This year my mom offered me a few dozen pins that said “Keep Christ in Christmas.”  I handed them out at the St. Clement Young Adults’ monthly social, and wore one to work the next day.  It seemed hypocritical to ask others to wear them and not wear one myself.

Usually people saw the bright red pin, lean in, and asked what the pin said, to which I would reply: “Keep Christ in Christmas - want a pin?”  Some people took the pin, others didn’t.  One coworker said “No thanks; I’m not a Jew for Jesus.”  Another saw the pin from a distance and thought it showed a skull and crossbones.

I found that nobody was offended and everyone was extremely respectful.  I sometimes entered into rather interesting conversations about faith and tradition - another coworker mentioned that he sometimes used his lunch hour to pray at a local cathedral.

I’ve become a lot more comfortable with my Catholic identity in the past year; it felt good to wear my religion on my sleeve (or shirt pocket) rather than keeping it hidden.  I enjoyed being a bit more overt with my faith and hope I can continue sharing Christ’s love with others during this new liturgical year.

Merry Christmas!

The Samsung F700 is the latest touchscreen phone that’s supposed to complete with the iPhone. Gizmodo compares the new Samsung F700 to the iPhone, and declares iPhone the winner.

I’ve played with the iPhone, and must admit that it’s the best possible iPhone variant I’ve seen. If not for the Cingular limitation I’d buy it in a second - Verizon has WAY better reception in my neck of the woods.

I’m beginning to see that I need a device that’s a PDA first and a phone second. I like the clamshell feel of my beat-up phone; really the only other thing I need is a device that displays an electronic calendar so I can see upcoming events on the go. I just threw away an unused paper calendar that took up too much pocket room, so electronic is the way to go.

Steps for selecting the perfect tree - recorded in 2006.

1. Visit Crane’s Neck tree farm in West Newbury, MA.
2. Look for a Norway spruce. They have strong branches to support ornaments, sharp needles which won’t fall off the tree and litter the floor, and a generally conical shape.
3. Saw the trunk of the tree. If necessary, saw off the trunk a bit more so it fits in the tree stand (see video below).
4. Carry the tree down to tree wrapper (see proper carrying technique below).
5. Allow courteous staff to wrap tree (see video below).
6. Bring home tree and install in house. Optional: let dog supervise (see illustration below).
7. Unwrap tree. (See video below; rotate screen 90 degrees.)

8. Decorate with lights and ornaments. Voila! Your tree is complete.

The preceding images and video were taken from our 2006 Christmas tree. I wrote this post on January 2, 2007, but saved it for Christmas as part of my New Year’s resolution of a blog post a day.

I’m sure our 2007 tree will be even bigger and better!

This past Halloween I sold my Freddy Krueger costume, which had served me well over three years of Halloween festivities.

The costume consisted of an “authentic” frayed Freddy sweater purchased on eBay, a Freddy glove with plastic blades, and a felt Fedora purchased at a local costume shop. I ended up selling it on eBay.

It was the kind of costume I liked: distinct enough to realize who I was dressed as, portable, and easily hidden while I rode on the subway or drove to a party. Take off the hat and glove and I was just some guy in a sweater.

But, the costume was getting old - I had worn it to parties 3 years in a row, since it was easy enough to take out of the closet at Halloween, and store again when I was done.

I was glad to sell it. In a lot of ways I’m not sure it fit me anymore - dressing as a demonic janitor who attacks teens in their sleep is not what I’m about.

In a lot of ways that’s what the past year has been about - getting rid of the stuff that’s not “really me,” and bringing in new stuff that reflects my changing tastes.

Four days of no work, setting up web sites, blogging, and hanging out with family. Bliss!

To kick off the weekend, here’s an awesome salad recipe on my wiki which has changed my thoughts on salad. It’s full of vitamins and proteins, extremely filling, and a healthy alternative to fast food.

Happy Thanksgiving!