Official Christmas Nostalgia Day

Does anything scream “Christmas” quite like marshmallows?

Peppermint and cinnamon, so much better than “pumpkin pie spice”

And apparently they needn’t come from bags - you can make them yourself! And if you are truly OCD you can even make them into marshmallow snowflakes.  

What a great gift for all the, um, snowflakes in your life.

You can make them in any flavor of the season: chocolate caramel, peppermint, gingerbread…also better than “pumpkin pie spice.”

as well as any species:

But is there any marshmallow as cute and fun as the snowmen?

Gingerbread Snowflakes’  marshmallow snowmen

When I saw these little guys I recognized them immediately as a modern adaptation of the puffy little Christmas decorations I made one year when I was in high school. I tracked their provenance back to the pages of the December 1960 Better Homes and Gardens and Raj found me an archival magazine website that has every issue, ever published, of dozens of iconic magazines.  And there they were, on page 58, in an article titled:  

In my childhood house the December issues of the “ladies” magazines were never disposed of, they were stashed away after Christmas to emerge again each year as inspiration for the upcoming holiday season. What didn’t get baked or made one year might just make it into the rotation in a subsequent cycle. And so it was in 1966, a sad year for my family as my dad had died late that summer, that I set about to make the marshmallow men that I had first seen when they made their December issue debut 6 years prior.  Gingerbread Snowflakes’ updated version, above, uses colored markers to make eyes, nose and buttons, the original BH&G specs are far less benign. Check out the materials listed for the construction of the original snowmen: 

Glass-head pins!!!! In cute little marshmallow men that look like confections?! Can you imagine what the publication’s lawyers would say about that today? In 1966 however I headed off to the fabric store to procure my glass headed pins and non-digestible green sequins without batting an eye. And what? - resin glue! That sounds awfully toxic. Pretty sure I used Elmer’s because that’s what we had, not because you can eat it.

I remember my creations being adorable, if not quite perfectly constructed. In fact they were probably more than a bit rough around the edges because crafting has never really been my forte. But I remember them making me happy for the first time in what seemed a lifetime. They were a tiny part of learning that life goes on, that pain never goes away but it does gradually abate. Although oblivious to it at the time I was beginning to discover, as Deborah’s Palm has reminded us time and time again, that we choose life and blessings, not the other way around. Choose wisely.

And with that memory I officially launch Christmas Nostalgia Day: haul out your own Christmas Past memory, story, photo, food, gift and share it.

For a jump start here’s a photo forwarded from FullMetalSpanx  (still the best handle on the InnerTubes IMHO, assumed during the dark days of the Obama Occupation when we were forced to endure Lady M’s unfettered butt day after day). Any hoo, here’s our wee Spanx, in the middle, looking a bit skeptical, with her younger sister and brother, circa 1950. Where oh where does the time go?

The Beginning of the End of Darkness

For never-resting time leads summer on
To hideous winter and confounds him there;
Sap cheque'd with frost and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'ersnow'd and bareness every where.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 5

Originally posted by Lili, wherever you may find her

The winter solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, or 23.5° south latitude; this year that happens at 11:19 PM EST. It is the shortest day of the year so rise early, although it will still be dark, and have your coffee and breakfast before the sun comes up. You cannot afford to squander even a minute of what has become precious daylight.

Where you live determines the exact amount of daylight you will get today. Sunrise in Detroit is at 7:58 AM, Sunset at 5:03 PM giving us 9 hours, 5 minutes of daylight. I am luckier than some but not as lucky as others.

Which of course is true about nearly every aspect of life; learning to accept and appreciate that fact is one of life’s important lessons.

Each day grows a bit longer now, we should celebrate the solstice as it is the beginning of the end of darkness. So get out there and enjoy whatever light you are fortunate enough to get.

O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter flaw!

Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1

Snow at Louveciennes, Alfred Sisley

We Live In Parallel Universes: Well Done Dems.

The last Democrat debate of the year last night; considering there’s just a bit more than a week left, including Christmas and New Year’s eve, that’s quite a gift.

The Dems used the stage last night to traipse out their pseudo-middleclass credentials and to rant on the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Specifically, Judy Woodruff of PBS asked the candidates why, if impeachment is so necessary, more Americans weren’t on board with it.  The rest just pontificated on the wrongdoings of the President but Andrew Yang answered the question honestly: “We’re getting our news from different sources,” he said. In other words we live in parallel universes:

Because that’s what happens when journalism is dead.

It’s not a warning, it’s an eulogy

While China proceeds the plot to take over the world through technology, the cloning of humans into computers and sheer numbers we will continue to debate whether Donald Trump saying mean things about his adversaries requires him to be removed from office.

Well done, Dems, well done.

If You Can’t Compete You Must Impeach; If You Can, KAG

Nancy arrived on the House floor last night freshly powdered, coifed, PoliGripped and wearing black – as is befitting so solemn an occasion as a hanging or your party’s deathwatch.

Having warned her members to contain their celebrations until they were out of view and earshot she gives a few mutineers {{Rashida Tlaib}} a hard stare as they were unable to contains themselves:

“First there’s a secret smile of glee, like the cat that swallowed the canary. It’s very fleeting, though; she suppresses it almost instantaneously. Then immediately, after putting on a stern face, she “shushes” the Democrats in schoolmarmy fashion in order to make sure they can’t be accused of celebrating.” - Neo

Meanwhile in Battle Creek thousands stood outside in 18 degree weather for hours in order to pack the Kellogg Arena to attend PDJT’s rally.

A couple hundred protestors also showed up, some sporting their classy Rashida shirts and all sporting her big mouth.

A loud and proud member of the very classy Rashida Tlaib arm of the Democrat party

Despite the bigmouths outside, the frigid cold and the impeachment vote back on the House floor, the Merry Christmas rally in the city that is home of Kellogg’s Cereal was a yuge success.

Tony the Tiger, official mascot for KAG 2020

Men Make History

In 2009 Nancy Pelosi didn’t need to read the healthcare bill before instructing her members to pass it on behalf of the Great Obama Traveling Medicine Show.

“we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what's in it…”

A decade later and she needn’t read the historical letter from the President chastising her for her role in the Democrats’ impeachment charade. While admitting she hadn’t actually read it yet because she was so busy doing the work of the American people, she nevertheless called President Trump’s scathing letter “ridiculous” and “really sick.” It’s her superpower: she doesn’t need to read.

Nancy Pelosi: vessel of received wisdom

And Nancy’s received wisdom and lack of leadership will be duly noted in history.

And so here we are; the Democrat controlled House will vote to impeach a President they don’t like, can’t control and still can’t believe beat their own corrupt party machine in 2016. Mark my words, history will be far kinder to the President who fought to maintain our liberty, sovereignty and Republic - but in the process talked mean to his adversaries - than it will to the illegal, unethical, dishonest and corrupt Democrats who impeached him.

“You are the ones subverting America’s Democracy. You are the ones Obstructing Justice. You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish personal, political, and partisan gain.” – President Donald J. Trump

Trust me: while the Left continues to argue that Santa Claus needs to be more gender-fluid and lobbies to change “history”  to “herstory” President Trump will continue to Make America Great Again and in the process perhaps even save Western civilization from the clutches of progressivism.

I  predict that the President’s Battle Creek rally tonight will be a barnstormer of historical proportions.

No Country For Old Men

The definitive answer to the question “Will Obama endorse Joe Biden for President?” comes from Obama himself, and I guess the answer is no:

“If you look at the world and look at the problems it’s usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way.”

Barry expanded on the problem cause by “old men.”

“I’m absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything … living standards and outcomes.”

I guess nobody has advised him that “old man” Trump has managed a significant improvement “across the board on just about everything” from unemployment to the stock market. In fact the stock market has hit over 100 all time highs since President Trump’s inauguration. But Obama thinks Hillary could have done better, because she’s a girl:

“Now, women, I just want you to know: you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you’re better than us men.” Independent Sentinel

As for old Joe – well let’s just say he was for Obama’s plan to get rid of all the old (white) men before he was against it:

Via WSJ.

In 1972,…Cale Boggs was a two-term U.S. senator from Delaware. He was 63. Reporters in their coverage of the campaign described his “thinning hair” and said he sometimes got “tongue-tied.”

His challenger, meanwhile, a one-term county councilman, was 29. Reporters called Joe Biden “boyishly slim” and noted that he often talked about “how the old guard has bungled things.”

Biden ran newspaper ads yoking the incumbent to imagery evocative of bygone days. “Cale Boggs’ generation dreamed of conquering polio,” one said. “In 1950 Cale Boggs hoped to make Americans safe from Stalin,” a second said. Another mentioned “the 1948 poll tax.” The ads emphasized the need for “new thinking” and “new solutions.”

And that’s No Malarkey, 50 years at the public trough of graft an corruption is enough from one old man. But feel free to misremember and gaffe your way across the Heartland. Nobody’s paying attention anyway.

What if you threw a No Malarkey tour and nobody came?

Downtown Christmas Memories

It’s time once again to reminisce about the days of Christmas Past when shopping entailed a trip downtown to visit the Five and Dimes and your local department stores. From the heyday of downtowns we transitioned first to the era of suburban malls, enclosed meccas of commerce featuring anchor stores, hot pretzels, cheap boutiques and endless parking lots. That vignette too has morphed into Christmas Past as once great malls have become wastelands of obsolescence. By and large they now sit empty awaiting a rebirth.

Somewhere along the line the wizards of marketing decided that people really wanted to be exposed to the winter elements as they did their Christmas shopping. Accordingly commerce complexes moved to even more suburban settings involving an endless collection of Big Box stores congregated around busy intersections, an infinite number of fast food outlets and even more expansive parking lots. This configuration remains a part of the Christmas Present shopping experience but the Big Box era is approaching its own sell-by-date as more and more of the brick and mortars fall by the wayside.

People are quickly migrating to the convenience of a new Christmas Present model: shopping online and having the  Amazon elves deliver your Christmas gifts right to the front door.

I’m guessing Christmas Future will bring something even more akin to virtual reality where money changes hands but the physical aspects of selecting, wrapping and delivering of actual gifts will be replaced by an email notice and a computer generated image of things your friends and family imagine you’d like.

So enjoy your actual shopping days before Christmas while you still can: soon enough they’ll become just one more cultural anachronism.

ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 15, 2018 

When I was growing up  every town had at least one iconic department store that did Christmas right: fabulous back-lit and magical Christmas displays, often animated, gracing all of their street level windows. In a time before kids were so wired into their iPhones and “social” networks that they missed much of the amazement of the real world, there were all these fabulous windows of mystery and wonder, free for the taking. All it took was a dime bus ride downtown. 

I was very lucky as my hometown, Grand Rapids, MI, had three such emporiums of merchandise, all founded in the late 1800’s:

All now long gone. One of them, Herpolsheimer’s,  however lives on as it has been memorialized in the film version of Chris Van Allsburg’s book The Polar Express.

The old Herp’s, as the locals called it, had what was called  the “Santa Express” – a monorail that ran around the entire basement level of the store during the Christmas season to keep kids occupied as mom and dad shopped.

Santa’s Rocket Express, Herpolsheimer’s 1949

It is said to have served as the inspiration for Van Allsburg’s  popular book.

The old Herpolsheimer’s building,

Print found on Pinterest but tracked down to ArleneFaye

which once housed the inspirational train and window wonders currently houses the Grand Rapids Police Department. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you probably wouldn’t want to take your kids there for a festive Christmas pot pie lunch in their tea room.

And don’t even get me started on the “dime” stores, of which Grand Rapids also enjoyed three:

Print found on Pinterest but tracked down to ArleneFaye

Woolworths, above, at the foot of Monroe, Grants, right next door, and Kresge’s just up a block to the east.

Print found on Pinterest but tracked down to ArleneFaye

Also all gone.

What about your town’s locally owned iconic department stores? Do any of them still exist? Are any of them still in the downtown area? Or is your downtown comprised of restaurants, bars and clubs these days? Just wondering.

The Week in Shakespeare

Last week was exhausting so I’m handing it off to Shakespeare for the official wrap up.

“God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.”  Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1

Chipmunks around the world accuse Hillary of cultural appropriation

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” – The Tempest Act 1 Scene 2

Just a sample of the devils in our midst

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” Julius Caesar Act 4 Scene 3

Ride the tide

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Twelfth Night Act 2 Scene 5

Time’s world weary Person of the Year, wearing her mantle of greatness heavily

Go ahead, make your own Week in Shakespeare meme. Shakespeare was a genius and his writings provide a quote for every human event that ever has or will occur.