Tag: Holidays | Christmas
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home: christmas expedition
![[Photo]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/2107426856_b6afafb4f9_m.jpg)
IMG_7551, uploaded by [ecpark].the elementary school next door has a christmas tree sale every year, but some strange reason it’s not until the second week of december. (who waits that long?!?) as you can imagine, being genetically unable to wait for pretty much anything, the lady sparkler and i decided to head out of our hamlet and forage for a tree.
we passed through the seven levels of the rock creek forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and to a magical place called “north Georgetown.” we found a small, Christmas forest of pre-cut trees located at the corner of “Wisconsin” and “Calvert.” a kindly old man with a chain saw assisted us with the finest of skinny trees, and strapped it on to our late-model, german engineered sleigh.
there is nothing quite like a city christmas.
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musings: christmas extravaganza
it’s the weekend after thanksgiving, which means it’s the official start of the “get-evan-prepped-for-christmas” season. you laugh, but i have found that after 30+ years of christmases (christmi? christmasuses?) i have developed a pre-christmas routine that boarders on obsessive.
first, we have the music. i’m currently sitting on 600+ christmas songs (from 30+ christmas albums) which means i can listen non-stop for about a day and a half without repeating the same version of a song. my itunes currently features 18 versions of silent night (my favorite is a classical russian folk recording) and if you ever want to have a conversation about the definitive recording of “o holy night” then i am your man (my vote is for the new orleans benefit version featured on studio 60 last year).
but mostly, we have the movies. and television. and cartoons. it all started about a decade ago when i noticed that the more christmas “stuff” i watched, the more likely i was to have a good christmas. this has now officially spiraled out of control, and has resulted in me watching about 20 dvds worth of goodies each holiday during November and December. actually, i have taken to throwing a “christmas cartoon extravaganza” each year to help spread the love (or share the burden, as it were).
my checklist for this year has 50+ items on it. while i certainly won’t get through more than about half of what you see here, i’ve documented the whole list so i don’t have to keep recreating it every year. if by some strange miracle i have forgotten something worth seeing, please mock my omission in the comments.
Best Christmas Cartoons & Best Christmas Specials
this selction include christmas cartoons (rankin-bass!) and several live action specials including various muppets. also included are television show episodes worth re-watching during the holidays, especially aaron sorkin productions (who has a knack for christmas that i wish he could spin into the other 364 days of his work each year).
Best Christmas Movies
some are good (miracle on 34th), some are bad (santa conquers the martians) but anything is fair game (die hard) if it happens at christmas.
About a Boy A Christmas Carol A Christmas Story Bad Santa Christmas in Connecticut 
Christmas Vacation (National Lampoon’s) Christmas with the Kranks Die Hard Die Hard 2: Die Harder Elf Ernest Saves Christmas Holiday Inn Home Alone It’s a Wonderful Life Love Actually Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Miracle on 34th Street (1994) Prancer Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Santa vs. Snowman Saturday Night Live Christmas Scrooge Scrooged The Muppet Christmas Carol The Nightmare Before Christmas The Polar Express The Ref The Santa Clause The Santa Clause 2 Trapped in Paradise White Christmas again, if i have forgotten something worth seeing, please share.
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Photos: Tacky Light Tour, Richmond, Virginia
Each and every year, we make one pilgramage (at least) to the best in neighborhood Christmas light displays. To spice things up, this year we change from going to a neighborhood off Todd’s Lane in Hampton, to houses participating in the Tacky Light Tour in Richmond.I had no idea this existed until I watched a Christmas special about it on TLC (or A&E). I’m not sure I am ready to give up Todd’s Lane, but it was great mixing it up with new material this year.
Explore the Photo Set:
Tacky Light Tour, Richmond, Virginia. -
Photos: Christmas Decorations, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
Originally uploaded by evancparker.
Originally uploaded by evancparker.Christmas in Williamsburg, and it’s time for the obligatory walk around the historic area (Colonial Williamsburg) looking at the Christmas decorations. For the first time since high school, though, we added the decidedly un-Colonial (but still spectacular) tree lighting on Christmas Eve.Explore the Photo Set:
Colonial Williamsburg Tree Lighting, VirginiaExplore the Photo Set:
Christmas Decorations, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia -
Photos: Christmas Lights, Washington, DC
Originally uploaded by evancparker.I have one empty weekend between Thanksgiving and New Years this holiday season, and I took the Saturday night to wander around the staples of Christmas in DC: the Capitol Christmas tree, the train display at the U.S. Botanical Garden and the ice skating rink in the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden.I am sure I should be out shopping, or home throwing a Christmas party, but it doesn’t look like either are going to happen this year. Perhaps it’s for the best.
Explore the Photo Set:
Christmas Lights, Washington, DC -
Photos: Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg
IMG_2110.CR2, Originally uploaded by evancparker.The family walked around Colonial Williamsburg this afternoon. Collin and I traded shots on my camera and got some great shots between the two of us. It’s something we hadn’t done together since I was in high school. I had forgotten how much fun it it.
Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unclevanya/sets/1672306/ -
Photos: Christmas Lights
IMG_2171.CR2, Originally uploaded by evancparker.Yet another iteration of the beauty that is my father’s and my Christmas decorating. This year was as extravigant as ever, and is the first year where it is (mostly) documented on film.
Christmas Lights
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unclevanya/sets/1671626/ -
Photos: Christmas off Hampton’s Todd’s Lane
IMG_2035.CR2, Originally uploaded by evancparker.Each year a neighborhood off Todd’s Lane in Hampton, Virginia, goes crazy with the Christmas lights and decoration. The houses that were decorated were just as elaborate as usual, though there did seem to be a couple fewer houses decorated this time around. Still well worth the trip.
Christmas off Hampton’s Todd’s Lane
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unclevanya/sets/1645400/ -
christmas in williamsburg
![[Jackson at his Grandparents House, Williamsburg, Virginia]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2005/12/76752565_c2c69f6d32.jpg)
See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
christmas in williamsburg, virginia
Ah, ’tis the season of love, joy, and parties. This year, we have two work parties each, two more parties at our house, a couple trips to the theater, and about half a dozen happy hours between us.
Not that I am complaining, but I actually had to stop commuting to work via bicycle in mid-December, because we have something just about every day after work for the last two weeks before Christmas. Thank God we finished up our Christmas shopping in late November, or a lot of people would be getting a whole-lotta nothing.
The highlight so far — for us, at least — was the Christmas Cartoon Extravaganza. Each year we collect as many television Christmas specials as we can, and throw a party where they are playing in the background. Our place is a bit small, but we managed to cram in twelve people to watch three and a half hours of pure animated Christmas goodness, including A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty Returns, Robbie the Reindeer, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends christmas special, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
I think this is only the second or third time the lady sparkler and I have thrown the Extravaganza, but I have done something similar on and off for the last decade. I wish I could take credit for the notion, but the idea originally came from a Theatre Department tradition at the College of William and Mary where people gathered each year and managed to turn How the Grinch Stole Christmas into a drinking game.
The basic premise of the College version was to drink each time you hear the word “Who” — as in “All the Who’s down in Whoville” and “Cindy Lou Who who was no more than two.” As you can imagine, the “winner” was essentially declared by the first commercial break by looking around at whomever was still standing.
Fortunately, the thirty-something version entailed just sitting on the couch and thinking warm thoughts of friends and family, though we did “go crazy” by slipping some peppermint schnapps into the cocoa.