{"id":670,"date":"2007-12-25T22:14:06","date_gmt":"2007-12-25T13:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-12-25\/670"},"modified":"2007-12-25T22:14:06","modified_gmt":"2007-12-25T13:14:06","slug":"our-christmas-tree-our-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-12-25\/670","title":{"rendered":"Our Christmas Tree; Our Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 17mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 640 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nYeah!<\/span>\n\n“<\/big> Thank You! This is what I always<\/span> wanted; I love<\/span> it, I love it<\/span>............ what is it?<\/b> ”<\/big>\n<\/div>\n\n

The picture above of Anthony ripping the packaging from a present<\/span> pretty\nmuch sums up the day, but our Christmas started a month<\/span> ago when we set up\nour Christmas tree.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nHelping with the Tree<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

When I was growing up in Ohio, we had a real,<\/span> perfectly-shaped,\nwonderfully-smelling, live evergreen tree every Christmas. We always<\/span> got\nscratched up when decorating it, and the needles would eventually get shed\nto the floor only to eventually find their way in a most<\/span> painful manner to\nour feet. It was absolutely<\/span> wonderful.<\/p>\n\n

It's been 20+ years since I moved out on my own, and 20+ years since I\nhad<\/span> any kind of Christmas tree, much less a live<\/span> one. I'm not sure<\/span> whether\na live<\/span> one is even possible here in Kyoto, but after having been weaned on\nthe indulgence of a live<\/span> Christmas tree, the thought of a fake<\/span> one seemed\npathetic.<\/p>\n\n

But Fumie got one, and much to my delight, I find that<\/span> even a fake<\/span> tree\nis a heck<\/span> of a lot<\/span> nicer than nothing: it really did warm up the place with\nits very presence.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nSetting Up the Fake Tree<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Due to my ouchy back<\/a> at the time, setting up the fake tree was\nprobably more traumatic than trekking out to cut down a real<\/span> one, but once\nit was done and dressed, it looked pretty reasonable.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 28mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>10 sec, f\/6.3, ISO 800 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nDressed for the Holidays<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\n <\/a>\n D200 + 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 55mm — 2 sec, f\/7.1, ISO 800<\/span>\n\n <\/td>\n\n <\/a>\n D200 + 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 55mm — 3.9 sec, f\/5, ISO 100<\/span>\n\n<\/td><\/tr>
\n\nA Touch<\/span> of Class on a Fake<\/span> Tree<\/span><\/td><\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n

After our Christmas-Eve\nevents<\/a>, Anthony went down for bed too excited to change into his\npajamas, opting to stay “dressed and ready”, I guess.<\/span> Then, of\ncourse, Santa-related activities ensued. The results<\/span> look much better than\nwe achieved last year<\/a>,\nand are what a kid<\/span> should wake up to on Christmas morning...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 32mm — 12 sec, f\/7.1, ISO 200 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nAfter Santa's Visit<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I'm really happy Fumie got the tree.<\/p>\n\n

I've carried over the tradition my folks had when we were growing up, in\nthat the presents aren't opened until everyone is up and going in the\nmorning. This “everyone” really means “Mom”, since us kids were always up\nlong before first light. There were big stockings that we were allowed to\nhave right away to bide our time, filled with candy, a few<\/span> small toys, and\nalways a huge<\/span> apple, a huge<\/span> orange, and a dollar<\/span> bill. The waiting<\/span> was both\nexcruciatingly painful, yet wonderful to savor. Once Mom had her coffee,\nwe'd all gather around the tree, and Dad would pass out a present<\/span> to its\nnamed recipient, continuing to the next only after the previous was opened\namong appropriate Oooos<\/i> and Aaaahs<\/i> from all.<\/p>\n\n

Back to today, we don't have a stocking for Anthony yet, so we told him\nthat if he found a present<\/span> on the small stool in front of the tree, he\ncould open it right away.<\/p>\n\n

Shockingly, I got up<\/span> before him. I expected<\/span> to find him deep in play\nwhen I got<\/span> up at 6:15 for 7:00 mass, but the tree was just as we'd left it. I was sitting<\/span> on the couch in the dark, stretching my back, when he walked\nin. He stopped<\/span> in his tracks, and his eyes quietly grew twice their size as\nhe took in the sight. He noticed<\/span> me, and exclaimed “Santa came!”<\/p>\n\n

Indeed, he did. Getting to see him walk in was something I'd never\nexpected, and was my present for the day.<\/p>\n\n

It was a while still before he got to open them, with things getting in\nthe way like mass, and a trip<\/span> to the post office to mail our Christmas\ncards. Yes, I mailed<\/i> our Christmas cards on Christmas day, which is\namazing in at least two respects: that I could<\/span> procrastinate so long, and\nin the novelty that the post office is actually open on Christmas day\n(because Christmas is not an official holiday in Japan).<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 20mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 640 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nHang Time for Joy<\/span>\n( Look at that vertical distance... he can jump higher than I can!<\/span> )\n<\/div>\n\n

The “hang time” photo reminds me of the sequence of him splashing in a rain<\/span> puddle<\/a>\nyears ago.<\/p>

Also, it's interesting to compare his more physical\nreactions this year to the wide-eyed wonder of a year<\/span>\nago<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The picture above of Anthony ripping the packaging from a present pretty much sums up the day, but our Christmas started a month ago when we set up our Christmas tree.<\/p>

When I was growing up in Ohio, we had a real, perfectly-shaped, wonderfully-smelling, live evergreen tree every Christmas. We always got scratched up when decorating it, and the needles would eventually get shed to the floor only to eventually find their way in a most painful manner to our feet. It was absolutely wonderful.<\/p>

It's been 20+ years since I moved out on my own, and 20+ years since [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}