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Rangewriter

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Rangewriter

Tag Archives: Christmas

The magic of Christmas

20 Tuesday Dec 2022

Posted by rangewriter in Everything else

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Christmas, creativity, friendship, memories, nostalgia

Christmas, despite its over-commercialization, has always been my favorite holiday. My mother went out of her way to make it special. There were always many small, but thoughtfully chosen and individually wrapped gifts under our Christmas tree. Mom couldn’t bear to see trees die needlessly for holiday decoration; therefore we always had an artificial tree which could be carefully stowed away each January and reused the following December. And she filled every inch of the house with old, often crumbling, yet always special ornaments and decorations handed down from her mother.

When I was about 14, my new stepfather brought in small trees for me and his daughter, my new sister, to put up in our rooms. This was a huge extravagance, but a wise ploy on his part. He could have written a book about how to endear oneself to a step-child.

I have put up a Christmas tree every single year since then, even the occasional years when I would be out of town during the holiday. Like my mother, if left up to me, I use (and reuse) an artificial tree. And I put old and often crumbling ornaments on the tree and around the house. These items remain special because they see so little daylight. Warm memories spring up as I free them from their layers of tissue paper. Nostalgic thoughts of people who’ve been part of my life—some of whom are no longer present—hover. Putting Christmas away always feels just a tad sad, like watching a kaleidoscope of leaves drift to the ground, leaving trees to face winter starkly naked.

Among my treasures is a collection of ornaments that has outgrown its storage box several times. One of my friends is both craftily handy and artistically talented. Each of her gifts through the years is adorned with a hand-crafted ornament. We’ve exchanged many gifts. Placing these ornaments on the tree is like looking through a stack of photo albums. Her creativity has marked our passage of time and our friendship. It also marks her artistic journey through many styles and creative pursuits through the years.

I gaze at the ornament that proudly commemorates 1980. It is not the oldest of the collection, but oh my, that was so long ago. Cris and I were both so young. And neither of us was aware of just how young we were or how long and deep our friendship would grow.

I hope you all have a love-filled and stress-free holiday filled with pleasant old memories and perhaps making new memories to savor in future years.

Gallery

Ready or not

18 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by rangewriter in My Life with an Enigma

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

books, Christmas, ebooks, gifts, mailing packages

The Christmas deadline is rushing towards us. Many Christmas gatherings will look different this year. Gifts may go where families …

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Gallery

Black Bullshit Friday

25 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by rangewriter in Everything else

≈ 37 Comments

Tags

Black Friday, Capitalism, Christmas, Consumerism, Holidays, shopping, spending, Thanksgiving

This gallery contains 2 photos.

With some bemusement I have been watching (and sometimes participating) in social media responses to Black Friday. For my readers …

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12/24/12; What does 60 feel like?

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by rangewriter in Everything else, Travel & Adventure

≈ 32 Comments

Tags

60 years old, adventure, Birthday, Christmas, Christmas birthday, Galena Lodge, Holidays, Idaho, Nordic skiing, Sawtooth Mountains, six decades, snowshoe, solo, yurt

What does 60 feel like?

Well, no surprise. It feels no different than 50, or 40, or dare I say even 30? It does feel different than 20. A Christmas Eve or Christmas Day birthday is special. On the one hand, once they learn about it, it is easy for people to remember your birth date. I mean, you can see Christmas Eve coming two months in advance! On the other hand, it can be challenging to share your birthday with all the fuss and festivity associated with the Christmas holiday.

One thing is certain about a Christmas birthday. You will never celebrate milestone birthdays in a traditional pub crawl. I never gave much thought to my birth date till the year I turned 21—legal drinking age in the US—and realized that all the bars would be closed early in the evening and besides, the 24th was always our family Christmas meal and gift opening night. No time for a drunken riot with friends.

Through the years I learned to celebrate my birthday happily and quietly inside my own head. When I’m with other people, I like to open my gifts early in the morning and spend the day doing something I particularly enjoy. I never shop on the 24th! Then by evening I happily celebrate Christmas with everyone else. I try to downplay my birthday because it is an awkward imposition to add one more detail to a host’s already stressful evening. And invariably someone in the group is blind-sided and feels badly for being unprepared. Despite my remonstrations, usually someone in the group knows that it’s my day and makes a fuss and then I feel silly—but appreciative.

Aside from the big 21, my milestone birthdays have been pretty nondescript. For my 50th, I organized a January heli-ski trip that involved an all-day drive across the state. We rose early the next morning, suited up, jazzed and excited, only to discover that the avalanche danger was too high. The trip was cancelled.

I don’t remember doing anything special for my 40th. I believe I celebrated my 30th solo. This 60th birthday sort of snuck up on me and stood me on my head. I realized I really needed to do something special to hallmark the event of six freakin’ decades. (Hey, that sounds better that 60 years—6 decades, I think that’s what I’ll be calling it from now on.) So I began scheming. A trip to the coast was too lengthy and the roads too unreliable this time of year. A visit to friends in nearby cities would involve crashing their Christmas festivities. Not far from where I live is a winter recreation lodge, tucked into the mountains between Stanley and Sun Valley. I’ve driven past it many a time during summer and winter, longing to stop and check out the extensive trail system. Galena Lodge also has three yurts to rent out during the winter and they had one opening on the 24th. Bingo!

After opening my birthday gifts on Monday morning, I cooked up a delicious breakfast and left the cat with an overly full bowl of food, water, plus extra water in the tub—should something happen and I didn’t make it back when expected. Off I went.

Leaving Boise on a beautiful morning.

Leaving Boise on a beautiful morning.

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I took the dicey, but drop dead gorgeous route through Stanley, Idaho, recognized as one of the coldest places in the continental United States. The Sawtooth Mountains were shrouded in weather of their own making.DSC_0037

The journey begins

The journey begins

My provisions for the night. I could have fed an army.
My provisions for the night. I could have fed an army.

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Snowshoed in about .5 mile to my yurt. Celebrated with a wine/cheese snack

Snowshoed in about .5 mile to my yurt. Celebrated with a wine/cheese snack

Then had just enough time for a quick snow shoe exploration of the surrounding area before the sun began to drop.

Mother nature's snow sculpture

Mother nature’s snow sculpture

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Darkness descending

Darkness descending

One-match fire!

One-match fire!

It took several matches to get the lanterns going.

It took several matches to get the lanterns going.

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Dinner and a book

The moon peeking through the skylight. Mmmm sleep tight.

The moon peeking through the skylight. Mmmm sleep tight.

Wake to a lovely blue sky morning.

Wake to a lovely blue sky morning.

Hike back out after breakfast and clean up.

Hike back out after breakfast and clean up.

You thought I was alone? Not really. ;-)

You thought I was alone? Not really. 😉

After checking out at Galena Lodge, time for a Christmas morning Nordic ski adventure.

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Galena Peak guarded me throughout the night.

Galena Peak, which guarded me throughout the night.

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Then, the three-hour drive back to Boise, this time taking the easier route through Sun Valley and Fairfield. Home in time to open my Christmas presents. This was so much fun I plan to make it an annual event. There’s even plenty of room for company in the 8-person yurt! Perhaps two nights out next time.

I apologize for the length of this post and the poor quality of some of the images. If I keep fiddling with them, I’ll never get the post up. 😉 Happy New Year to all!

Gallery

Stuff and nonsense

28 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by rangewriter in Everything else

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

Black Friday, Christmas, consumer, Cyber Monday, gifts, greed, Holiday sales, mob, shopping

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Is anyone else bothered by the final Black Friday weekend statistics? I am appalled. Despite ongoing protests by the 99% …

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