Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Holidays


I was up until 12:30 this morning defrosting my freezer. What's up with that?! Why am I the last person on the planet to own a freezer that requires defrosting? I have a miniature college-sized refrigerator, and it builds up ice like crazy. You should have seen the huge, Titanic-sinking bergs I took out of there.

Defrosting involves a lot of down time, which I spent combing through my earliest digital photos, from 2005 and 2006. I found a few old street art shots that I'd never posted to Flickr, and some other interesting stuff (like the shot above of a market in Greenwich Village, from February 2006). It's all up on Flickr now.

I mostly have the holidays under control, but only because I defaulted on nearly all my holiday responsibilities. I decided not to send cards -- thus saving both paper and postage -- and I'm buying extremely minimalist presents for just a few people. (Except Dave, who's getting a standard haul.) As I think I've mentioned before, I'm also not traveling this year, so I don't need to worry about getting myself to Florida and back as usual. Instead, I'm spending Christmas in New Jersey, which will be terrific.

Fortunately, my family tends toward minimalism over the holidays, so this isn't a huge departure. And Christmas cards, well, they just seem hopelessly outdated. They were once valuable for staying in touch with people who otherwise would vanish into the mists of time, and I sent them every year. But in this era of Facebook and e-mail, do we really need them? Methinks not.

Yesterday was my final day in the office. I'll continue to check my e-mail until the 31st, which is technically my final day of employment, but I'm pretty much done with work. So I'm going to spend more and more time in New Jersey, getting on with the next phase of my life.

5 comments:

Barbara said...

I would say I became a holiday minimalist about 30+ years ago when I converted to Judaism. The holidays don't really bother me. I just watch the frenzy from a distance and rather enjoy staying out of the fray.

I hope the transition to whatever happens next is a time you remember fondly some day.

The world is definitely your oyster right now!

Reya Mellicker said...

Wow.

So tomorrow is it. It's the dark moon, so a perfect time, astrologically, to slip away from the place you've worked for so many years. How are you doing?

I'm thinking about you with much love. Glad you're hanging out in NJ for Christmas. xx

e said...

I think you have already departed, so I hope the final leaving is good and you can think back on what you did there with gratitude. The next phase should be interesting.

I am also a minimalist for the holidays...Your card will be in e-mail...

Enjoy!

lettuce said...

and heres to the next phase Steve.

so did you find anything interesting embedded in the ice? our fridge still needs defrosting

seems always to need defrosting

Salty Miss Jill said...

What an adorable little mini mart. It looks like a mouse's store our of an illustrated children's book.