I got the little red, flocked tree (faux vintage?) for the Girlettes, who are now saying they want to set up a Winter Village.
(Last year it was Christmas Camp under the giant Boston fern.)
Are my Housewares coworkers throw out incoming weird, old Xmas stuff before boxing and storing it away throughout the year?
I'm hoping that as I sort incoming holiday donations this coming year, I'll rescue more weird stuff.
But I expect 95% of it will be the same plastic garbage that fills three shelving units in the store. It sells pretty well, but we've still got boxes and boxes, and boxes of it in the back...
A sour but effective volunteer arranged it all beautifully yesterday. She is like a character from Mary Poppins, with graying hair pulled back tight and flat against her skull. She makes pronouncements such as, "I only use the word 'awesome' to refer to the work of the Lord."
This, when I said her work looks awesome.
She's a greywater agent of the Lord, I swear.
Unsettling.
The Housewares volunteers are, frankly, mostly slow and unimaginative. When one is even competent, much less more than, it feels practically miraculous.
I marvel at the collective genius of the species--from our sewer systems and space stations to our terrific television shows.
When you meet us as individuals, you'd hardly think we're capable of such brilliance.
But then someone organizes the holiday crap--"lets put all the resin Santas together"-- and you think--there it is.
A neural network, lit up like Christmas.
That connectivity (intelligence) seems to be randomly assigned among the humans--I see it as much in my coworkers at the thrift store as I did in higher ed.
Penny Cooper notes instances in one of her little books.
"That person glows in the dark."
"That person is off-script."
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I ordered the 2025 calendars this morning!
They are due to arrive Friday, Dec. 13. I'll ship them out asap, so hopefully they'll get to you who ordered one around the 20th.
So, that's the fifth year of Girlette calendars.
I'm glad MT pushed me to do it. About half of the photos are from previous years---unless I take a lot of good ones this coming year, there might not be enough for a 2026 calendar.
(I really want to get back to printmaking...)
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