Month of Magic Light

Take a walk, go for a drive and look around. It's the month of magic fairy lights. Do you belong to the school of white or colored lights? Vintage or modern classic bulbs? Looking at those large, chunky colored bulbs while listening to Bing Crosby's White Christmas always reminds me of my grandmother, with whom I shared a sweet spot for '40s-'50s pop culture.

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photo by Lisa Leonard via crushculdesac

Friday Favs: The Good, the Bad, the (not so) Ugly

T h e  G o o d ...

The DCist Exposed Photography Show exhibits DCist editors' picks from photos tagged as "DCist" on Flickr.  My husband and I went to the opening at Longview Gallery, where I met senior editor and Exposed bartender, Martin Andres Austermuhle. I discovered that he too spent his early years in Bogotá, Colombia. Small world! (Ok, he's Swiss and I'm not, but I was British in a past life and that's close. Right?) True, I'm bound to meet home-grown Colombians in the city of embassies. Pish tosh, they're transient expats, not "childhood-Colombian". There's a difference and the expats would say it's a little larger than an ant-hill. But, I digress...

Why I waited that long to visit Longview Gallery, I don't know. I felt right at home in this space, somehow. The intimacy of its fairly small interior balances its loft-y vibe. It reminded me of Georgetown's Halcyon House, the setting for an event I did in my last year as a wedding designer. I would share a few shots with you, but Leikness-Dougherty kept forgetting to send shots of my work. (Evidently, I don't forget. Admittedly, a little scary.)

More digression: DCist's logo is adorable. I felt like skipping across the room when they stamped the logo onto our hands, but it was too crowded for that. I didn't want to wash it off right away, forgot to scrub it off and went to bed. The result? A DCist temporary tattoo on my face! It showered right off, though. I wonder how my (euh) spontaneous French language instructor would have reacted had I gone to class DCist-branded...

Back to the original point. Longview is truly the perfect setting for my favorite shots by 2011 winners:

Infusion Dance Co - spiggycat



Babel - specimenlife



[love in loss] - holding steady

And these 2. (Sorry, sources disabled image sharing.)

4th of July - A Moment to Capture
DC Caribbean Festival

T h e  B a d ...

I was taken hostage by an insurmountable craving for cake. I intended to get a slice of real vanilla cake with whipped cream frosting and strawberries at Whole Foods, but they were out of my flavor. Gasp! They had chocolate-frosted chocolate cake and carrot cake. I am all for chocolate as an accompaniment - Nutella, chocolat chaud, peanut butter cups - not as a narcissistic dessert ingredient. I do have the ability to like carrot cake, but it scares me because it's too unreliable. (You can end up with a gag-inducing carrot cake just as easily as you can end up with a really great one.) That left only their angel food cake with fresh berries. Normally, I don't buy ready-made desserts, much less an entire cake to take home. If I don't buy it, I don't eat it. I also don't like the wastefulness, the thoughtlessness of impulse buys. But it isn't everyday that you're kidnapped by cake. I argued that cake wasn't an impulse buy because it was on my list. Off I went with my little extravagance.

Life Lesson #_: Don't buy a whole cake when you're hungry. I know this rule. I usually follow it pretty well. (I'm really good at following rules... so long as they're not silly rules made up by other people.) Last two days? Nope, not so much. I ate most of it. By myself. (No photo of the blushing cake, because, well, it's gone.) On the bright side, it was lunch and breakfast, it could've been real butter-rich cake, and I had power cardio and reformer class afterwards. Was it good? Not bad, but a little drunk on sugar. (In America, we seem to be seduced by sweet excess, often piling high fructose corn syrup on top of sugar. The French, however have mastered the art of dessert. They know it isn't necessary to bulldoze the palate with sugar.) After all that, my favorite part was the berries and I should've just bought a tub of them.

But try paying Cake's ransom with berries.

T h e  U g l y ...

Hmm. Crickets. I go treasure-hunting for the lovely, the fun, the original and the inspiring so it isn't easy to resurrect the ugly. The bouncer in my head promptly escorts the ugly away. There is enough "ugliness" out there - slightly ugly and very ugly, among the familiar and the unknown, close to home and far away. I vote for not being around it but going for the treasure instead.

This isn't ugly in the least, but it's scary in an oh so fun way. (Fluorescently colored - is it meant to be consumed? It's too cute to eat!) It's the best DIY idea I've ever seen for St. Patrick's Day. For more info on making your own leprechaun trap, visit the fabulous Not Martha.

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Holiday Trivia

At Calliope, I'm known as a grab bag of "useless information". Random facts, visuals and quotes nest in my brain, at times leaving a "no vacancy" sign for more impressive information. Here are a few cookie crumbs from my trove of random quotes and trivia:

Frommers

Charles Dickens

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

Norman Vincent Peale
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

Eggnog

The first eggnog made in the U.S. was consumed in Captain John Smith's 1607 Jamestown Settlement.

Speaking Cats and Dogs

According to old wives' tales, at midnight on every Christmas Eve animals are given the power of speech for a brief period.* That brief period will be known as snacktime for our four-legged friend. (Remember the chewy granola bar commercial?)

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Construction workers started the tradition in 1931.



Xmas

Contrary to what many people think, the "X" is not a way to disassociate Christ from Christmas. Its origin is religious in nature. The Greek word that gives us the English word "Christ" started with the letter "chi" or "x". The early Christians who spoke Greek used the word to signify "Christ's Mass". Throughout the centuries, fewer people understood ancient Greek and thought the "X" was pagan-like, and even disrespectful.*

English Customs

Christmas, as an English custom, fell out of favor in the U.S. after the American Revolution.

Frommers

More Christmas Interest

Christmas medley: history, strange customs, light displays, Santa's origin

Traditions around the world
For travelers: CNN's top 10 places to spend Christmas

Displays: Frommer's 10 Holiday Lights Around the World

*Farmer's Almanac

Favorite Holiday Flicks

Give treats. Play tricks. 

Pumpkin in everything.

Hot cider. Warm hearths.

Nick, Frosty and Charlie.

Bubbly here, bubbly there.

Sprinkle your house with red. 

Drink cream. Bake men.

Wrap to your heart's content. 

Create. Give thanks.

I and we. Celebrate.

Spring rejuvenates and refreshes. Anticipation seems to sprout lazily on tree limbs and crawl over lawns. Summer infectiously invigorates; light, color and mood are bright. I think, however, that my favorite time of year is the fall to winter bridge. There is more ready opportunity for celebration in October, November and December than there is in all other months combined. More people are in kind, festive moods, enjoying themselves and helping others enjoy themselves as well.

The lines above list a few of my favorite things about this "holiday bridge". I love holiday concerts, ballets and plays, but I also like to watch a Christmas movie here and there to inject a little jolly. In need of an instant holiday pick-me-up? Rent a few of these online or locally and check tv listings here:

1. White Christmas

I love, love, love technicolor movies, especially those featuring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Irving Berlin was b-r-i-l-l-i-a-n-t. Listen to one of his songs and your happy-meter reading does a little jump. The soundtrack from this movie is perfect holiday fare...

White Christmas (duh!), The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing (not a newsflash!), Sisters, Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep, Snow (snow, snow snow...), What Can You Do With a General, Love You Didn't Do Right By Me. Then there's Bing's Mele Kalikimaka, which I discovered in the last few years (believe it or not).

2. The Holiday

Watch the movie, want the cottage. And Jude's character's house. And a vacation at Cameron's character's house. And Jack's character to write you a theme song. Oh, and Sophie and Olivia, too.

3. A Charlie Brown Christmas

A timeless, childhood classic. Even now, as an adult, I drop everything and run to the tv when Charlie Brown holiday specials are playing.

4. Little Women (1994)

Perfect adaptation of the novel. Terrific cast. Gorgeous scenes.

5. Love Actually

One of the best collection of short stories on-film. Fabulous cast. Alan Rickman is amazing. The soundtrack is great too. You'll be singing along to the movie and the silent types watching with you will have to gag you.

6. Mickey's Christmas Carol

Short but so sweet. Plus, it's Mickey, the all-time king of cartoons.

7. The Santa Clause

Tim Allen is just fantastic in this movie. I love the north pole, Judy the Elf ("Thanks, but I'm seeing someone in wrapping.", "Seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing."), and Charlie with the super pinch-able cheeks.

8-9. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & Santa Clause is Coming to Town
The misfits. Need I say more? High-tech animation can't touch this.

10. Samantha: An American Girl Holiday

An old-fashioned story. I never owned an American Girl doll, but I loved them. Although I was part tomboy, I also loved history and Victoriana, in which the scenes are pretty rich. 

11. A Christmas Carol (1951)

I like black and white movies and that isn't the reason I prefer this version...

12. Home Alone 1

Macaulay was hilarious. I think every kid has shared at least one of Kevin's thoughts at one time.

13. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Natalie Wood was a huge talent at such a young age. She played a great vulnerable little skeptic.

14. Frosty the Snowman

Can you remember the lyrics? For some reason, they just don't stick with me. Frosty the snowman was a jolly, happy soul, with a... and I resort to humming.

15. Family Stone
The last few scenes! That porch, too.

16. Polar Express

17. Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Clause

18. It's a Wonderful Life

I have mixed feelings about this movie, but it's a classic so on the list it goes.