Nutcracker.

I don't think there are any traditional hillbilly Christmas songs unless you count "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Somehow it just doesn't measure up to Tchaikovsky.

For many years I've decorated my tree with folk art ornaments. Some are regional, but most are from Mexico. I have no idea how many trips I've made to Mexico over the years. A lot. My favorites are the painted tin ornaments from Oaxaca. I've been collecting them for nearly 40 years. 39 to be precise. I got the first ones on my honeymoon. That's how I can remember how long it's been.

*hangs a 3-D punched tin star on the tree* I like the way the tin stars reflect the tree lights.

*Admires the tree, which is beginning to look splendid with all the lovely ornaments on it*

I just received a lovely Christmas card from my 90-year-old grandmama telling me she follows me on FaceBook and I'm the most entertaining read of her day. No pressure, grandmama. Also, oh dear Bob, do you peeps have ANY idea how much I swear on FB? *dies of shame*.

[Yar regards the tree, considers a moment, and adds ornaments based on the Portal 2 personality cores. Something like http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/mini-replica-portal-2-personality-cores-video-17-05-2011/ perhaps.]

Today was another day of waking up too early because of getting too hot. I'm not entirely sure why this is happening.

Ah well. Time to go out on a relatively cloudy day to pick up some groceries. It's a hair above freezing (34F/1.111111...C), too.

*Pads in quietly, stops beneath the Goo Spruce and lets the Scottish Red Squirrel hop off his back and into the lower branches.
Limbs rustle gently as the squirrel heads upwards, finding a nice fork near the top to curl up and enjoy the company of all those below*

Great little fella, found him in the wood next to the house and he was freezing. I'll take him back when it warms up and we've run out of nuts.

Nice rant, Ag. Made me chuckle. Merry Humbug.

Hyp, take that ornament out of your pocket and put it on the tree! Handmade and homemade ornaments are the best!

I'm sure I've bored all of you old timers with tales from my kids Nutcracker experiences with a local semi-professional dance company. But allow me to brag on them to our newer Salonistas. My older daughter has danced just about every role in that production over the years. She started as a wee mouse when she was 5, worked her way up to the lead (Clara) when she was 13, and took on several adult roles after that. The younger one wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but she tagged along for a few years, too.

The period from early September through the first week of December was a blur of activity during those years.

Ah, Sugar Plum Fairy... *hums and tippy-toes around and around*

Oh, and you have a realy cool grandmama, Ag! Facebooking at 90! The oldest blogging Swede I know of is only 80...

And might I add that as long as Ag's grandmama doesnt' express any concerns about bad language, then it's probably part of why she finds Ag entertaining.