18 responses to “Saturday morning market.”

1. 

   Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 26, 2011 at 12:18 pm

   Indy’s downtown “tree” lighting cannot be beat — once again, a lovely transition from Thanksgiving to the Christmas season. Introduced our nieces to the tradition, and they loved it all. Couldn’t interest them in my subtradition of my one annual Peppermint Mocha Latte, but the hot chocolate went down just fine.

   My brother roasted two ducks for the nine of us, and that is just the right amount, since no one has decided to breed ducks to the Hollywood-breast-augmentation level of turkey absurdity. And the gravy you make from those drippings takes mashed potatoes to a whole ‘nother level.

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2. 

   Bob (Not Greene) said on November 26, 2011 at 1:43 pm

   I gotta take the leap and roast a duck one of these days. That sounds really good.

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3. 

   Jolene said on November 26, 2011 at 3:41 pm

   Realty like that picture, Nancy.

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4. 

   nancy said on November 26, 2011 at 3:45 pm

   That’s my husband’s arm.

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5. 

   Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 26, 2011 at 4:29 pm

   Update: my 13 year old enjoyed “The Muppets,” and at that, only half as much as his 50 year old parents did. And I met Jim Gaffigan’s brother waiting in line for tickets, since I was wearing my “Late Show” sweatshirt. A good day all along, now making duck tacos.

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6. 

   Deborah said on November 26, 2011 at 4:42 pm

   We don’t do a Christmas tree anymore. We’ve lived in high rises for a couple of decades now and it just doesn’t make since to set up a tree and drag it out. We only did it once, our first Christmas in a high rise and we vowed never again. Every year we give our family members a silver snowflake from Tiffany’s,we give one to ourselves too. Over the years we’ve got quite a collection that I polish and arrange on the glass coffee table in the living room. That and some Aalto vases filled with ornaments are the extent of our holiday decorations, not to mention that we usually go to New Mexico for the holidays (except for last year when we had the granddaughter with us in Chicago). But I have to say a nice wreath might be a good idea to get the added benefit of the scent. But where to hang it is another big question.

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7. 

   basset said on November 26, 2011 at 11:36 pm

   If I had any say in it we wouldn’t do a Christmas tree either, or much of anything except maybe a big meal. Mrs. B’s side of the bloodline is into all that happy-family business, though, so I play along. And I don’t even know what an Aalto vase is; heard Christmas music in a Tractor Supply store earlier today and wanted to break something, it’s not even December yet.

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8. 

   Deborah said on November 27, 2011 at 12:31 am

   Basset, Aalto vases are wavy glass vases designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.

   Chicago is all decked out with white lights in the trees all along Michigan Ave from the Chicago river north to Oak St. It stays like this through February. It makes the walk home from work much more pleasant through the winter.

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9. 

   alex said on November 27, 2011 at 8:41 am

   We don’t do trees anymore either. They’re messy and take up too much space. We like the smell of fresh greenery, but can’t really abide the death of trees for the sake of a holiday, and don’t see any sense in putting up a fake one.

   Instead my partner creates grave blankets from materials on the property—evergreen boughs of all sorts, pine cones, hawthorn berries and dried flowers—for hanging on the wall. His handiwork would cost a coupla hundred bucks at the better greenhouses around here. I like them because they say Christmas without screaming it and yet don’t look like Christmas decorations when they’re left hanging until March.

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10. 

    Linda said on November 27, 2011 at 10:12 am

    I have a dinky, pre-made-up, fake tree, but it sheds light (which is comforting when the days shrink to nearly nothing). I used to put up a tree, which took a couple of hours to put up and decorate, and enjoyed it for a week or so, and then calculate how long it would take to remove and put away the decorations properly. I’m too old for that stuff.

    The wreath is pre-decorated, but real. Everything can be put away or put out in a half an hour, which is what I have energy for. It’s all relative; I have energy to plant stuff outdoors, or weed, for 2-3 hours at a time. But not indoors stuff.

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11. 

    Deborah said on November 27, 2011 at 11:13 am

    Sense not since. Duh.

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12. 

    MichaelG said on November 27, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Deborah, hang it on the inside of the front door.

    I bought a live rosemary tree with lights on it last year. It stood a couple of feet high in its pot. After Christmas I planted it out back. Now I have a nice rosemary bush out there.

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13. 

    Linda said on November 27, 2011 at 12:41 pm

    Alex@9:
    I envy your partner’s decorating skills and your landscape. It sounds like the Southern Living holiday edition looks.

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14. 

    Jolene said on November 27, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    The trees sold at Christmas time are a farm product, every bit as much as the things we buy at grocery stores. If it weren’t for the possibility of selling them at Christmas, they wouldn’t have been grown in the first place. Most cities now have programs to turn trees into mulch that the city can use in its own landscaping or that citizens can buy to use in their yards and gardens.

    People have done analyses of the costs and benefits of fake vs. real trees. I don’t remember how they came out, but I don’t think there was clear evidence of environmental or other virtue on either side.

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15. 

    caliban said on November 27, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    Alvar Aalto and his first wife Aino have designed furniture, various interior design elements, and interesting buildings. Aalto died in the 70s, I think. Lots of architect friends of mine practicaly idolize the guy as the Finnish equivalent of F. L. Wright.

    Corporate welfare is alive and well in England. Sounds disgustingly familiar.

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16. 

    caliban said on November 27, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    Pretty even-handed and objective discussion re: real vs. artificial. The point that stands out for me is that every acre planted in Douglas firs kept in perpetual rotation producing Christmas trees absorbs more than 11,000 lbs. of CO2 annually.

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17. 

    Julie Robinson said on November 27, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    We just came back from a tree festival, which is a fundraiser for the local historic theatre. We hadn’t been in a while, and it was fun to see all the creative decorating ideas. But you know what? It hit me that for the first time our daughter won’t be home for Christmas. Of course I knew it was coming, she’s 31 and we got to have her around longer than most. I understand my mom a little better now.

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18. 

    LAMary said on November 27, 2011 at 11:18 pm

    The saintly woman who does my clerical grunt work and catches my mistakes opted to take the “voluntary separation” deal the company offered, since she’s close to retirement age anyway, so we’re having a potluck and the other recruiter she takes care of chipped in with me and we got her a Kindle. I had enough Best Buy reward certificates to upgrade it quite a bit, so she’ll have a cool toy to play with. I’m making an assortment of mini rustic tarts, plum, pear-cranberry, apple walnut for the pot luck. Two other women in the department are taking the deal as well, so I suspect it will be a weepy day on Wednesday. Between the three of them they have put in over 90 years with the company.

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