Ain't no needles coming off this here tree...

tonight is the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Ceremony! if you are not feeling the holiday spirit yet, tonight may be your night!

here are some Rockefeller tree facts:

Rockefeller Center's yearly Yule tree has grown from a modest fir that construction crews set up during the Great Depression into a holiday extravaganza drawing millions of visitors from across the globe.

20 feet: the height of the original Balsam fir that workmen set up in the complex's muddy construction site in 1931.

2010's Norway spruce towers 74 feet and weighs 12 tons.

This year's tree is approximately 75 years old.

700 lights were used during Rockefeller Center's first official tree-lighting ceremony in 1933.

Today, 30,000 multi-colored LED lights wrapped on 5 miles of wire make the iconic tree glow.

2.5 million spectators visit the tree each year.

The tree drinks up to 90 gallons of water a day at the outset, which lessens over time.

The Swarovski crystal star atop the tree is 9 ½ feet in diameter and weighs 550 pounds.

25,000 crystals and one million facets illuminated by 720 LED bulbs make the star shine bright.

The trees have ranged from 50-foot pines to 100-foot Norway spruces.

The tallest was a 100-foot spruce from Killingworth, Connecticut. in 1999.

In 1946 the tree is painted silver to look like snow.

The first tree from outside the U.S. came from Canada in 1966.

Christmas Day 1936: The famous Rockefeller Plaza Outdoor Ice Skating Pond opens, and the lighting ceremony includes a skating pageant for the first time.

3 trees were set up in 1942, one decorated red, one in white and one in blue, to support the troops serving in WWII.

1951: NBC Televises the tree lighting for the first time on "The Katie Smith Show".

2007: The tree goes green with energy-efficient LED lights that save 2,213 kilowatt hours per day – as much as a single family would use in a month to power a 2,000 square foot house.

Now, the tree consumes 1,297 kilowatt hours of electricity per day!

Let's hope this years show is a little more exciting than this....

He looks like a derranged Easter Bunny.

a co-worker of mine celebrates this season with what is the longest running holiday video podcast on the web! Grant's Advent Calendar Video Podcast is another daily dose of christmas fun you should enjoy. here is an episode from a few years ago. you may recognize the location....



check out the site!
http://www.throwingtoasters.com/advent/

My little brother had not eaten voluntarily in over three years.

as always, my promises on this blog fall by the wayside. my "play-by-play" thanksgiving updates never happened. in fact, i have been silent these past few days. i blame it on food coma. however, my co-blogger, velvet, has posted all the glories of our feast on her blog. here is the link. check back tomorrow, and everyday in December for more updates! 'tis really is the season now!

It could be a bowling alley!

i have been silent for the past week, but i'm prepping for turkey day, and i'm spending it with fellow blog hosts velvet & jillsie! we are planning some holiday surprises & joy tomorrow. look for some behind the scenes play-by-play thanksgiving post tomorrow! it's going to be a big day!

if you are looking for that last minute recipe, here is something that is been in my family since i can remember....

Skoby's Creamed Corn:
16 oz. frozen whole kernel corn
1 tsp white pepper
2 cups half and half
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
seasoned breadcrumbs or baguette

Thaw corn. Melt butter in a small saute pan. Add flour and mix well to make a smooth consistency. Heat half and half in a 2-quart saucepan. Add pepper, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil; gradually whisk in the flour mixture. Stir continuously until a sauce consistency is achieved. Stir in corn until evenly distributed. Portion into individual ramekins or a casserole dish. Top with seasoned breadcrumbs crumbled baguette and brown under the broiler.

enjoy!

when our joy is at its zenith....

one of my favorite christmas memories from childhood will always be the morning i walked into my living room to find that an optimus prime tent had been set up as i slept. it was the very one i had seen in the jc penney catalog just weeks ago, and wanted more than anything. twenty five-years later (this past weekend), i stumbled across some images from that very same catalog, and to my surprise and joy, i found that same picture that set my optimus prime desire in motion. i also began finding pictures of toys, sleeping bags, bedsheets & so much more that i have not thought of since that year. yet, they are as familiar to me now as they were to that five year old boy. so here's to you optimus, teddy ruxpin, mask, toys'r'us, and all my other dear friends that will forever live in that magical & glorious land known as christmas in the 1980s.


p.s. i am not the little girl getting the teddy ruxpin in the video below....

horrified, i heard myself blurt it out.

a little night music, sharkey style...






xoxo, velvet

It was his true medium; a master.

attention all Sufjan fans!!! do you want to call your grandmother for christmas? want to see how many christmas candles you can light before the match burns out? wanna see some really cool dancing elves? well, click this link, and be transported to a Sufjan Stevens christmas wonderland! as if this years Age Of ADZ wasn't enough of a gift.


and let's not forget about his fantastic christmas record, for which all this christmas joy is based on!



If you know Sufjan's music already you will expect this to be far from conventional. This 42 track record(a collection of christmas extended plays), explores many different sounds and, the lyrics range from the wonderfully absurd to worship. Some of the songs are short interludes and variations on segments of classic songs, but he has written a good amount of original stuff as well. Enjoy a live performance here here and a music video here. Such a beautiful album.

I have since heard of people under extreme duress speaking in strange tongues.

in what may be the perfect melding of everything i love about christmas(shopping and worship?), the Opera Company of Philadelphia burst into what they called a "random act of culture" by singing Hallelujah from Handel’s Messiah in the middle of a downtown Macy’s this past saturday. they were accompanied by the worlds largest pipe organ. watch this video and see how amazing this world would be if we would incorporate a little more culture in our day to day lives.

I like The Wizard of Oz. I like the Tin Man.

Hello! My name is Jillsie and this is my first time in the Christmas blog scene. Mikey begged me to join him in his yearly digital expression of the wonderfulness of the holiday season. He is very persistent and I'm secretly a a softy (especially after a glass or two of wine) so here I am, ready or not.


Christmas is also my favorite time of year, but there have always been rules, very, very strict rules about how much of it I could take before getting sick of Santa by the first of December. Somehow, by Mikey's sly influence, there is a Charlie Brown tree with a singular red bulb presently staring at me across the room. The Jillsie who for years has proclaimed, "no Christmas decorations, music or movies until Thanksgiving!" has left the building. I am officially doomed (in the best way possible).



Jillsie

Didn't I get a tie this year?

conan o'brien's new show starts tonight, so in the spirit of his triumphant return, here is a look at a christmas show from years past. knock em' dead tonight conan!

Wake up, Stupid! Wake up!

i have to admit, i was a huge fan of homestar runner back in the day. it has been a few years since i have visited the site with any regularity, except when it comes to their halloween and christmas (or as they call it "decemberween") specials. i still find them quite funny. i thought it would be fun to take a look at one of them.

What happened son? Who did this to you?

due to the crazy weather in the great state california, i made a stop for some medication on my way home from work. to my delight, i saw my first christmas trees of the season right next to a stack of coca-cola cans adorned by old saint nick himself.

it made the not so fun stop a bit more merrier. returning home i saw two back to back christmas television commercials. i turned the tv off, started up some music and lit some candles to put up the tree. yes, the tree is a towering six inches, but it's glorious to me!

(post script) as i am writing this, alex, my roommate is watching the David Bowie, Bing Crosby video. let's watch it together..



peace on earth. let it be.

mikey

Yeah, another one of my silly puzzles. This one could be worth FIFTY THOUSAND BUCKS.

mere child's play compared to what surely awaited me.

so here we are, 54 days until christmas. many say it is way to early to be celebrating the christmas season, but i will live by my rule of christrmas music starts the day after halloween. no christmas movies till thanksgiving, but the music is fair game. i need time to make new discoveries and gather gems for my annual christmas mix. velvet (the once involved but now mostly m.i.a. partner of this blog) put her tree and decorations up last night! that won't happen for me untill around thanksgiving, but more power to her!!!

people say celebrating christmas to early takes the spotlight away from thanksgiving, but you know what i'm thankful for? christmas! and come on, macey's thanksgiving day parade is almost just as much about christmas now. anyway, this years blog will be way more fun and fancy free than the last two! expect to see lots of music, movie clips, pictures, recipes and post from a new contributor or two! keep checking back!