I dropped Liam off at his temp job this morning, and you can really tell it's the day after Thanksgiving--the streets were mostly empty, even Route 28 wasn't backed up, and there were maybe 30 cars in a lots that are usually bursting at the seams.  Of course our route took us nowhere near any malls or large shopping areas, so things might be rather different elsewhere...

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to offer this link to an amusing moment at yesterday's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.

It can be tough, figuring out what cards to send this time of year.  Once you've gone through all the choices and eliminated everything that's tacky, gaudy, raunchy, boring, too religious and not religious enough, what's really left?  After all, there are only so many years you can send a card with a picture of snow-covered woods before it starts getting a little predictable.  And custom printing is just terribly expensive, right?

Well, no, not any longer--something for which we have computers to thank.  VistaPrint offers holiday cards custom-designed; pick a basic card, upload your holiday picture, choose what you want the message to say, and you're all set to go.  Their Christmas photo cards are even available at quite reasonable prices, and they'll do custom envelopes too if you don't feel like writing your return address umpty-million times.  I admit I don't personally do the Christmas card thing, but even I can be tempted when the deals are good and promise to make things easier rather than harder.  Of course that would mean going around and getting everyone's address, which is maybe a little more work than I feel like I'm up to, but I can think about it at least.

I believe that, as a blogger who lives in the US, I am required by law to post something saying Happy Thanksgiving.  So, you know, here it is.

I ate too much today, but it was good.  Made a rather yummy Jello salad thing for my contribution to the binge, and also mashed some potatos.

That snowstorm they were predicting seems to have moved in a little early; it's been snowing since about 9:30 and the first flurries were appearing even as I walked in this morning.  It was awfully chilly when the wind was blowing, I must say, though not that bad when it was still.  I rather wished I'd brought my headscarf to take the edge off.  On the other hand, being both clever and foresightful, I did remember to wear the warm skirt and sweater.  The outfit may make me look like an overage Catholic schoolgirl¹, but it's nice and toasty.

1: Long-sleeved maroon sweater over white blouse, grey knee-length wool skirt,  tall socks?  Yeah.  But I like it.

I know it's a little before Thanksgiving yet, but the snow has put me in a holiday mood, so I went off to YouTube and found myself the Eat 'n Park Christmas star commercial--I'm sure you know the one if you're from an area where Eat 'n Park exists.

My only problem with it--and I noticed this when I was a kid--is that the star ends up with the point that was its "head" for the rest of the commercial on the upper right when it's finally on top of the tree.  I'm kind of surprised the animators got that wrong.  But since it waves its new "arms" happily, I guess it doesn't mind.

Being highly attracted to shiny things, I have never understood the obsession with "real" jewelry over lab-created gems.  Lab-made ones tend to be prettier, in my opinion; why should it matter that they weren't dug out of the ground?  Thus I am highly in favor of things like designer costume jewelry, because I can in theory have the pretty without paying nearly as much.  Until I've got the spare income to buy shiny things, though, I'm just going to have to spend time wistfully browsing sites like Holstead Jewelers--they've even got whole parures¹, so I can indulge my passion for sets.  Sparkly!

1: If you have a bracelet, necklace, and earrings that all match, that's a parure.  Different pieces can be included, but the idea is that they're all meant to go together.  The things I learned reading mystery novels as a child...

It's too bad people don't have twelve fingers instead of ten.

I say this because 12 is altogether a more useful number: divisible by 2, 3, 4 and 6, and its first multiple also by 8.  If "one hundred" were 144, you could actually have even thirds of percentages.  Meanwhile, 10 is only divisible by 2 and 5.

The utility of 12 is visible in the fact that there can be three even shifts in a day, which is 24 hours.  That's because the Babylonians, from whom we get our current clock, decided to break free of biology and used a duodecimal system rather than a decimal one. 

My current conlang has a duodecimal system for its basic numbers.  Fingers be damned. 

You know, I have this lovely yarn swift and ball winder that Liam bought me for Christmas last year; I should really go through and ball up the stuff I've got that came in skeins.  I've got two pairs of socks in skein form, and a lovely laceweight that I think is destined to become a pair of fingerless mitts for my boss--since I basically bought it because it was pretty and to make up enough for free shipping from KnitPicks, it has never had a dedicated project.

While I'm at it, I should take a break from the sock frenzy and poke at some colorwork patterns for the Driving Gloves.  I've got all that gorgeous alpaca that I bought at War two years ago, and since I've finally figured out what I want to do with it (and I was very chilly this morning) I should get in gear.

The Making Light particle I got this link from is called "Somebody send these guys a liturgical calendar".

It's a Christmas cross.  With lights all over.

I was baptized when I was an infant, but other than that I can count my fingers the masses I have attended--and that count includes weddings and funerals--and yet I still know that a cross is not an appropriate Christmas decoration.  For Christmas you want the Nativity, not the Passion nor even the Resurrection.

Get it right.  You don't see the pagans putting rabbits on their houses in December, do you?  Jews don't build their greenery huts in July, despite the fact that the weather would be nicer for it than September/October.  Because it's a totally different holiday.

It started snowing yesterday and hasn't really stopped since.  Right now it's exceptionally gloomy outside, and I'm starting to believe the news when they say there's likely to be an inch or so of snow on the ground tomorrow morning; it's already starting to stick on branches and so forth, and when it gets colder tonight the ground will likely cool off enough.  That makes it the first real snowstorm of the year, and while I admit winter can be a pain I still like snow...