Friday Hometown Shootout - Christmas Decorations

Whew!

I wasn't sure I'd make this week...but I'm driven.  This shootout has become important to me...seeing everyone else's work (even if I don't get to it until Monday!)...and putting in my two cents.  Anyhow, I didn't have time to go out and shoot lights downtown at night, or the creches at Mepkin Abbey...or the James Island Festival of Lights or...

So yesterday, I figured I'd just focus on the tree in our livingroom.  At first it was blurry but Bagman said, "what the heck!" and opened the shutter and swung the camera like a madman, singing "Deck the halls and I'll call Holly...Fa la la la..."

Then Butler, not even bothering to correct Bagman's lyrics, went and got the tripod. .

Then the three of us got to talking and decided to tell you about some of the ornaments that we always put on it.   Of course, we always have to hang the ones that Brian made when he was a little boy. 

With the help of teachers, of course.

And below is one of the seven or eight hand-crocheted ornaments that Karen's Grandmother made long ago.  Brian's great-grandmother.  Conner's great-great-grandmother.  Boggles the mind to think about it.  Laveda.  She made the best pound cake in the world.  If she knew I'd be coming, she always made two. 

They used to be white.  And we'll hang them until they are just dark brown strings.

 

The there is this more modern ornament.

Karen and Brian got me this the year I won my black belt in Tae Kwon Do

I tell people that I chop the tree down with my bare hands.

Actually it's an artificial tree.

The ornament above is one of two police officer decorations that were given to me by a wonderful man, the deputy in charge of the Pittsburgh Police Department EAP.  He was a recovering alcoholic motorcycle cop who used to refer cops to the treatment center I ran in Roanoke, VA.  Believe it or not, his name was Jack Daniels and in his wilder drinking days, he drove a police motorcycle, lights flashing and siren wailing off a bridge because he didn't remember that it was not finished.  But he survived.  We became good friends and he helped alot of alcoholic cops get sober.  He passed away several years ago, but I always honor his decorations -- I place one on each side of the tree, facing out, keeping guard.

Then there is the dove.  This was the first ornament Karen and I bought after we were married.  For several years it was actually our "tree topper" because we couldn't afford to buy an illuminated star.  We always put this on the tree together.  It's a nice tradition but a bit of a challenge too trying to attach its tiny wire legs with 16 fingers, four thumbs, and two brains working together.

Some years ago we got a small box of 6 hearts...one year we hung two of them together on the same hook and we've turned that into an annual tradition as well.

This year, the most meaningful ornament was:

Well...there is no photo above because Brian and Melody took it for their tree and I didn't think to photograph it first.  But several years ago we found a little cocker spaniel figure that had the same color markings as Sally, our cocker who many of you have met in past posts.  Many of you also know that we had to say goodbye to Sally this year, almost 18 years old.  But when we took out the Sally ornament from the box, we were tearfully stunned.  None of us remembered -- but the little ceramic cocker spaniel had angel wings.  Needless to say it also now has some tear stains. 

I'll probably take a picture when we visit Brian and Melody and post it as a late addition to this shoot. 

Confessions of a Pack Mule

So I’m walking up to the door of the office where I work and an attractive young woman stops and holds the door open for me.

I’m of the old school and usually try to hold doors open for women instead of vice versa and my first thought is that I must look really old and decrepit. I try not to feel too badly about myself. As I squeeze by, however, I realize she has simply taken pity on me because I am so loaded down with stuff.

I am always loaded down with stuff. As a good little Boy Scout, I learned to always “Be Prepared.”

BUTLER: “Except you were never actually a Boy Scout.”

BAGMAN: “He was a Cub Scout…embarrassed me to no end with that silly little blue uniform!”

My primary load is a black back-pack where I keep my laptop. My job provided me with a more conservative looking briefcase to carry it in but the backpack has more room and is more comfortable although I never wear it correctly and sling it over my shoulder instead. For no other reason than my ego thinks it looks cooler that way. So I wear out one strap but not the other.

In addition to the laptop, I load it to bursting with work files that I can read at home and bills, letters, and junk from home that I can process during free time at work. With very few exceptions, I have never done work-work at home or home-work at work. But I carry this stuff back and forth every day.

In my right hand, I carry my camera bag. I carry my camera everywhere I go. Over the weekend, Karen and I were running off to buy some paint at Lowes and I stopped and ran back into the house to get my camera. Karen just rolls her eyes. She knows what I will say. “I never know when I might run across a great image to capture!” With very few exceptions, I never run into images unless I’m actually going off to shoot something.

In my left hand, I carry an outlandish orange insulated lunch box. I have a reputation for never going out for lunch. This is because (a) I use the time to write blogs and (b) because I’m too cheap to eat in restaurants. With slightly more exceptions than the previous paragraphs, I seldom actually eat my lunch. Usually I forget and waste countless quarters on the snack machines. Then I feel guilty and have to find some trash can on the way home to dump what I haven’t eaten so Karen won’t find out.

BUTLER: “What if she reads this blog!”

BAGMAN: “Then you stand up and take it like a man! I think you should announce it anyway! Say, ‘Honey. I’ve got a confession I need to make. I’m sorry you have to find out, but I’ve been doing something behind your back. I’ve been having an affair with the candy machine.’”

And under my arm I often carry frames of photographs. Whenever I frame something, I take it work and hang it in my office, replacing one that I then take home. It keeps my office changing and I sometimes get good feedback from some of my co-workers.

Someday I plan to become very daring and heroic. I will leave my laptop and work at work. Leave my camera and personal junk at home. Announce that I am planning to eat out. And see if I can go to work without carrying anything!

Nah. Way too scary.

BAGMAN: “But you could hold doors open for women!”

BUTLER: “Leave him alone. He is safer with the snack machine.”