Today's DIY Art Project - Light-Up 2D Christmas Tree

Here's a project I created last year for our new house, a flat Christmas tree to hang on the wall.  Here's the supplies and tools I used:

Parts:

• Three-foot long pieces of doweling (x3)
• Small bolts (x5)
• Wingnuts (x5)
• Small piece of chain
• Small cuphooks (many)
• Christmas lights (not pictured above)
• Kitkat

Chain is usually sold in 1' sections.  Get the size you need and when you get to the front and they try to hassle you, just tell them what the price was for the full 1' section.  

Tools:

• Drill, drillbit
• Saw
• Vice or clamp
• Eye protection

Here's what was left over when all was said and done - one bolt and wingnut, a bunch of cuphooks and a small section of doweling.  If I were doing this project this year, I'd go to Lowes instead as me and this company have had a falling out over the political comments of their CEO.  I sold my stock and stopped shopping there.

Basically, lay out the tree shape.  Add about eight inches to the base.  Cut off the excess.  Then cut the piece in half.

Drill holes into all of the pieces at the ends.  For the bottom pieces, overlap by 3-4 inches and drill a second set of holes.  You're going to overlap the bottom piece of the frame for two reasons: you can remove one bolt and fold up the tree if you want, plus you need to make up for the thickness of the doweling as I'll explain in the next step.

Begin fitting together.  The left pole goes on top of the right pole and bottom pole.  The chain goes between the two poles at the top.  Insert the bolt and secure with a wingnut.  Because your bottom pole is in two pieces stacked together, it goes above the right pole on the right side.

The basic tree.

Hanging on the house.

Finally, add lights.

Bring It On

It's been on my mind that I need to write more, so this my attempt to do just that.

36 days until Christmas. That's crazy.  It's way too close already. In past years, I have lamented "missing Christmas" - while I can't figure out where the month has gone, that stops now.

I'm listening to what's been declared by many as one of the greatest Christmas songs and I'm going to make sure I have Christmas in my day from now on through Christmas.


So, bring on the merry, bring on the lights, bring on the snow (or at least some great renditions of "Let it Snow")...


Bring on the baby Jesus, bring on the holiday decorations in the stores, bring on the "Merry Christmas", bring on the "Happy Holidays"  Bring on Miracle on 34th Street, bring on Elf, bring on Family Man.  Bring on careful dieting, bring on eating stuff you shouldn't and feeling good when you don't eat stuff you really want to.  Bring on carols, bring on music, bring on the annual debate with yourself about whether it's ok to listen to "Baby It's Cold Outside."  Bring on Holiday Inn, bring on It's a Wonderful Life.

I didn't feel good earlier.  I didn't finish my yogurt and then during church I had to get up and get some fresh air.  But I didn't have a really good reason for it.  But now it's gone and I'm happy and sad and excited for Christmas.  Lori's got the wreaths up in the house, we had a Thanksgiving lunch at Lori's mom's church (and I did not have any gravy, pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving cake or cheesy scalloped potatoes, I did really well if I may say so myself).  And I'm ready.  Bring on Christmas.

And one more before we go...

What Are We Listening To? (Christmas Music)

2014 was quite a year. January 2015 is nearly over and I'm just now getting to my end-of-the-year posts. I had wanted to do posts at the end of each month, but those kind of went to the wayside as well.

So this year we listened to a lot of new Christmas music. Not enough to break into this list, but so much that this list didn't change much. We also listened to a lot more Pandora this year as well as music transferred to our non-iDevices (so no play counts). But here's the our top 25 Christmas songs (not counting stuff in Ben's lullabye list).



1. Here with Us - Joy Williams [1]

2. Linus & Lucy - Vince Guarld Trio [new]

3. Christmas Lullaby - Mannheim Steamroller [new]

4. Jingle Bells - Barenaked Ladies [2]

5. Away in A Manger - Mannheim Steamroller [new]

6. I Saw Three Ships - Mannheim Steamroller [new]

7. Stille Nacht - Mannheim Steamroller [new]

8. What Child is This - Toby Bresnahan [new]

9. In Dulchi Jublio - Mannheim Steamroller [new]

10. Song for the King - Michael W. Smith [new]

11. Let It Snow! - Dean Martin [3]

12. Let It Snow - Celtic Woman [7]

13. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Bing Crosby [7]

14. Let It Show! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Frank Sinatra [8]

15. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Jaci Velasquez [6]

16. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Matthew West [9]

17. when Love Came Down - Point of Grace [10]

18. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow/Sleigh Ride - Point of Grace [11]

19. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings - Barenaked Ladies feat. Sarah Maclachlan [13]

20. All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey [14]

21. Christmas at Hogwarts - John Williams [12]

22. Christmas Hymn - Amy Grant [15]

23. Emmanuel, God With Us - Amy Grant [25]

24. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Martina McBride [17]

25. Angels We Have Heard On High - Sara Groves [19]

Previous posts: December 2013, January 2013, January 2011, July 2010

What Are We Listening To? (Christmas Music)

Last time (January 2013) I said I wanted to do this twice yearly. That didn't happen. Maybe once a year is the way to go. I left the "Let It Snow" variations in my list for most of the year, so they rose in the ranks. Two songs are still allowed to play year-round, Joy William's "Here With Us" and a JJ Heller song that hasn't cracked the top 25 yet.



1. Here With Us - Joy Williams [1]

2. Jingle Bells - Barenaked Ladies [2]

3. Let It Snow! - Dean Martin [5]

4. Let It Snow - Jon Sayles [11]

5. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Bing Crosby [7]

6. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Jaci Velasquez [10]

7. Let It Snow - Celtic Woman [8]

8. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Frank Sinatra [9]

9. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Matthew West [17]

10. When Love Came Down - Point of Grace [18]

11. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow/Sleigh Ride - Point of Grace [19]

12. Christmas at Hogwarts - John Williams [21]

13. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings - Barenaked Ladies feat. Sarah Maclachlan [22]

14. All I Want For Christmas is You - Mariah Carey [23]

15. Christmas Hymn - Amy Grant [24]

16. Emmanuel, God With Us - Amy Grant [25]

17. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Martina McBride [new]

18. A Cradle in Bethlehem - Sara Groves [new]

19. Angels We Have Heard on High - Sara Groves [new]

20. Jingle Bells - Bing Crosby [new]

21. White Christmas - Bing Crosby [new]

22. Joy to the World - Bing Crosby [new]

23. Deck the Rooftop - Glee Cast [new]

24. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Mariah Carey [new]

25. O Holy Night - Martina McBride [new]

Where in the World is Santa Claus? (A Christmas Eve Rant)

Ok, so apparently getting to be the NORAD Santa Tracker guys is worth some money - Microsoft is paying (or outbid?) NORAD to let them do it this year. Google couldn't be left without one, so now there's two at least two Santa Trackers. (People are also complaining this year about the fact that at some point Santa is escorted by military jets and how can they bring war into Christmas gifts? Oh, like Santa's never brought a child any G.I. Joe toys. Sheesh.)

While they're in the same geographic region, they're reporting different locations for Santa. Which means either one has bad intel or they're both just making this stuff up and they really don't know where Santa is right now.

Worse yet, Microsoft is using this to promote Internet Explorer. But who would want to get a web browser from a company that can't even be bothered to make sure their own website looks good for the people who are not yet using their browser? I'm using Chrome on a Mac and there's no satellite view (unless it's supposed to just look like it's nighttime?) and on Safari it's all positioned wrong. If they can't make a decent website, how can I trust they'll make a decent browser? It does look good in Firefox on the Mac. I think their front-end QA testing was incomplete.

Google opted for a wordless experience probably hoping to be more universal. But it actually just makes it more confusing. Where's the option to view the actual satellite view? And why is it just an icon? (Microsoft wins on that one.)

In-santa-ty Clause

So now I'm not sure what to believe. A hoax designed to sell browsers? A diversion for children? 

Because it sure isn't accurate tracking of Santa. And that's just sad.

Purpose, Defeated

You're the toy manufacturer claiming to be "environmentally-friendly" by using less packaging. But really you're being cheap and annoying.

Because now I have lumpy, lopsided packages that were difficult to wrap. One of which is actually sideways (and I'm not redoing it).

And you know what? I probably used more paper than I would have on a rectangular box.

So, yeah, thanks for that.

Planes, Trains and Christmas Music

So that's why I start thinking of John Candy every time that iTunes plays that Steven Curtis Chapman album.

Planes, Trains and... Steven Curtis Chapman?

What Are We Listening To? (Christmas)

I'm surprised to see that I haven't done this since January 2011. My goal had been to do Christmas yearly and everything else twice a year. I'm also surprised to see what happens when you allow some songs to be in rotation all year ("Here With Us" and BNL's "Jingle Bells" and all the "Let It Snow" variations.) I want to look to see if there are some more of a Christmas theme that would make good year-round music like JJ Heller's "Wake Up the World." So here's the top 25 list from iTunes. The 2011 rankings in [brackets]. Links to Amazon so that you can listen to short clips if you're not familiar with any of these.



1. Here With Us - Joy Williams [3]

2. Jingle Bells - Barenaked Ladies [1]

3. Linus & Lucy - Vince Guaraldi Trio [new]

4. Christmas Lullaby - Mannheim Steamroller [new]

5. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Dean Martin [new]

6. I Saw Three Ships - Mannheim Steamroller [new]

7. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Bing Crosby [new]

8. Let It Snow - Celtic Woman [new]

9. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Frank Sinatra [new]

10. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow! - Jaci Velasquez [new]

The Trouble with Christmas

In years past, I would often exit the holiday season feeling like I had "Missed Christmas."

I had attended the church service, hugged the family, opened the presents, ate the food, gained the weight, watched the movies, listened to the music, but I still felt like I had passed by the season without actually experiencing Christmas.

I tried to blame our church and their inexplicable refusal to do well-known, time-honored Christmas music in the services the weeks leading up to Christmas or how we just kind of like fit the Christmas Eve service in as another thing to get done. I wondered if I'd planned enough. I wondered if it was the opening of presents (something I've never really enjoyed). I wondered if it was the pressure to do a good lighting display and the knowledge that we didn't. I wondered if between church, the church play and a job that has us working weeks and months ahead - or the countless Christmas parties and forced festivities - that I was just burnt out by the big day.

This year, I didn't feel like I missed Christmas, but boy was it an unusual year.

Christmas with Flair

My team got together and got me "The Office Space Kit"* for Christmas.

It has a little mini red stapler, the Innitech mug, a piece of flair, cover sheets for my TPS Reports and more. Such fun. :)

I work with some neat people.

*This is an Amazon link. That's two in two days. I'll try not to make a regular habit of it - I mean, I'm not posting this just so you'll buy something. On the other hand, feel free to click the link and then go buy stuff. Every time you buy a million dollar's worth of products from Amazon.com, they give me a shiny nickel.

Merry Christmas

Love

wins.

Surprised by Joy

Surprised by Joy
Message #3 of "Surprised by Christmas"
Pastor Jeff MacLurg, Our Savior's Baptist Church; Federal Way, Wash.; www.oursaviorsbaptist.org
Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (My notes from the 10:45 am service, I pray they will be helpful to you. Would love your prayers for me, our church and our pastoral staff)

"All I want is to be happy in life." -- 'Jill'
"You will never find it," said Pastor Jeff, "until you accept the One who brings joy."

You don't get joy by searching for it, you receive it (it finds you) when God enters your life. It's that elusive.

Joyless at Christmas? The same shopping hassles, the same songs on the radio. If you go to church, you hear the same sermons about the same parts of the Bible. How can there be joy in the same old, same old?

--- The Joy in those of Christmas Past ---

1. Zechariah & Elizabeth (Luke 1)

This couple could have been bitter towards God at this point, never able to have children. But the passage says that they were still focusing on God.

They were GODLY before God. (God's opinion of them.)
They were GIVEN to God.
They were GRASPING for God.

>> They rejoiced when they saw what GOD had done.

Joy isn't about getting things (children, spouse) but about being in God's presence when (or if) you eventually receive those things. Joy is not in the receiving, but in seeing God working in your life.

2. Mary (Luke 1)
She was AVAILABLE, BIBLICAL and INSIGHTFUL.

>> She rejoiced over what GOD HAD DONE.

She saw God working in her life, she was shown that her life was part of something larger than her present situation and that brought her joy.

3. Shepherds (Luke 2)

>> They rejoiced in what GOD WAS DOING.

4. Magi (Matthew 2)

They weren't looking for joy or happiness - they were looking for a newborn king to worship and honor.

They rejoiced at seeing GOD'S HAND AT WORK.

They were overjoyed at the sight of the star. They knew this was a God-thing -- they knew they were experiencing God at work.

When you see branches move, even though you can't see it, this is evidence of the existence of wind. This star was evidence to them of God at work and they were overjoyed.

--- Joy in those of Christmas Present ---

So what do their experiences mean for us? Joy is something we all deeply long to experience joy and to experience joy deeply.

"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves." - Blaise Pascal

Guy de Maupassant - author, very famous, very wealthy. Tried to kill himself at the age of 42. Before he went insane, he wrote something that became his epitaph - "I have coveted everything and taken pleasure in nothing."

God has hard-wired us to want joy. But we confuse joy with pleasure. But all this "stuff" grows dull and lifeless - eventually you dread. In time, this will all fade and fail. All of these stories above were of people not chasing after happiness (or things) but of people who were seeking God and found joy.

God's joy: When you see God's HAND AT WORK IN YOUR LIFE.

This Christmas, GET INVOLVED IN PLACES AND THINGS WHERE YOU CAN SEE GOD'S HAND AT WORK.

Like what?
stretch - share Jesus
leave - go where you can help
serve - go serve people and let Jesus shine through you (and not just on Christmas day when everyone else is)
give - examples like our upcoming Caregiver Kit build
pray - get in touch with God. Pray for specific prayer requests of the people around you.
decide - commit to giving God control of your life in 2012 and work through you

Christmas is Coming

A nice day - spent it with Rachel and Ben.  We had hoped to see Santa, but he was too busy.  But we did still spend a lot of time together.  And Rachel chose presents for Lori from her and Ben.

Also, Ben's best haircut ever.  By far.  The stylist was really happy, she kept saying "We're getting a real haircut this time."  And no blood was drawn and we didn't need to stop and bribe or hold him securely.  There was some fussing and hitting of me at the beginning but he calmed down quickly.  Even (prompted) said both "thank you" and "goodbye."

I also put up some more lights and fixed some in the front yard.  (A little more tomorrow?)

Watched "Miracle on 34th. Street" all the way through.

And ran the bread machine so put the smell of fresh bread in the house.  (We watch Christmas movies, we put up a tree and lights, we listen to Christmas music - we might as well put it to our olfactory sense as well.  Now to pump in a pine smell through the furnace or something.)

Pity Party (A Work-Related Post)

Q: What do you call a mandatory 3-hour meeting where you sit around doing nothing, eating food you brought from home while you wished you were somewhere else and work continues to pile up on your desk?

A. A work-related Christmas party.

So... I'm pretty sure I've attended my last Christmas party at work.  Yesterday we had our division's Christmas party and today we had our department's Christmas party.

Surprised Seekers

(Cross-posted on YouVersion)

Surprised Seekers
Message #2 of "Surprised by Christmas"
Pastor Jeff MacLurg, Our Savior's Baptist Church; Federal Way, Wash.; www.oursaviorsbaptist.org
Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 (My notes from the 10:45 am service, I pray they will be helpful to you. Would love your prayers for me, our church and our pastoral staff)

"I finally found what I've been looking for."

What are you looking for? Peace? Happiness? Something different? Or perhaps truth?

--- Sincere Seekers ---

Matthew 2:1-12 - the magi - number unknown. Probably from Babylon (modern day Iraq), probably 600-800 miles from Jerusalem based on the route. These people studied the sky and God used a method designed for this group of people. God will provide directions to anyone who is honestly looking for Him. God doesn't believe in coincidence, He believes in appointments.

1. ...are guided by GOD TO GOD. (in a way that reaches out to them). Has there been a star shining in your life and you've been trying to close your eyes to it?
(Jeremiah 29:13)

Surprised Expectations

(Cross-posted to YouVersion)

Surprised Expectations
Message #1 of "Surprised by Christmas"
Pastor Jeff MacLurg, Our Savior's Baptist Church; Federal Way, Wash.; www.oursaviorsbaptist.org
Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011 (My notes from the 10:45 am service, I pray they will be helpful to you. Would love your prayers for me, our church and our pastoral staff)

"They Didn't Get It"

For over 100 years, ulcers were thought to be caused by stress, spicy food or alcohol. In 1982, scientists who claimed it was an infection were laughed at.  A new truth is sometimes hard to accept when you've lived so long with what, until then, was to believed to be the truth.

--- A People in Trouble (Isaiah 9:6-17) ---

700 years before Jesus' birth. The king of Asyria was bent on destroying every inhabitant of Jerusalem. They asked for a sign that God had not abandoned them.

Isaiah's Sermon High Points - this is what they were supposed to get
* A Child would be born
* A Son
* His Name - he would be called by some amazing names
* His Greatness
* On David's Throne
* King of an unending Kingdom

God's message: God is sending you a KING! (All he wants is to rule over your life.)

Judea heard: God is sending us a RESCUER. (Then we can get on with life as we please.)
Thier complication: SPIRITUALLY INDEPENDENT - Access to God when they wanted. "God is here for me, but I don't have to be there for God." "I'll look into this God thing later near the end of my life." "I can do things on my own."

Happy Arbor Day to You, Too, @Spotify

Hmmm... got an interesting email from Spotify yesterday... about some holiday in 24 days.  Some merry holiday.  Seems to involve jingly stuff, snowflakes, packages, ornaments, a red and green theme.  Some kind of seasonal holiday of some sort.  A festive holiday, even.  Sometimes people are so afraid of offending that they go to great lengths to all but say it.  To the point that it borders on offensive to us who do celebrate it.

Merry Christmas, Spotify.  Was that so difficult?  Even if you don't want to acknowledge Lord baby Jesus, lyin' there in his ghost manger, just lookin' at his Baby Einstein developmental videos, learnin' 'bout shapes and colors, this still is a real holiday lots of people celebrate.

spotihumbug.jpg

P.S. Spotify - it's not November.  Did you forget to change that on your template?  Oops.
P.P.S. If you don't already get the ghost manger reference, it's probably not one you'll ever get.  Don't worry about it.  Hilarious movie but not for everyone.

Wish List

So I've been feeling the guilt of stuff lately.  Or the crush of stuff.  And at the same time, people say "I looked at your Wish List and I'm getting you a Tesla or a DMC.  And I'm certainly not buying you Australia."  (But I've always wanted the keys to a shiny new Australia.)

So they mentioned today at church that on January 28 they've invited 4 other churches to join us and we're building Caregiver Kits.  So there are parts of Africa where medical supplies and medical facilities just don't exist.  At the same time, there are all kinds of people suffering.  So there are people who travel, typically by bicycle, to care for them.  In many cases, they are dying of HIV/AIDS, these caregivers are simply making their final weeks and months more comfortable.  So these kits - they provide medical supplies to the caregivers.

Caregiver Kit Builds are events at churches, corporations and organizations where people come together to pack the supplies into the kits and then write a note.  Many people also pray for the kits.  It's pretty cool.  Medical supply companies make the contents of the kits available at near cost, sometimes for free.  It's good publicity for them and when they provide it at less than cost, they get the write-off.   So when a group decides they want to do the kits, they coordinate through World Vision who coordinates with the suppliers who deliver the materials to the build site and then coordinates to ship the kits once built.  (The plastic cases go on to additional lives once the supplies are exhausted - mostly in about a month's time.)

I've participated in kit builds before because I work for World Vision.  But I hadn't participated at one with a church before, so it's kind of exciting that we're doing it this year.  Each year we do what we call "Advent Conspiracy" where we pick a project and then collect money during the Christmas season, challenging people to buy fewer presents and donate money instead.  And so this case the AC benefactor is the caregivers.  I do not know if I'll get to build kits or not -- Lori also wants to do it, so it may be that I hang out with Ben while she and Rachel (and maybe Lori's mom) make the kits.

But, here's where the Wish List comes in.  If you were thinking of buying me something this year, maybe instead you'll donate money towards the cost of supplies.  If you'd like to do so, mail a check for $28 to Our Savior's Baptist Church, 701 South 320th Street  Federal Way, WA 98003 and note that it's for Caregiver Kits.  And if you're in town, please consider coming by - these build events are described as "exciting" and "rewarding" and "fun."

Christmas Time

At work, we're always introducing new opportunities. They get built, and then we have to support them. One of my co-workers likes to suggest a Jenga tower, but I'm not sure that's accurate, because we don't remove pegs from the bottom, we just continue to add more pegs to the top. The tower gets taller and taller. We feel busy constantly, maintaining the stuff that's been built and then trying to figure out how to get anything new done.

And that makes me think of the Christmas season we just went through. We had made a mindmap the year before of everything that "meant" Christmas - buying presents, attending holiday parties, special stuff at church, etc., etc., etc. One of the things on the list was to watch a bunch of movies... Holiday Inn and White Christmas for Lori, Family Man for me. But we didn't get to them. And we didn't get to some other stuff, either.

Even our lights got put up late and haven't been taken down. The tree's still up, too, because there's still presents underneath it for family we haven't had a chance to connect with.

Like Christmas cards. I made sure we got our yearly portrait done early -- by reminding Lori. She's the one who made the reservation, picked out all our clothes, got the kids ready, even picked up the photos when they were done. And then I didn't even help with sending out the photo cards we bought.

And I felt bad about that. I tried to think why there was so many things I didn't get to this year and yet why it still felt so stressful.

And then I realized... I didn't stop doing anything. I tried to add it on top of everything else I was doing. I took a week off in early December, but didn't have much time to do stuff. And then around Christmas and New Years, I didn't take any time.

Next year, I really need to not just look at everything that I want to do, but what I will cease doing for the holiday period.

Odds and Ends 96

1. INFRASTRUCTURIST -- High-Speed Rail Roundup: Putin Promises HSR by 2018

2. MSNBC -- Critics say Honda may be losing its edge - Thank you. That's what I've been saying. Seen the new Odyssey? Looks like a relative of the Aztek.

3. SETH GODIN -- Lady Gaga and Me

4. MSNBC -- Niagara Falls Without Water (As Seen in 1969)

5. ENDGADGET -- Microsoft releases H.264 video plug-in for Windows 7 Firefox users - this isn't the kind of news I usually pass along, but in this case, I'm mentioning it because I want to give Microsoft some kudos. Well done, Redmond!

6. TWITTER -- Top 10 Most Re-Tweeted Tweets

7-10. Videos after the break... Digital Nativity, Drift Fail, SNC can't get "12 Days" right, but that's ok and some Lego Black Ops