They're Too Much...

I feel compelled to write this entry because I feel as though many poor souls are missing out on of the great Christmas joys that so fills my heart with warmth...and cold, for that matter. The joy of which I speak is a Christmas movie in the same vein of Rudolph called "The Year Without a Santa Claus." To be honest, I remember very little of the plot. But this movie is significant for two very important and ridiculous brothers--The Snow Miser and Heat Miser. They are two opposite brothers and they sing an amazing song. For your pleasure I have included pictures of these classy characters.

I'm Mister White Christmas, I'm Mister Snow! I'm Mister Icicle, I'm Mister Ten Below! Friends call me Snow Miser, Whatever I touch turns to snow in my clutch! I'm too much!


I'm Mister Green Christmas, I'm Mister Sun! I'm Mister Heat Blister, I'm Mister Hundred and One! They call me Heat Miser, Whatever I touch starts to melt in my clutch! I'm too much!

Being Festive

I'm so sneaky...

He was a good boy this year

Now perhaps many of you know that I am a festive person. I am festive when it comes to many holidays (read: Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day--all those fun saints), but Christmas is an especially big one, right? Perhaps you've received a Christmas card from me in the past, or have seen me in festive clothing. But what you may not know is that I also act as a Christmas elf. No, not one of those elves that pass out candy canes in department stores and wear more felt than is healthy for one human being. I have the priviledge of being elf to certain boys that hang their stockings on the door to their dorm. It all began last year. I don't know how, but my friend Chase somehow let it slip that he and his roommates, Aaron and Dan, had hung their stockings, maybe I could fill them? This seemed like a great idea, and fill them I did. And yesterday the time came for me to repeat this gesture of Christmas cheer. The roommates have changed slightly, and the boys (read: strapping young men) were: Chase, Aaron, Dan, and Shaun. So filled the stockings with lots of goodies. Here are the gentlement sporting one of the best stocking stuffers I know: Banana Republic boxers.

Shaun, Dan, Chase, and Aaron

And here's a little blast from the past:
Christmas elf, circa 2005

A Poetry Reading

I must admit, I've been a bit lax in the schoolwork area of my life lately. All of a sudden, I find so much to do, and wonder how it will ever be accomplished. Nevertheless, I never fully regret the things I do instead of the work. Yesterday, this consisted in large part of baking cookies for a poetry reading put on by the Echo, and then reading my poetry there as well. Two opportunities for creativity, culinary and literary.

What could be better, really? When I find myself at the front of a wood-panelled room, filled with 50 people eating cookies, all rapt and at attention as I read...well, that is life.

A Sunday

I did the reading at church this Sunday. Zechariah 14:4-9. Kind of a random passage, but it has ended up meaning a lot to me.

See, my friend Nike asked me if I would do the reading, and she gave me the reference on a slip of paper. Well, at the time I was talking to her and Elanor about a conversation I'd just had with the guy I used to date. And so I thought she was giving me some encouraging verses. But when I went back to my room and started to read, I was a bit confused. Until I got to verse six, which says:

On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, yet there will be continuous day! Only the LORD knows how this could happen! (New Living Translation)

I feel as if those verses perfectly describe my life right now. It's as if I know that God is going to change my situation. But the change he's going to do is something crazy. Something crazy like a sunless day. But he knows how it's going to happen. He knows, and it's ok that I don't.

The ESV translation we use at church says it like this:

On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.

God is there. Through all those unique days. Those unique days that I just don't get. God does. And that is enough. Amen.

Stripe-a-licious

Ok, I know I'm not supposed to be posting now, but I couldn't resist some fun photos...

I guess you could say we're a beat generation...

I just want everyone to know that there's a reason that my posts have been and will be sparse for a few days--I'm working on a paper. When I'm not immersing myself in the era of the beatniks, I'm at one meeting or another.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix.

-Allen Ginsberg, opening lines of "Howl"

Walls

I have a little alcove in my room. I sit at my desk, a bed to my front, Joyce's desk to my left, and a wall to my right and back. These walls are important. Or rather, what's on them is important. I just keep smacking things up there, but everything is significant in some way, even if the significance is merely beauty.

The city of Florence is a key contributor to my walls. To my back, the statue of David, a placemat with the Duomo. To my right, a map of the city and a piece of marbleized paper that I watched the man at Il Papiro make. Io l'amo.

To my right, a tree motif has somehow developed. Three posters I made with the following poems: Arbole, Arbole by Garcia Lorca, i thank you God for most this amazing by e.e. cummings, and Birches by Robert Frost. Tree images in all the poems. A tree on all the posters. Not to mention a tree-themed thank-you from Paul and Laura, a beautiful autumn leaf, and a random tree I made with torn paper.

What else? Various Mary Engelbreit posters. Postcards with the words HOPE, LOVE, and SMILE. Cards from people I love. A quote from C.S. Lewis. A poster about being a girl. Pictures from the anthropologie catalog. An ad for Moonlit Rose body spray, which I've never tried, but the description is me to a T. A Dove chocolate wrapper proclaiming, "Naughty can be nice." a save the date card for Jon and Rachel's wedding. An invitation to the mixed company meeting of the Men's High Life Society. A picture of me and Jeff looking like hippies. That is all. But more is being added all the time.

Not to mention the quotes in caligraphy hanging from my bed. The picture of Audrey Hepburn. The picture of prayers in Jerusalem's Western Wall. The pictures of my family and two old friends. Sundry craft supplies strewn across my desk and the surrounding floor. A box of Hello Kitty sandwich bags. A honey bear. A Bible. Rice cakes. Nailclippers. A pink pashmina. An origami flower. Argyle socks. Books about beat poetry.

It's good to live in an alcove.