The Depression's Over

At least as far as the Christmas cartoons are concerned; we have moved on to the post-WWII era. Today's offering is called "Santa's Surprise" from 1947 and features Little Audrey. Gone are the children in tatters; here's a Santa who has plenty of presents for every girl and boy all over the world, and in the spirit of the United Nations, which began the year before, all the children decide to give Santa a present in return by cleaning up his messy house (one must surmise Mrs. Claus had not been created yet as a plot or marketing tool). All the racial stereotypes are here, and Santa's as white and American as can be.



We drove out to Claremont Saturday night to attend Steve and Roberto's annual Christmas party. They have a house well-suited to large soirees, not an open plan, but lots of different rooms, and they deck the place out for the holidays. I believe I counted four large trees and at least a dozen tiny ones.

We lasted a couple hours, but then the place got so crowded it was nearly impossible to move. By the time we left, four rooms on two floors, a very large patio and even larger deck were filled with bodies, and they were spilling out onto the lawn outside the front door and along the walkway when we left. It was a blast and the food, as usual, was amazing. (We didn't stay around for the tamales or desserts, though.)

Earlier in the day, Steve confessed that he was going to get me a new iPhone for Christmas but wasn't sure how to activate it. I then confessed that I was getting him one, as well, and that I would have to be present with both old phones to get the new ones activated because the Family Plan is in my name. So we headed on over to the AT&T store and, after some questions and answers, came home with our new phones. (It was about time; we both have the first generation of iPhone and they'll be obsolete in a year or so).

The new phones have video, and I tried to shoot a video tour of the Christmas tree, but it's getting late and I'm working with programs I have never run before, so getting the framing right and adding music and such will have to wait until tomorrow. You'll see something soon here, I promise.

To compensate, I've added a couple shots of ornaments on the tree. This will have to suffice until I master the rudimentaries of the iMovie program.