Holiday Season Greetings to All

Tomate Farcie wishes to presents her best wishes to all
for happiness, health and prosperity
for the coming new year.

* * *





For many people, the Christmas season is an opportunity to throw parties and get together with loved-ones and family.
For many others, the Christmas season is a lonely time.



For some, Xmas is more than anything about making money.
For most, Xmas is more than anything, about spending money.

Christmas decorations start popping up everywhere in the City right around Thanksgiving.



Traditionally, Macy's has the cutest display ever of live baby dogs and cats.
It is actually a real animal adoption event organized by the SPCA.
As you can imagine, that is possibly the most popular window in the City. Seriously, who can resist puppy love?!!



I tried to photograph the puppies but these photographs didn't come out very well. (Maybe a virtual Santa out there will give me some advice as to what kind of filter I need to get for my Canon G9 in order to take better pictures of windows displays? I sure could use the advice as I've had my share of trouble before with reflextion and window shots!)

Awww, what the heck, it's Christmas. Here is one of the puppies' shots...



I've posted the rest of the puppies' shots over here. I'm warning you, these pictures may not be technically correct but they're pretty cute! ;)



I don't know if you can see it very well on this picture, but St. Nick is sitting in front of a HUGE Bavarian cucko clock (additional close-up shots here).

We had one almost like this one when I was growing up. It had 3 weights and of course the cuckoo was coming out every hour and once every half hour. My father - who reads this blog from time to time - is going to be really surprised to see a thing like that on the blog!

Between the dogs, the cuckoo clock ("coucou" in French), the Christmas music and the ice-skating rink around the corner, for a brief moment, I thought I was having an out-of-body experience or something and was looking at my childhood again...



Usually early December, but sometimes even earlier, you can attend one of the many tree-lighting ceremonies in San Francisco. This one took place in front of the Bank of America building.



Remind me to show you in the future what it really takes to put up a giant Christmas tree like the ones I posted here. You'd be surprised!



Naturally, San Francisco decorates her cable cars!





But remember, the holiday season isn't just about Christmas.



According to the Chabad of San Francisco (a non-profit Jewish organization), San Francisco was the first city in the world to proudly display a giant Menorah in public. You can attend the lighting of the Menorah in Union Square, for 8 consecutive days in December, immediately after sun down. I happened to be there on the 4th evening (click on the link to see what happened).



By the way, did you know that every year, the U.S. Military tracks Santa's comings and goings? Now, now, I know it's tempting but don't go blaming Bush for that !!! ;) Apparently, they've being doing this since 1955.



People are increasingly concerned about the environment. Some of you are probably thinking as you are going down this post, that all these Chritsmas decorations must use up a lot of energy. And what about Santa? Have you ever wondered about Santa's carbon footprint? An airline company from New Zeland did, and came up with this idea.

Originally, I was going to post one of my favorites Christmas songs I had just found on uTube the other day, but I changed my mind and decided to make you a little "video" on Animoto instead.



What do you think?

A little over the top, maybe? Like this entire post? ;) Oh, don't worry, as soon as I get back to work I will probably get back to posting about broken cars and other equally fun stuff ;)



In the meantime, let me present my warmest season's greetings to all of you, and especially to those of you who are spending the holidays alone for whatever reason.

Peace, TF

Click here to see The 12 Days of Christmas with the King's Singers and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (it's actually an incredible, fun performance).

Macy's puppies here

Close-up of the cuckoo clock here

Additional photographs of the Macy's window here

Macy's animal adoption events details here

Additional pictures on my photoblog