The Bar 2014 Edition

[magicmarty]

Mornng MDF, AntiM. I love real books too, but the ability to adjust the size of the type makes reading them on the Kindle so much easier on my eyes. Have a fine day, kiddies

[unjonharley]

[^Rhino!]

Amazing what you can do with the proper decorations for the tree.

In undergrad school, we appropriated a tree one evening (a cedar, no harm done, but we did the decor right. From nearly every branch was some sort of snuff can with a string through it for an ornament (guys had been saving the darn things all fall as a sort of joke). It took off from there. Toilet paper as garland. Pizza boxes with ribbon under the tree as "presents'. Dorm life tends to breed instability of thought as well as decor.

I've mellowed a bit. This year, I'm trying to collect enough Inoceramus clams from Kansas to make enough ornaments. String after string of battery powered LED lights. A small disco ball to top the tree, maybe. I haven't got all the ingredients just right yet, but I'm considering using plastic olive green ammo cans as 'presents'. And then, some MAD-magazine inspired carols on the CD player, stuff like:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....
It's barely Halloween....
Stores are opening their doors....
At ten minutes until four....
The night before Thanksgiving.....

or maybe

An eighty-foot manger extends to the street.
With wise men and camels the scene is complete.
A Choir of angels is perched on a limb
Beneath the loudspeaker that's blaring a hymn

Our roof features Santa with reindeer and sleigh
While two dozen floodlights light up the display.
Although it costs thousands we'll spend even more
Just so we're outdoing our neighbors next door.


Yeah. Vintage shabby holiday chic. I'm up for it.

[Aurelia]

Thank you Rhino !
it was good to have levity.

in the spirit of that
When we gather at my son's place this T-day ..(he and his new wife and 3 or more rescue dogs live above my other son's machine shop -Paragon Motors- with pallets of titanium everywhere) I am giving him a large fabulous old ceramic coc-a-tou .

laughing is good medicine.
xoA.

[Savannah]

Rhino, I love creative (and personalized!) holiday ornamentation.

I have some family ornaments, but until recently, not quite enough for a nice dense ornamentation spree if the tree were over 6 feet . . . and I don't usually like a box of new ornaments without meaning. So I bought a little $1 box of ornament hangers--which is the beginning of all things!--and began with a $2 bag of jingle bells. I hung a bunch of those bells on my tree topped with little red ribbons tied into bows. Then I raided my craft basket, jewelry boxes, everything. Anything shiny or glittery or old-fashioned or jewelled ended up on the tree, sometimes after benefit of hot glue and some adjustment. I had frosted white "globe" lights (small). The end result was actually quite beautiful and unexpectedly Victorian-looking.

So if anyone is feeling like they don't have enough ornaments, but you do have a craft basket or little pieces of hardware or other strange little items, get some ornament hangers from a drugstore. They can unleash some really neat results and your tree will be very much yours.

[MyDearFriend]

Oh, gosh, I remember one year our basement was broken into and lots of random stuff was stolen, including all our xmas ornaments. Heartbroken kids, yep, and I am like you Savannah about mass-produced decorations, so, I bought some hooks and helped the boys hang dozens of their favorite little toys on the tree; LEGOs and action figures, finger puppets and Bendos, oh all kinds of things. Lots of fun. Beautiful tree that year.

And oh yeah Rhino we call those fake presents under the tree "decoys" because they are like the wooden ducks hunters will float in the water to attract the real thing. We do not believe in Santa anymore but we apparently do believe that presents will magically find their way if you call them right.

[Savannah]

That tree must have been wonderful, and the boys so proud. What a way to make the best of a situation!

[theCryptofishist]

So I bought a little $1 box of ornament hangers--which is the beginning of all things!

Okay, no one say anything to Savannah about some 16-gauge wire being the beginning of all things. She does her best and we all love her.

[theCryptofishist]

Okay. Who's the wiseguy who sent up the note that says:

A drawplate is the beginning of all things

?

If you don't confess, I'll make the entire class stay after school today.

[Ratty]

Savannah, One time I did a tree in
All my flashy earrings put into little open velvet jewelry store boxes. Other ones were...
Those clear plastic ornaments with pictures of antique dolls in them
Plastic playing cards bent and glued into stars, boxes etc
Crystals from a chandelier
A rotating metal tree hung with CDs and yellow rope lights, (for the stage by the DJ)
Tiny cheap wooden ornaments that you buy in a huge pkg for a few bucks
Styrofoam balls sprayed with adhesive and dipped into the cross cut paper shredder full of colorful shreds
Clay things made to look like gingerbread men and cookies
ALL candy canes. Different colors and sizes.

With enough bling and shiny garland anything looks great.

[unjonharley]

Our first xmas with one kid on the way.. Some one gave us a throw away tree.. We waded up news paper and wrapped it with yarn.. Over 50 years now and those ornaments are still in the family..

[Ratty]

That's the spirit. My tree topper is a paper plate made into an angel 40 years ago.

[trilobyte]

I found this in the archives, from a few years back... it's the last time Pani and I decorated a tree for anything...

boozemas-invite.jpg

The file getting clipped and showing gray on the bottom isn't you, it's me. I think it was lost and then recovered on a drive that went dead before we were finally in a place to start backing up all our stuff.

The party was a lot of fun. We'd probably spent $120 on travel sized bottles to use as ornaments on the tree, and then we had a bunch of mixers and appetizers (though I can't remember if we had it, or guests were invited to bring stuff). Everyone then took it in turn to choose an ornament from the tree, and then make a drink with the contents (though some stuff worked as a shot I think).

[Box Burner]

Howdy all! hope your day has been good to you.


pulling a 15 hour shift here. but am on the downhill side now.

and I do believe it is time for a beer.

[AntiM]

I love ornaments, I acquire them like mad, mostly unique individual pieces which fit in with my others. Lots of blown glass and crystal, heavy on the acorns and pinecones, and amazing annual Swarovski snowflakes, 15 years worth. And rocking horses/carousel/unicorns. And poinsettias. And teacups/teapots/wine bottles. Acquired a bunch of doll ornaments for a while, but just had to choose... I chose crystal. Sometimes I do a small hall tree, sometimes the four footer, not sure if I still have a six foot tree or not, amd the kitchen table tree. I can do at least three theme trees, if not more. I finally got Mom's ornaments, some older than I am. When I do a crystal sparkle tree, I put all of mom's costume bling on it.

Treeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssss.................

[FIGJAM]

Anyone ever make a tree out of a Readers Digest?

[OregonRed]

Tonight, I need all the drinks... Keep 'em coming.

[ygmir]

I have some ornaments from my step dads parents, at the last of the last century.........still have melted wax on them form the tree candles. They are my favorites..........them and a Snoopy one I picked out myself.

[ygmir]

Tonight, I need all the drinks... Keep 'em coming.

hey O.R., what's up? you ok?

[Elorrum]

Anyone ever make a tree out of a Readers Digest?

We made angels... spray painted them gold.

[ygmir]

just read about it O.R. *pours a double*..........dang sorry, so sorry.

[theCryptofishist]

Growing up in a quasi-German family, we had candles when I was growing up. My mother still remembers her father rushing outside with a burning tree.
I just had the oddest idea of whizzing around with lit candles on my chair...
I love ornaments that don't look like ornaments. They can be very cool, but I have not made my peace with christmas. (Ironic, that.)

[theCryptofishist]

[Box Burner]

interesting set of cards fishy.

[AntiM]

[^Rhino!]

So I bought a little $1 box of ornament hangers--which is the beginning of all things!

Okay, no one say anything to Savannah about some 16-gauge wire being the beginning of all things. She does her best and we all love her.

I had to read fishy's reply and it got me to thinking.....maybe hang some spent 12-gauge shells on the tree, too? I was shooting the oysters, you see, and missed a lot, so I had to go get some 65-million year old fossilized ones from Kansas to hang on the tree.

My list so far reads:

1) ammo boxes for presents
2) disco ball to put atop tree
3) spent 12-gauge shotgun shells and fossil Inoceramus oysters for ornaments
4) silly string for tinsel
5) highway cone for tree stand
6) strips of fake fur for garland, and in green, red, and blue neon colors
7) cheap LED flashlights, rewired to form a string so you don't have to light each one as you go, to string lots of lights.....cases in a variety of colors.

Yeah. Trips to Home Depot, the firing range, and Jo Ann Fabrics are in order after the trip to Kansas to get the oysters.

This is almost as much fun as the ninjas measuring the length of Short Street in downtown Columbia.

[unjonharley]

some days are better than none.. Passes a drink to OrR & the CO and friend..

[trilobyte]

Huzzah, and lemony drinks all round! I managed to get another batch of limoncello started. It's right about the tail end of where I can start a batch and still have it finished and aged enough for it to be good for the playa next year. I got three batches started last month, but when we were at the market a bunch of really good meyer lemons was calling out to us, and we couldn't resist giving a 4th batch another go. From there it was over to the boozenhausen to get the necessary alcohol, and then today I went through the process of zesting/filleting the yellow off a bunch of lemons to get them started.

[MyDearFriend]

This day has been better than none, Unjon. I will happily drink with you or with whoever shows up and keep passing that bottle.

"Boozemas" sounds wonderful, Trilo! Puppy will be 21 next year...

[GreyCoyote]

Trilo: can you post a link to your "recipe"? Would love to play along at home if you will share.