13 December 2013

Christmas cheer

Christmas is descending and bringing with it a dose of homesickness, darker days, and the nagging feeling that I've forgotten to buy someone a Christmas present. This last one is undoubtedly true, considering my Christmas shopping so far has primarily consisted of buying a few pairs of wool socks. They are very nice. Anyone (everyone?) would be lucky to get them.


I have been regaling my students with descriptions of the Christmas trees of my childhood, complete with illustrations. My drawing skills were recently mocked following the Boroughs of New York Illustration Disaster, but I'm confident that I've redeemed myself and re-established myself as a serious artist in the medium of chalk on chalkboard.
A close representation of both childhood Christmas trees and my classroom drawings of them
As a child, I swore I would have a proper Christmas tree when I was an adult, and leave the grand specimen up for more than a few days. Last weekend, I put up our festive decorations, thereby keeping the second part of my vow. However, as I was admiring my drawing on the chalkboard in the middle of one of my classes, I was struck by the similarity between our current tree and the trees of my younger years.
Space-age (or possibly post-apocalyptic) tree
'Man hands on inadequate Christmas trees to man', and all that. Poor Smalls, at least my childhood trees had needles (albeit only a few).

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