I have been writing about the Christmas door decorating contests at my school. You can read the previous two installments here and here.
One year, I had a class of underachievers in a US History class. We spent a number of days planning outrageous things that I would never actually allow. At last, one of my students said, "I have a mounted deer's head at home. Let's stick it on the door." From that moment of inspiration we came up with an award-winning door that was both simple and unique. We mounted the deer's head on the door, put a red nose on it, and put a big sign above it that said, "Doing our part to restore the true meaning of Christmas." Under that was a list of the names of each of the reindeer with most of their names crossed off.
Fortunately, our high school is in a separate building as the lower school.
Our door for this year is complete and was judged this morning. No word on the winner though two judges had good things to say about it later in the day. Sadly, I cannot share the details of this door as it gives away my secret identity. Those of you in the know, it is a play on "I've been dreaming..."
Last thing: I got a google hit for "Christmas door decorating contest". How about that?
Peace
11 December 2006
06 December 2006
Door into Winter, Part Two
For part one, click here.
My favorite door was my last one. We cut out a simple green tree on a white background and hot glued sugar gum drops to the tree. We then stuck a toothpick into each sugar gum drop and hung a white ornament from each toothpick. Around each ornament we tied a yellow ribbon. We wrote this letter and pasted it to the door:
Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Christmas Tree
This year, as hundreds of thousands of US troops are deployed around the world, it is our hope that you will take a moment to pause and reflect on the sacrifices made by these brave men and women. Many of them will be putting their lives in danger throughout the Christmas season. All of them would prefer to be home with their families. Few of them will have a Silent Night. Some of them will die.
We ask that you would take one of these ornaments for your own tree at home. Each one has the name of a country where US troops are presently deployed. The yellow ribbon has not only become a symbol of the desire for all of our troops to return home safely, but will also draw the eye to this uncharacteristic color for a Christmas tree. When you see this ornament, we ask that you say a short prayer for the safety of our troops, the protection of their families, and peace to all.
We also ask that you take the time to read a sampling of letters from troops away from their homes at Christmas during the American Civil War.
Finally, we ask for a renewed dedication to the preservation of our civil liberties and our unique American heritage so that these sacrifices shall not have been in vain.
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
I should probably do the same door until it is no longer necessary to have our boys and girls overseas.
Peace
My favorite door was my last one. We cut out a simple green tree on a white background and hot glued sugar gum drops to the tree. We then stuck a toothpick into each sugar gum drop and hung a white ornament from each toothpick. Around each ornament we tied a yellow ribbon. We wrote this letter and pasted it to the door:
Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Christmas Tree
This year, as hundreds of thousands of US troops are deployed around the world, it is our hope that you will take a moment to pause and reflect on the sacrifices made by these brave men and women. Many of them will be putting their lives in danger throughout the Christmas season. All of them would prefer to be home with their families. Few of them will have a Silent Night. Some of them will die.
We ask that you would take one of these ornaments for your own tree at home. Each one has the name of a country where US troops are presently deployed. The yellow ribbon has not only become a symbol of the desire for all of our troops to return home safely, but will also draw the eye to this uncharacteristic color for a Christmas tree. When you see this ornament, we ask that you say a short prayer for the safety of our troops, the protection of their families, and peace to all.
We also ask that you take the time to read a sampling of letters from troops away from their homes at Christmas during the American Civil War.
Finally, we ask for a renewed dedication to the preservation of our civil liberties and our unique American heritage so that these sacrifices shall not have been in vain.
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
I should probably do the same door until it is no longer necessary to have our boys and girls overseas.
Peace
04 December 2006
Door into Winter
Update (11/12/2007) Other ideas for Christmas door decorating: Door into Winter II, Door into Winter III, and Christmas Door Decorating Contest.
The SGA at my school sponsors a Christmas door decorating contest every year. We missed it last year (on account of a new advisor), but it is back this year. The first period in a classroom gets the task of decorating their door with prizes awarded for creative, spiritual, and overall. My AP US class is my first period this year, and we brainstormed for eight minutes this morning (that is all the time I could spare). Most of the ideas involved a nude Ben Franklin. I should have never mentioned Franklin's tendency towards naturism (he called it taking an "air bath")as it has become a running gag in class. The one good idea involved using the famous Washington Crossing the Delaware painting and inserting cut out pictures of the members of the class in place of the characters on the painting. I would be Washington. Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night to surprise the Hessians on the other side leading to one of Washington's finest victories of the war. The painting is, of course, pure patriotic fluff, but wonderful fluff all the same.
I thought I would give you a taste of doors past this week. Only my first two doors failed to win, but only because my first could not win and the second was bad. That first door was also created by an AP US History class. We simply taped a single piece of white paper to the door that stated:
In protest of the crass commercialization of Christmas, our class would like to humbly present the idea that Christmas is not about contests but is, instead, about the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:
In Class, December 7, 2001. The unanimous Declaration of the six united students of AP US History,
When in the course of Christmas events, one class decides to separate itself from the bonds of Christmas Door Contests, it becomes necessary to declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all doors are created equal, that they are endowed by their maker with certain swinging motions, that among these are locking, opening and closing.
That whenever any form of contest becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the class to alter or abolish it, and to institute new contests, laying its foundation upon such principles as to them shall seem most likely to effect an understanding of the true meaning of Christmas.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the AP United States of America class, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of this contest, declare that Christmas is not about contests, decoration, winning or losing, or prizes. Instead, Christmas is and shall ever be about the promise of redemption of fallen man by the birth of the Jesus.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, Our Fortunes and our Sacred Door.
The entire class signed it, and we lost. The judges even went to the extraordinary measure of calling us out over the intercom when announcing the winners. They said something to the effect, "Any doors that removed themselves from the contest could not be awarded a prize." They had a point but missed ours.
Peace
The SGA at my school sponsors a Christmas door decorating contest every year. We missed it last year (on account of a new advisor), but it is back this year. The first period in a classroom gets the task of decorating their door with prizes awarded for creative, spiritual, and overall. My AP US class is my first period this year, and we brainstormed for eight minutes this morning (that is all the time I could spare). Most of the ideas involved a nude Ben Franklin. I should have never mentioned Franklin's tendency towards naturism (he called it taking an "air bath")as it has become a running gag in class. The one good idea involved using the famous Washington Crossing the Delaware painting and inserting cut out pictures of the members of the class in place of the characters on the painting. I would be Washington. Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night to surprise the Hessians on the other side leading to one of Washington's finest victories of the war. The painting is, of course, pure patriotic fluff, but wonderful fluff all the same.
I thought I would give you a taste of doors past this week. Only my first two doors failed to win, but only because my first could not win and the second was bad. That first door was also created by an AP US History class. We simply taped a single piece of white paper to the door that stated:
In protest of the crass commercialization of Christmas, our class would like to humbly present the idea that Christmas is not about contests but is, instead, about the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:
In Class, December 7, 2001. The unanimous Declaration of the six united students of AP US History,
When in the course of Christmas events, one class decides to separate itself from the bonds of Christmas Door Contests, it becomes necessary to declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all doors are created equal, that they are endowed by their maker with certain swinging motions, that among these are locking, opening and closing.
That whenever any form of contest becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the class to alter or abolish it, and to institute new contests, laying its foundation upon such principles as to them shall seem most likely to effect an understanding of the true meaning of Christmas.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the AP United States of America class, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of this contest, declare that Christmas is not about contests, decoration, winning or losing, or prizes. Instead, Christmas is and shall ever be about the promise of redemption of fallen man by the birth of the Jesus.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, Our Fortunes and our Sacred Door.
The entire class signed it, and we lost. The judges even went to the extraordinary measure of calling us out over the intercom when announcing the winners. They said something to the effect, "Any doors that removed themselves from the contest could not be awarded a prize." They had a point but missed ours.
Peace
30 November 2006
Seeing Stars
Last week my three-year-old daughter got hold of a sheet of small, silver star stickers (say that ten times fast). I know this not because I saw her with the stickers but because of the sudden appearance of silver stars all over the house. They showed up on each of the four screws on a double light switch cover. There is currently one nicely centered on the mouse I am using. I thought she was done.
Yesterday, midway through the last period of the day, I hear, "Uh, Mr. Chintzibobs, there's a star on your, er, backside." Indeed, neatly centered on one of my buttons was a silver star. This comes a week after a belt loop on the back of my pants popped off in the middle of the day and stuck out in a most distracting manner. It is never good when the entire class laughs every time you turn around. Remind me to tell you the story about the Arby's ketchup.
The two big kids were in timeout in their room for not cleaning up the cushions of the couch in a timely manner. They were busy blaming each other for their dilemma. I interrupted in hopes of discovering who originally removed the cushions. The five-year-old boy blamed it on the three-year-old girl. In an unexpected rhetorical turn, the three-year-old girl blamed it on momma. The boy immediately recognized the fallacy of her argument, "Why did you say that?" Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I checked with momma. When I came back with the truth, she blamed Jesus. Her brother was outraged and shouted while pointing vaguely up, "Jesus is invisible and He never does anything wrong!" She countered with a devout hand over her heart, "Jesus is in our hearts."
My wife just came down to inform me that there is a giant lady bug blocking the door to our room. That would be my five-year-old son, but that is another story for another day.
Peace
Yesterday, midway through the last period of the day, I hear, "Uh, Mr. Chintzibobs, there's a star on your, er, backside." Indeed, neatly centered on one of my buttons was a silver star. This comes a week after a belt loop on the back of my pants popped off in the middle of the day and stuck out in a most distracting manner. It is never good when the entire class laughs every time you turn around. Remind me to tell you the story about the Arby's ketchup.
The two big kids were in timeout in their room for not cleaning up the cushions of the couch in a timely manner. They were busy blaming each other for their dilemma. I interrupted in hopes of discovering who originally removed the cushions. The five-year-old boy blamed it on the three-year-old girl. In an unexpected rhetorical turn, the three-year-old girl blamed it on momma. The boy immediately recognized the fallacy of her argument, "Why did you say that?" Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I checked with momma. When I came back with the truth, she blamed Jesus. Her brother was outraged and shouted while pointing vaguely up, "Jesus is invisible and He never does anything wrong!" She countered with a devout hand over her heart, "Jesus is in our hearts."
My wife just came down to inform me that there is a giant lady bug blocking the door to our room. That would be my five-year-old son, but that is another story for another day.
Peace
27 November 2006
Monday Miscellany: A Grave Subject
The Thanksgiving break was wonderful. I spent as much of it as I could outside. The weather was (and is) just too glorious to spend the days inside. The days are sunny and warm for November. My only complaint is that the sun leaves us by 5:30.
I spent my short break time continuing my winter yard upgrades. There is a narrow strip of wilderness on the north side of our house running the length of the property line. When we moved in, the wilderness was overgrown with blackberry, honeysuckle, and some kind of weed tree. I have been slowly beating back the wild and seem to have it on the retreat. In the process I have discovered that the area was a garbage dump for the previous residents. Two winters ago I disposed of four large garbage cans full of junk including beer cans, beer bottles, beer bottle caps, broken toys, broken tools, and sundry household items. I also discovered the remains of a fort of sorts.
This year I am working to excavate the remains of the fort and pull out some rocks for a landscape project I am working on. I found 14 caps from spray paint cans but no cans. I also found some linoleum, some carpet and lots of broken glass. Under all of that was a pile of rocks. When I say pile, I mean there is, in the middle of my little strip of woods, a collection of rocks covering an area about fifteen by fifteen feet and of as of yet undetermined depth. The five-year-old boy and the three-year-old girl helped me move some of the rocks but quickly got bored. I was able to renew the boy’s interest for another fifteen minutes by having him sort the rocks by color (he will gladly sort anything by color). Then he disappeared with a large stick and played with that for an hour. The girl used her shovel and pail in the dead vegetable garden patch.
Later the boy came to me said, “Daddy, you know how when humans die they bury them in the ground?”
“Uh, yes son.”
“I found a dead tomato and buried it. Then I drew an “X” over it in the dirt.”
I wasn’t quite sure what to tell him. I commended him for his creativity and sensitivity and assured him that the tomato’s family would have some closure. That got me thinking about graves. Just the day before at my parents for Thanksgiving leftovers, I had gone out to wonder my parent’s woods (I told you I spent a lot of time outside) and found my self-looking up at a tall, slender, and very dead pine tree that my dad wanted to take down. I stood at its base trying to figure out which way it was leaning to see if it was possible to bring down safely. Something shifted under my foot, and I heard something clink like too stones hitting together. Curious, I used my foot to sweep back the thick sheet of pine needles to reveal this:
Suddenly, a memory as vivid as it was distant came back to me: a little boy laying his dead pet hamster, Ivan III, to eternal rest at the foot of a young pine tree. The scent of the rotting vegetation, the sight of the black, root-bound soil, and the feel of the cold of the rich earth was so strong that I could see myself laying my pet in a small box underneath two red bricks. Years later, the tree that served as marker for Ivan’s grave has died. Even our graves die.
These thoughts went through my mind as I stood on a large pile of stones in the woods. What brought these stones here? Clearly, they were put there purposely by man. Could these stones be an Indian monument, a relic from the Civil War, or a grave?
We played soccer the rest of the afternoon.
Other Miscellany:
While at my parents, we broke out their new faux Christmas tree and decorated it. My daughter is very excited about Christmas this year and has no conception of time and she keeps asking if is Christmas. After three hours of tree decorating, it was time to go home. She was very upset to find out that we weren't taking the tree with us.
I was disappointed to hear about Kramer's offensive outburst but not terribly surprised. The offensive word he choose to employ has become ubiquitous in the current pop culture. Comics, rappers, and movies have made the word commonplace in an entertainment setting. My students (99% white) are growing up hearing the word continuously in daily use, and we should not be surprised to hear the word flowing out of the mouths of our children.
In my ten years of teaching, I have seen a steady increase in inappropriate racial/ethnic joking. While past racism in America was passed down from parent to child, I think a new racism is on the rise that is directly attributable to choices made by entertainment outlets and consumers. I am glad to see that a group of black leaders is seeking to end the black use of the word. According to CNN.com, "Black leaders on Monday challenged the entertainment industry, including rappers, to stop use of the racial slur that Michael Richards uttered in his tirade." For once, I agree with Jesse Jackson. This is a step in the right direction and may prove to be a positive result of Kramer's poor choice.
Peace
I spent my short break time continuing my winter yard upgrades. There is a narrow strip of wilderness on the north side of our house running the length of the property line. When we moved in, the wilderness was overgrown with blackberry, honeysuckle, and some kind of weed tree. I have been slowly beating back the wild and seem to have it on the retreat. In the process I have discovered that the area was a garbage dump for the previous residents. Two winters ago I disposed of four large garbage cans full of junk including beer cans, beer bottles, beer bottle caps, broken toys, broken tools, and sundry household items. I also discovered the remains of a fort of sorts.
This year I am working to excavate the remains of the fort and pull out some rocks for a landscape project I am working on. I found 14 caps from spray paint cans but no cans. I also found some linoleum, some carpet and lots of broken glass. Under all of that was a pile of rocks. When I say pile, I mean there is, in the middle of my little strip of woods, a collection of rocks covering an area about fifteen by fifteen feet and of as of yet undetermined depth. The five-year-old boy and the three-year-old girl helped me move some of the rocks but quickly got bored. I was able to renew the boy’s interest for another fifteen minutes by having him sort the rocks by color (he will gladly sort anything by color). Then he disappeared with a large stick and played with that for an hour. The girl used her shovel and pail in the dead vegetable garden patch.
Later the boy came to me said, “Daddy, you know how when humans die they bury them in the ground?”
“Uh, yes son.”
“I found a dead tomato and buried it. Then I drew an “X” over it in the dirt.”
I wasn’t quite sure what to tell him. I commended him for his creativity and sensitivity and assured him that the tomato’s family would have some closure. That got me thinking about graves. Just the day before at my parents for Thanksgiving leftovers, I had gone out to wonder my parent’s woods (I told you I spent a lot of time outside) and found my self-looking up at a tall, slender, and very dead pine tree that my dad wanted to take down. I stood at its base trying to figure out which way it was leaning to see if it was possible to bring down safely. Something shifted under my foot, and I heard something clink like too stones hitting together. Curious, I used my foot to sweep back the thick sheet of pine needles to reveal this:
Suddenly, a memory as vivid as it was distant came back to me: a little boy laying his dead pet hamster, Ivan III, to eternal rest at the foot of a young pine tree. The scent of the rotting vegetation, the sight of the black, root-bound soil, and the feel of the cold of the rich earth was so strong that I could see myself laying my pet in a small box underneath two red bricks. Years later, the tree that served as marker for Ivan’s grave has died. Even our graves die.
These thoughts went through my mind as I stood on a large pile of stones in the woods. What brought these stones here? Clearly, they were put there purposely by man. Could these stones be an Indian monument, a relic from the Civil War, or a grave?
We played soccer the rest of the afternoon.
Other Miscellany:
While at my parents, we broke out their new faux Christmas tree and decorated it. My daughter is very excited about Christmas this year and has no conception of time and she keeps asking if is Christmas. After three hours of tree decorating, it was time to go home. She was very upset to find out that we weren't taking the tree with us.
I was disappointed to hear about Kramer's offensive outburst but not terribly surprised. The offensive word he choose to employ has become ubiquitous in the current pop culture. Comics, rappers, and movies have made the word commonplace in an entertainment setting. My students (99% white) are growing up hearing the word continuously in daily use, and we should not be surprised to hear the word flowing out of the mouths of our children.
In my ten years of teaching, I have seen a steady increase in inappropriate racial/ethnic joking. While past racism in America was passed down from parent to child, I think a new racism is on the rise that is directly attributable to choices made by entertainment outlets and consumers. I am glad to see that a group of black leaders is seeking to end the black use of the word. According to CNN.com, "Black leaders on Monday challenged the entertainment industry, including rappers, to stop use of the racial slur that Michael Richards uttered in his tirade." For once, I agree with Jesse Jackson. This is a step in the right direction and may prove to be a positive result of Kramer's poor choice.
Peace
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