sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

December 14, 2006


windows, contradiction, and outdoor seating
posted by soe 2:11 pm

Three beautiful things from the last week:

1. Toddlers from a local nursery school are at the corner when I surface from the Metro this morning. I am not thinking clearly at first, but then realize their day care providers must have brought them down so they could see the whimsical Christmas window displays Macy’s has created for the season. I switch direction so I can witness their first peek.

2. Holiday decorations are up in the neighborhoods and I enjoy looking at them as I wander around the city doing my shopping. Many decorations are tasteful and restrained and totally fit the income bracket in which their owners reside. The more fun ones are ones that don’t. Two single-family fancy houses in upper Georgetown had lights that blink in time to tinny music. Another, around the corner from my house, is a 13-bedroom mansion (with carriage house) that went on the market last year for $8 million. They boast a plastic lit tree and manger scene in their front driveway. I love that Christmas sanctions breaking out of what society expects of us to celebrate in the ways that make us happiest.

3. The warm weather has contributed to the delusion that I have plenty of time until Christmas. But coming from New England, I refuse to look a gift horse in the mouth, and have been spending plenty of time outdoors. Tuesday, after my dental appointment, I stopped to have lunch at a local restaurant and convinced them to serve me outside. My waitress, who admittedly was wearing a flimsy short-sleeved outfit, wasn’t pleased with my decision, but I found it hard not to bask in the late morning sun like a cat.

Category: three beautiful things. There is/are 1 Comment.



I love seeing everyone’s decorations outdoors. In what is usually a gray month, the front gardens are full of light. The more decoration, the better!

It has been unseasonably warm, but I’m not complaining. I love that hazy look the sky gets at sunset. 🙂

Comment by Debby 12.14.06 @ 4:24 pm