{"id":5524,"date":"2015-12-24T17:52:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-25T01:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/?p=5524"},"modified":"2015-12-24T18:22:29","modified_gmt":"2015-12-25T02:22:29","slug":"holiday-joy-and-greetings-to-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/2015\/12\/holiday-joy-and-greetings-to-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday joy and greetings to all! :)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s three days after Solstice and Christmas Eve and well after Hannukah&#8230; and I have a ton of things to be thankful for. First and foremost for me: I have officially advanced to candidacy!<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/45.media.tumblr.com\/871077f6830726fec33a94ead171517d\/tumblr_mtjjk2eN3P1sgbwzho1_400.gif\" alt=\"Halleluia! :)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Halleluia! :)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In case I didn&#8217;t make it clear just how unutterably happy &amp; relieved that makes me:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Yay! Kermit Arm Flail\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KlJM4UhbQ7A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n&#8230;yeah, THAT excited. :)<\/p>\n<p>So, also inexpressibly delighted that we have a tree! :)\u00a0 If I can figure out what google&#8217;s done with my phone photos I&#8217;ll add in the picture here later.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, in the spirit of Solstices past, I&#8217;m including a few URLs that I much enjoyed, to share with friends. First something nifty about the origins of the season: <a href=\"http:\/\/gathervictoria.com\/2014\/12\/04\/doe-a-deer-a-female-deer-the-spirit-of-mother-christmas\/\" target=\"_blank\">Doe, A Deer &#8212; A Female Deer: The Spirit of Mother Christmas<\/a> which I knew already due to my studies, but apparently many of my friends don&#8217;t! Let&#8217;s rectify this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>-and then let&#8217;s have something silly and fun! As a very aspiring &#8212; as opposed to wildly successful &#8212; cook myself, this made me laugh so hard I cried! <a href=\"http:\/\/fusion.net\/story\/246826\/christmas-recipes-vintage-retro-holiday\/\" target=\"_blank\">We&#8217;d Rather Eat Coal: A disturbing evening spent preparing vintage Christmas recipes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy, and a very merry and blessed holidays to you all! :)<\/p>\n<p><em>Later edit<\/em>: Oooh, figured it out! Here&#8217;s Goldie at the tree, &amp; the tree from a different angle:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5535\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5535\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/TREEEE.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5535\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5535\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/TREEEE-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"yay, treee!\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5535\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">yay, treee!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5532\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5532\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/goldie-tree.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5532\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5532\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/goldie-tree-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Goldie &amp; c-mas tree! :)\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5532\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Goldie &amp; c-mas tree! :)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Aren&#8217;t the reflections on the wooden floor pretty? I&#8217;m really thrilled too because this is the first full-sized tree we&#8217;ve had in something like two and a half decades &#8212; yay! It just feels more christmassy to me than the tiny tree I had to work with previous to this. Plus this tree is artificial, so sturdier when the cats decide to see if it&#8217;s climbable (it is, though I didn&#8217;t get any photos of the little monsters! :), and also the lights are both cool AND already wired in! Totally awesome, in my book &#8212; this way we get all the joy of a tree but don&#8217;t have to kill one! Oh, and I absolutely love how beautifully colorful decorations are:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5529\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5529\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/colorful-tree-garlands.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5529\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5529\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/colorful-tree-garlands-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Many colors of the season\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5529\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many colors of the season<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5533\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5533\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hedgie-ornament.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5533\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hedgie-ornament-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Handmade Polish hedgie ornament\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5533\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Handmade Polish hedgie ornament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5531\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5531\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/gold-lace-shooting-star.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5531\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5531\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/gold-lace-shooting-star-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Handmade gold lace shooting star\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5531\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Handmade gold lace shooting star<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8230;and also how much fun it was to make some of my own decorations this year! The red and white exploding star is made of paper &#8212; they&#8217;re surprisingly easy to make, too! They&#8217;re a traditional Polish decoration, and their proper name (which I&#8217;ve forgotten &amp; will have to look up later) translates as &#8220;hedgehog&#8221; &#8212; which I love! The little shooting star is a lace weave from gold thread, and also surprisingly easy to do &#8212; with the right pattern and tools, of course! I wouldn&#8217;t want to try it from scratch. ;) But apparently lacework, like the hedgie-star, is effectively time-consuming but simple to do once you know how. Very cool! :)<\/p>\n<p>I also wanted to mention one not-so-successful holiday attempt, mostly because it made me giggle so much when I pulled it out of the microwave. It was <em>supposed<\/em> to be a little brownie-cake in a mug. I call it the chocosplosion! ;)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5528\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5528\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/chocosplosion.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5528\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5528\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/chocosplosion-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Chocosplosion!\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5528\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chocosplosion!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Finally, because &#8220;How the Grinch Stole Christmas&#8221; is my favorite holiday show, I have the following, filched from FB&#8230; as a happy reminder that it&#8217;s not the loot &#8212; it&#8217;s the sharing and joy that <em>really<\/em> make the season. :)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5536\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5536\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Grinch-meaning-of-c-mas.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5536\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5536\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Grinch-meaning-of-c-mas-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"True meaning of Christmas :)\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Grinch-meaning-of-c-mas-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Grinch-meaning-of-c-mas-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Grinch-meaning-of-c-mas.jpg 504w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5536\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">True meaning of Christmas :)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A very merry, blessed, and prosperous holidays and new year to you all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s three days after Solstice and Christmas Eve and well after Hannukah&#8230; and I have a ton of things to be thankful for. First and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,43,32,8,23,1,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cooking","category-dissertation-blues","category-education","category-feminism","category-ma-phd-programs","category-uncategorized","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5524"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5537,"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5524\/revisions\/5537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stormtiger.com\/collie\/bestiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}