Category: Holidays

  • Easter

    Better late than never, I suppose, but here’s hoping everyone had a good Easter today.

    Growing up, I could never understand why Easter always fell on a different day each year, rather than like “regular” holidays like the Fourth of July, or Thanksgiving. Ironically, it was some computer programming trivia that clued me in to how Easter Sunday’s date is determined:

    Easter is the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.

  • April Fool’s… Not

    No, I don’t really care for April Fool’s Day on the Web. I find it amusing for exactly 90 seconds when the occasional, well-done, online April Fool’s prank shows up, but when sites like Slashdot and others have every other item an April Fool’s joke, it gets really old really fast.

  • St. Patrick’s Day

    Just a quick note to wish everyone (Irish or not) a happy St. Patrick’s Day today.

    Enjoy some Guinness!

  • Happy Valentine’s Day

    It’s a little late in the evening, I know, but better late than never, I figure:

    Happy Valentine’s Day!

  • Happy New Year

    Happy New Year one and all. Hopefully 2004 will be kind. I’ve already decided that for 2004 one of my big themes will be “data aggregation.”

    Oh, and I’m working on my own “Top X of 2003” type lists just for grins. Should be up in a day or 2. Mostly un-mainstream.

  • The Night Before Christmas

    ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
    Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
    The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
    In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

    The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
    While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
    And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
    Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,

    When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
    I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
    Away to the window I flew like a flash,
    Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

    The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
    Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
    When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
    But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

    With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
    I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
    More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
    And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

    “Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
    On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
    To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
    Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

    As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
    When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
    So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
    With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

    And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
    The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
    As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
    Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

    He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
    And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
    A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
    And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

    His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
    His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
    His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
    And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

    The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
    And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
    He had a broad face and a little round belly,
    That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

    He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
    And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
    A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
    Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

    He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
    And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
    And laying his finger aside of his nose,
    And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

    He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
    And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
    But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
    HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

    —Clement C. Moore

  • O Tannenbaum

    Christmas Tree 2003Busy busy weekend. Most of it was holiday-oriented, though, and you can see the fruits of a good part of that in our nice six foot Douglas fir that’s laden with ornaments there on the right. Click for the larger image in all its glory.

    And of course, I couldn’t resist including a picture of the prize ornament (gotta click to see!):

     

    Jon's favorite Christmas tree ornament

  • Cold!

    Damn, why is Halloween so cold anymore? It seems like when I was growing up, it was never this cold. Now, every year we just about get frostbite trick-or-treating. Seriously, it was in the teens Friday night. Last year was colder.

    Global warming, my ass. :-)

  • Happy Halloween

    Happy Halloween to all of you who celebrate it!