Christmas

Christmas delays and man eating snowmen

22 December 2015

“So where you been?” asks no one in particular yet he uses this as a cliché intro to talk about a thing.

Skroode has been quiet for…a month? Really a month? I have to apologize for that. The life, she demands our time and this last month was an occasion where I had to answer the call.

This time of year is busy for a lot of people. A tradition in our house is The Christmas Card. Sometime back in 2003 we started making card to send. That year I reached a point where I was having a long arduous time finding any card I liked in the stores. I had been making cards for holidays for my wife long before we were married, so we decided to make our own.

So this is year 13 and every year since November means ‘time to come up with an idea’. So this year skroode took an unplanned short break as I pulled a card together from the “I guess this will work” idea to “Thank God it’s done” printing. It’s a simple ink/watercolor/pencil/whatever else is in arms reach affair.

The front:

christmas2015_front

Then of course, the inside:

christmas2015_back

We include a little image on the back, like the things you find on the cards in the stores as a small bonus joke. There was Discussion this year, as the first idea was judged “probably not quite right for many of the audience”:

christmas2015_b

I don’t think anyone wants to walk Great Great Aunt Ida through the humor there. So we went with:

christmas2015_a

Colored by the kids. They don’t realize it but this is so I can foist the whole thing off on them in five years.

So thanks for your patience. Things will be back on schedule after the holiday. In the meantime, here be the Christmas 2015 skroode.

If you are of the curious sort, here are the cards from 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012.

Joy, judgement, and tinsel

22 December 2015

Man how time flies when you’re…what have I been doing?

Ah yes. The holidays.

Well back we are and hopefully on schedule. The boys look like they are set for the holiday. Don’t worry about them. It will build character.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Whatever you do this time of year, hope it’s good.

A hero for our time

21 November 2014

My favorite time of year is autumn. I’m a huge fan of Halloween and look forward to Thanksgiving. And who doesn’t fancy a nice Hop-tu-Naa?

I like Christmas. I think I used to look forward to it more than I do now. Part of that is the waaaaay early start of the commercials, decorations, and so on not to mention the Black Friday Frenzy. It starts so early it’s hard to keep up the joy in it two months later. I suppose there is also some resentment that Thanksgiving and more often these days Halloween are getting pushed aside sooner to make way for El Clause. I saw trees in the store the week of Halloween, the pumpkins and skeletons pushed to the end caps like embarrassing relatives. That’s why we need Captain Thanksween right now.

The Captain girds for the good fight sporting an array of autumn talismans:

  • The obligatory pilgrim hat
  • Jack-o-lantern head
  • Pilgrim cape, pants, and cuffs
  • Fall leaf sigil on chest
  • Cornocopagun
  • And of course, Snake Plisskin’s eyepatch, shirt, and boots.

Years ago it seemed that Escape from New York was on during the Thanksgiving week every year for a few years. We came to think of it as ‘The Thanksgiving Movie’. I would later learn it wasn’t just me – I’ve met others with the same memories. So to this day I usually watch it before Thanksgiving.

So this year be thankful. That you don’t live in an abandoned city-prison surrounded by thirty foot walls with armed guards. And your family or whatever.