Skylight at Bixby Library in Vergennes
Bixby Library exterior, Vergennes Vermont
Mike, Mary Jane, and Ben Broughton, Dan and Chris Eling. Almost like the old days...
Laura and Gail Martin
Genevieve, Cindy, and Julianna Folino
2-0-0-5.
That Old Eling Place gives me the Creeps 
The Haul so Far; Bacon Cookbook from Jane, Camelbak from Steph, and Nathaniel's Nutmeg from Nessa. All awesome gifts.
More lights = More Christmas
Cards [clockwise from upper left: Chris Eling, Grandma & Grandpa Eling, Steph Morrison, the Boulangers, the Folinos, The Riverses (including photo in lower right), the Kruegers, the Pellegrinis, and the Dearborns (center)]
Christmas has begun. I strung up more lights to make my place more festive, I started packing for my trip to Portland, I got this year's card from Chris, and I got my first few gifts.
This is the 10th Anniversary card from Chris, and he once again proves how clever he is. This year's cross imagery is set at a 45 degree angle, forming an X - or roman numeral for 10. As always, the artistry is of the highest quality. I also received a very cool card from Steph, featuring a picture of what I can only guess is some kind of peppermint martini, with candy-cane swizzle.
Speaking of cards, I've been getting compliments on this year's Danta Claus cards. In fact, the custom stamps seem to be garnering even stronger responses. I'll have to put more effort into both next year.
Had a really nice dinner with Steph last night. We went to Bilbo Baggins just down the street, and it was extremely good. I had chicken stuffed with andouille sausage and monterey jack cheese, while she had a salad and roast butternut squash soup. I got to try a little of the soup, and it was outstanding - there was ginger or something in it, very good. After dinner, we had some eggnog and exchanged gifts. I got an extremely cool Camelbak for biking, hiking, etc. And then, waiting when I got home, was a package from Vanessa Bittermann. Normally, I wouldn't open what is clearly a gift shipped to me before Christmas. But I had sent Nessa a gift, a copy of The Time Traveller's Wife, and she opened it and read it while she should have been working on papers for her masters. And as we all know, two wrongs make a right. I got Nathaniel's Nutmeg, which I am already looking forward to reading. Pictures of lights, gifts, and cards to follow later.
In less pleasant news, my landlord has decided to sell my house at the end of my lease. Since I cannot possibly meet the asking price, I have to move again. With just a little luck, I will be staying in the Del Ray / Old Town area. I need to be close to the custard shop, after all.
My older brother Chris is wicked clever, and for about 10 years now has been making his own Christmas cards. He makes them by hand, each individual card has a unique color fade done in colored pencil, and there is always a cross in the design, usually using the color fade as one of the axes. Most amazingly, they are all made from a single piece of paper - no cutting and taping. He cuts the shape and folds it to make what you see below. (Now with commentary from the artist)
My collection of cards from Chris
I think this was the first model; 1996
Simple, but one of my favorites: this was the year Chris picked me up at the Academy on his way home from Virginia Tech, so inside the card it says "Merry Christmas! See you in the car!" 1997
I believe this is the first of his photo cards. I can never figure out what the photo is, since it is a blurry b&w shot; trees from speeding car? 1998 ( #3 was the photopaper one (blurry photo inside is time-delay photo of sky over an abandoned Virginia quarry at midnight ).)
The other photo card; inside, printed on the paper is a photo of the Virginia Tech power plant at night, from across town. 1999 ( #4 was the card with the photo built-in - that one shows Virginia Tech at night.)
This is when I think he started experimenting more. 2000 ( #5 was the largest one, which you've tagged as "experimenting more." I actually regard that one as my least ambitious entry thus far, coming as it did the year after that VT one (which was amazingly difficult to produce. It took me three solid weeks of working it like a second full-time job to produce 40+ of those).)
Easily the most complex, this one came with instructions on how to fold the vaguely reindeer-shaped set of six squares into the cube. Note how the color fades work in three dimensions. 2001 ( #6 was the cube - after #5 I owed it to my fans to try something tough.)
Bad photo, but cool concept. The cross is now implied by the negative space defined by the triangular "wings." 2002
Chris enters an anarchistic phase, using carefully torn paper in the designs. More pastel colors. 2003
Hard to see, but this card had the cross implied by the folding elements about 2/3rds along the length. 2004
I also make my own Christmas cards, but I am not at all clever or inventive. So, below are my cards, continuing my tradition of using photos featuring "Danta Claus."
Safe card, suitable for grandparents, cousins. Wish I had made a better chart, or borrowed a projector to do a powerpoint slide.
Claus. Danta Claus. Idea better than execution.
"Dan Loves Christmas!" Another weak entry - more decoration would have helped.
I had hoped to parody the old MTV ad, with the television lighting up my face in a darkened room, but I just couldn't make it work. Oh well.
Cards for grandparents, friends of the family featured DC landmarks. Predictable, generic.
My favorite of the landmark shots
Should have gone closer to Jefferson to make this one work better, but my fingers were completely numb at this point.
This year's best card, I think. Had hoped to have one of my female friends stand in as the stripper. But how do you ask your friends "I'd like you to wear these high heels and fishnets and let me take some photos." Had to photoshop something together - not too bad.
On the day after Thanksgiving, I went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History with my brothers and sister-in-law. Afterwards, we were walking across the campus towards Harvard Square, on our way to get hot chocolate at Burdick's. I don't recall how we got on the topic, but we were discussing giant-monster movies. Ryan is a big cinephile, so he is quite knowledgable on this and many other movie-related topics. Somehow, lightning struck my brain and I suggested someone make a movie Mothra vs. Harvard. Big laughs all around; Ryan suggested it could be a series: Mothra vs. Harvard, Gamera vs. Princeton, Godzilla vs. Yale, etc. We all had a good laugh. So, for Christmas, I made this, with some help from Chris to punch it up a little.
Abby Benson & Rob Moore
[Picture Removed at Request of LCDR Morrison]
Pete & Heather
The Birthday Girl and Nina
Dan has a freaky big chin
Sarah converses with Dr. Scholer...
...and then finds better things to do
Steph checks in with the Tiptons and the far end of the table
Abby feels the need to get at least her hand into the shot
Two of the Fabulous Morrison Sisters
Aaron, in repose
Aaron dazzles Nina with his sparkling wit
Richter tells tales of adventure
Steph is treated to a full-restaurant rendition of "Happy Birthday" before blowing out her Scooby-Doo candle
The Remains of the Cake
Steph does her traditional birthday tequila shot
Happy Birthday, Steph
Dr. Aaron Scholer and Nina Leonard, Firefighter
Dan and Sarah, full of tacos, cake, and margaritas
Mrs. Tipton, Pete, Heather, and Steph. Note many empty margarita glasses.
Abigail, Robert, and Richter
The Tiptons
After dinner, let's get some more drinks! Steph, Richter, and Pete at Murphy's
Our girl at the end of a long, full day
After much planning, pulled off a very successful surprise birthday party for Steph on Saturday night. Aaron and Steph's sister Heather did the planning, and I was their behind-the-scenes assistant, making a cake and holding the balloons (pictured above) until they arrived at Austin Grill.
We all had a really good time. Sarah Juckett shared tales from rebuilding her home in New Orleans, and Nina Leonard had some great stories from her work as an Arlington County firefighter. The food was tasty, the cake turned out well, and the company was outstanding. Even if Richter Tipton did make fun of me for being a guy who owned a cake transporter and topped the cake with cherries (he implied I have psycho-sexual issues that need resolving). After dinner we adjourned to Murphy's, and there was carousing, dares to pour drinks down strange women's pants, and ornament thievery. Pretty standard birthday stuff.
It was a really good night, and I'd like to think everyone else enjoyed themselves as much as I did, especially the birthday girl. Happy Birthday, Steph.
Posts
All Comments
