scenes from xmas part 2

what xmas break looks like so far this year

we wish you a happy halogen

Guess who is not working for the next 11 business days? Awesome parts of Friday: huge work Christmas lunch party at fancy restaurant with three courses AND wine! It was like a wedding reception, with waiters and big long tables of guests. Also, it was the location of our secret santa reveal. I’ve never really done a secret santa exchange in my life, but this year’s burst of homemade presents and elaborate gift wrapping imbued me with a newfound interest in participating. After I carefully picked out and wrapped my presents, I wondered if I could list “exceptional secret santa” under the honors section on my resume. I gave: 1. small Oaxacan figurine, 2. funny kitchen magnets that said “My mood is” and then had pictures of food, 3. mulling spices, 4. crystal growing Christmas tree and 5. Starbucks gift card.

When I arrived at lunch, I sat down across from Sister Carol, who promptly revealed herself to be MY secret santa! Then, she handed me my last present--a wrapped log of brie cheese. Apparently, on the “interests” section of my secret santa questionnaire, I listed animals and cheese (!!!). What kind of person does that?! ANIMALS AND CHEESE! Truth be told—I can’t really think of anything better to list, but they are hard interests to shop for. Is she going to bring in a pet snake or something? She gave me animal themed things—penguin ornament and bird pencil holder. Sister Carol is obviously a great secret santa (much better than selfish me, who did not even attempt to read the “interests” section), and now I can cross off “have nun as secret santa” from my bucket list.

I took the lunch time as an opportunity to ask her about being a nun. I was shocked to learn several things—she became one at 18, right after college, to the disapproval of her mother. Nuns today can no longer join at the age of 18, they have to join in their mid-twenties. She’s the only nun in her family. Priests are generously provided for and taken care of by the church, nuns are not. Nuns can retire whenever they feel tired. They send their entire paycheck to their order.

This week, we made “Bohr model of the atom” felt ornaments in my chemistry class. After they finished, a groups of students decided that we needed a felt Christmas tree on which to hang them. They just did it—no input or guidance from me.


Then I made them stand in front of it and ordered them to “look cute”.

I guess I'm into this now

I was super inspired by an article in the latest edition of ReadyMade, in which the creator of these pipe cleaner tags mentions that the wrapping of the present is more important than the present itself. I've been trying to wrap with thought this year, though it's time consuming. But really, who wouldn't love their name in pipe cleaners?

I'm also into Andrei Rieu, PBS staple and crazy Austrian with a penchant for racist jokes in concert--he's European (and old)! What can you do?! We happened to get box seats to his recent SJ concert and it was amazing--there were fancy outfits, lots of waltzing and old people, a retrospective on Michael Jackson, a balloon fight and opening mockery of late comers to the concert (he put their faces on the large screens and made inappropriate Nazi jokes about the trains running on time). Another inappropriate comment came when he introduced the "black diamond" he found in South Africa. This black diamond was, of course, a black woman with a lovely singing voice. Couldn't he have just stopped at "diamond". Yes, but he's Andrei Rieu, earnest believer in the power of music! He also didn't get the memo that Michael Jackson did not die the beloved superstar he was in Europe. He was tarnished by sex abuse scandals and a morbid interest in his weirdness.

In summary, Andre Rieu needs a cross-cultural sensitivity editor (and possibly a haircut?)

Yes! Yes! Xmas tree time! This is my favorite time of year, when the house smells like trees and the living room is alight. What is adulthood if not the time to recreate everything we loved about our childhood and desperately attempt to redo or erase the parts that we hated? Obviously, I loved Christmas time when I was a child. Christmas eve was the only time in my life that I've consistently had insomnia. Tree! Presents! Grandmas! Sticky Buns for Breakfast! No School! Movies! Opening one present early! HOW COULD ANYONE SLEEP?

Bamboo and Kelp

Oh man, some stuff got made over the "break of the delicious family meal". Presents got wrapped, stickers got used, wooden Oaxacan figurines got repaired and two projects came to fruition.

Project 1: All this thinking about Bohr put me in the mood to make a felt ornament of the Bohr model of the atom. I did a quick google image search to see if such a thing had been created and could therefore be referenced/copied. Alas, it had not. I made several failed prototypes until I finally found one that was acceptable (glitter, pompoms, stuffing):



Project 2: We are studying soil in APES. I ordered some soil corers (not sure why the school didn't have any) and they haven't come in. Instead, I made edible soil profiles to introduce them to soil horizons. Gummy worms and dyed green coconut are the O horizon. Butterscotch chips are the parent material.


Today we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where I learned that kelp are the fastest growing producers on the planet, behind bamboo. They can grow 10-12 inches a day! Can you imagine? A foot/day of growth. The sun's energy being turned into sugar before our eyes (literally while you watch it for 1/2 an hour)? Nature is amazing.