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4.12.05

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

O Christmas TreeOvernight, we saw the first appearance of that form of precipitation peculiar to the Washington winter, the ice bead. I, for one, would much prefer it to snow. Even so, what this means is that snow days could be right around the corner. If you didn't realize this when you were a child rejoicing that school was cancelled, I can assure you that your teachers were even more elated than you. What is that tied to the roof of the Ionarts conveyance? Yes, I drove home this afternoon with a 6-foot-tall blue spruce bound to my roof with twine. For the first time in his life thus far, Mini-Critic understands what Christmas is and insisted that we had to have a tree, preferably as soon as possible. The smell of coniferous sap in one's living room is always like the taste of the madeleine to Proust's narrator, recalling many scenes of Christmas joy. Before I had children of my own, I did not understand the way my parents reacted at Christmas, seemingly happy just to watch us open our presents. Now, I get it.

10 comments:

Mark Barry said...

åbout the hristmas bonus....

Mark Barry said...

Make that Christmas

Charles T. Downey said...

Your bonus is that you have to contribute two posts on Christmas Day.

Mark Barry said...

A deal, if I can get wifi on the Dominican/Hatian border. (No not CIA)

Princess Alpenrose said...

Amen, Papa Downey! The holidays are so much sweeter when you have your own kids.

ps I do believe that Santa Mark promised me a mug (not a photo of a mug, an actual ionarts coffee mug) for christmas...

jfl said...

hmmm... yes. Mark told us about that promise but sadly - and he hasn't had the heart to tell you yet - the ionarts clay-burning oven broke down in early november (one of charle's children probably broke it in an un-supervised moment at a visit). so now it is upon me to tell you that - regrettably - this christmas will have to be spent without your mug.

Mark Barry said...

A nice set of plastic cups?

Princess Alpenrose said...

And I suppose the Bartoli edition of the Caldara arias got burnt to a crisp in that kiln ("kiln", Jens, it's called a "kiln") before it broke down? : )

Charles T. Downey said...

As far as I can determine, there is no published edition of those arias, Andrea!

Princess Alpenrose said...

Darn. Thanks for looking, though, Charles! La B sure has got some interesting fioritura there (is that the right word?), on that CD!

[ps I really did like the photo and your little story about Mini-Critic's first conscious Christmas and being a Dad at the holidays. Sometimes we get so snooty music blog snarky day to day it's too easy to forget the really deeply sweet & good things in life ... Good job, Dad!]