Picture of the Day - Face of 97 Christmases

Today mom and I celebrated Christmas with my paternal grandmother, Martha Virginia Noyes. at her apartment in Fremont, CA. She is my sole remaining grandparent and she is ninety-seven years-old. I am grateful beyond words she is still in my life and indeed that she is more a part of my life now than at any time in my adult life given how our relationship has improved over the course of the past several years following a series of rocky periods prior to that thaw stretching back to my adolescence. I have matured and grown a lot as has Grandma who has blossomed and thrived since her husband died in 1998 at age 80. This mirrors her own mother's life who also blossomed and thrived after her own husband died. Grandma had a minor heart attack earlier this year and last year fell in the night and broke her pelvis. Prior to that her life has been pretty health problem-free aside from an appendicitis and emergency appendectomy in the early 1990s. That she has suddenly experienced a surge in health issues to go with ongoing, long-term age related wear and tear has me a bit concerned. I realize I cannot take any time with her for granted and I better enjoy her while she is still in my life. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

Picture of the Day - Spreading Flames

Tonight I attended my church's annual Christmas Eve service, this being at least the second year in a row I have been in attendance as I recall. At the end of the service we gathered outside along with New Day Church who jointly worshiped with us, and were sent outside the church and into the world with the commission to share the flame which we literally did for the entire crowd who held candles given to them for this very purpose. The entire crowd's candles were lit starting from just my pastor's lit candle. I always enjoy these sorts of symbolic gestures both in the Catholic and Protestant spheres.

Meme of the Week - Never Forget Nakatomi Plaza

Surely I shall never forget. If I have to explain any of this then you have been exposed as a pop cultural dweeb. For those of you who "get it" I applaud your pop cultural hipness.
*Note: if you don't know and feel you must know to what this refers just go HERE.

Picture of the Day - Home Group Xmas Potluck

Tonight my church home group (essentially a church bible study held at the home of an amazing couple who are friends but not members of our church) held a potluck end-of-year get-together before taking a break next week for the holidays. This image does not include all in attendance but most in attendance. I sure do love all these people and have grown so much with them!

Happy Solstice Day!

I'm not going to rehash all the details of Christianity creating Christmas to replace Saturnalia and other pagan celebrations around the time of the Winter Solstice and New Year. However, I do wish to remind folks that today being the Winter Solstice made it a big deal to many ancient pagan pre-Christian groups. And, were it not for those elements we would be celebrating Christ's birth later in the Winter when he was actually born. Some of my more legalistic and anal-retentive Christians abhor Christmas for this reason, forgetting that it really doesn't matter when we celebrate Christ's birth provided that we as Christians celebrate His death EVERY day! Given my previously-mentioned issues with S.A.D., I find anything festive that emphasizes LIGHTS this time of year to be a good thing. Furthermore, given this is a relatively cold and dark time of year, any festival which emphasizes celebration of Winter and joy and reinforcement of filial and community bonds through get-togethers and gift-giving is a good thing. In fact, given that God created the Winter Solstice, why don't Christians celebrate that annual astronomical event with as much vigor as any pagans in history?

Picture of the Day - Chestnuts & Marshmallows

Tonight I indulged in the annual Paso Robles Vine Street Victorian Christmas Showcase celebration in my neighborhood. I spent the first two-thirds of the three-hour event with my next-door neighbors behind me in the Chase House. Each year they host a chestnut and marshmallow roast in their front yard along with a carol-singing set-up and hot apple cider. Each year they also feature various other things such as a food co-op promotion and free seeds this year. I helped fill in gaps in their operation and then in the third hour walked down to my church at the other end of the event and did a gate-keeping security detail on the backside of the courtyard adjacent to their parking lot. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Holiday Blues

Tonight I walked my dog Tequila around the neighborhood along the Vine Street Corridor where the neighborhood is preparing for the annual Paso Robles 30th Annual Vine Street Victorian Showcase which is held annually half a block from my house. Many properties are already prepared while others are still doing so. This property is a half block west of Vine Street on 16th Street and has been doing blue each Christmas for a number of years. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved). 

2014 Vine St. Victorian Showcase Preview

Tonight I realized I will miss this year's Vine Street Victorian Showcase event here in Paso Robles this Saturday evening as I will be working a wedding during that time. I also realized that with the coming monster Pacific storm I won't be able to take any good photos of the Christmas lights tomorrow night. Add to that I don't know to what degree, if any, the storm will tear up people's light displays given the wind forecast so Friday night might be too late. Therefore, after getting back into town after my Spanish 103 final this evening and the birthday party I attended afterwards, I went out with my dog Tequila and shot the following images, in descending order below. Unfortunately, by the time I got out to do this some light displays were already shut down for the night while others were lit when I started but were shuttered by the time I got to their location. Nonetheless, this is a nice sampler of this year's offerings. Some displays are identical to past years and some have added some twists. Note: lucky me has been living in this neighborhood for the last five years. 

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Paso Park X-mas

In celebration of completing my big History 303 paper I treated myself to a glass of pinot noir at Hotel Cheval downtown Paso Robles nary five blocks from my house. I walked through the downtown park and this is something I observed along the way.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Blue X-Mas

This is the first impressive Christmas light manifestation in my neighborhood as Vine Street Victorian Showcase approaches in two Saturdays. This image was shot within the last hour which is to say, about 11 p.m. tonight. This house is on 16th Street several houses west of Vine Street proper.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

SNL Christmas Song

There are multiple performances of this song that have aired on SNL over the years but here is one as good as any of them as they are all wonderful in their quirky, funny, cute "holiday-ness".

Do The Know It's Christmas? II

This is the second installment of "Do They Know It's Christmas" this time by Band Aid II which came out in 1989. In 2011 I posted on this blog the 1984 Band Aid version HERE. 

Proof of Love After Death

I came across this earlier today and was overwhelmed by both its soul-crushing sadness as well as its transcendent beauty. Watch with a box of tissues.

WestJet Viral X-mas Video

For a bit of background on this heartwarming tale read HERE.

Cambria Christmas Carnival #2

Tonight I visited the 2nd Annual Cambria Christmas Marketplace at Cambria Pines Lodge. This was my first time visiting this event and I did so with my buddy Marybeth Shears. It was well-worth the drive from Paso Robles where I live to see this as I found it enchanting. The marketplace itself didn't really do anything for me tonight but perhaps I simply wasn't in the mood having already blown some money on Christmas shopping for mom in the lovely Moonstones store on Burton Drive in East Village Cambria.

The rainbow tunnel as entrance.

This made for a rather eye-catching introduction to the course.

I was tempted to take too many pictures of this structure.

Looking back at the rainbow tunnel.

I find most Nativity scenes rather annoyingly religious but for some reason I liked this one.

The Blue Forest of Cambria Pines Lodge...

...which reminded me for some reason of the Blue Forest in Wyoming.

There was a bit of The Nutcracker at the far end of the course.

I couldn't not take more images of the Blue Forest on the way back through.

This was my second favorite feature after the Rainbow Tunnel.

This image turned out sharper than the first one but I like both so I included them both here, one going and one coming.

My buddy Marybeth.

I realize I'm a dork but this feature made me think of the tunnel in that episode of the The Six Million Dollar Man television series which featured the robotic Big Foot and that rotating tunnel that incapacitated Steve Austin.

This has an incredibly eye-pleasing effect.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).