Yesterday, approximately seven minutes after my family had finished eating our belated Thanksgiving dinner, we began the trimming of the Christmas tree — our meals were still being savored, and we had already moved along to the next holiday. I suppose, however, that is just the nature of things this time of year, always in a rush to what is next. Advertisers had already declared it Christmastime weeks ago anyway, and intrepid shoppers are already trading Black Friday war stories. And the tree process, which at one point was a day-long endeavor and involved sharp objects and getting inevitably covered in sap, has been distilled down to unpacking a single box, putting three pre-lit tree sections together, and plugging in an electric cord.

So, while the transition from turkey and Pilgrims to mistletoe and Elves did feel a little abrupt this year, I’m not complaining, as it did not detract from the pleasant enjoyment of trimming the tree with family. It’s an event which always pulls on my nostalgic heart strings. This year I shot a series of pictures with my old Pentax K-1000 that my father passed down to me awhile back. The series can be seen here (along with some other “bonding” shots from the weekend). My personal favorite ornament is the yellow bike pictured above. Having parents that were both avid cyclists earlier in their lives leaves you with some fun little velo tchotchkes. This bright yellow fixed gear ornament, complete with “true track geometry,” is no exception.

We’ll have to see how long I can keep the holiday spirit up. A trip the the White House Christmas Tree is always good for reinvigorating the cheer, and I’m sure it will be in order soon enough. Long time followers of Juxtaexposed will recall that the White House tree, or more accurately the yule log, was the topic of our first post almost two years ago.

   
The results of our first poll (28 votes) are in with stuffing and sweet potatoes tying for first place and taking in a combined more than 50% of the vote.  This comes as quite a surprise to me but the loyal juxtaexposers (sp?) have spoken.  Personally, I was pulling for cranberry sauce (carefully removed from the can so the lines remain, of course) which only received a single lonely vote.  Having just enjoyed three separate T-giving dinners over the past few days I can certainly understand how Turkey, the supposed Thanksgiving staple and infamous purveyor of tryptophan hangover, would not receive a vote.  By my second dinner I took a little bit of Turkey out of principle/tradition but come round three I let the turkey, both light and dark meat, be.
   
As for the photo above it has nothing really to do with Thanksgiving, or anything in particular, but I took on my day off before Thanksgiving and I like it.  So there.
   
Also, Bread for the City is still collecting donations for their Holiday Helpings campaign to help provide celebratory holiday meals for over 10,000 low-income families in the Washington, DC area.  Just $28 dollars can provide a much needed and greatly appreciated meal.  I donated, it felt good, and you can still by clicking here. Thanksgiving has clearly past but Bread for the City is still accepting donations to for holiday meals during the Xmas season.