National Illinois Day reminds us to put up Christmas decorations
National Illinois Day falls on Dec 7th, and it’s a reminder to transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas! 🌲 Discover more fun facts and festive musings.
Christmas
A new Christmas tradition: Decorate a pineapple with tiny ornaments
Are you looking for a unique Christmas decoration? Consider decorating a Christmas pineapple.
The awesome Christmas ninja toys from Oriental Trading
A great Christmas surprise this year? Christmas ninjas! With these fun little guys around the house, you’ll find everyone asking, “Hey, what happened to the Christmas cookies?” Ninjas. These little guys bearing peppermint weapons will surely bring a fresh breath of air to your Christmas. They could cause all sorts of mischief around your house. …
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Why I keep Christmas envelopes
I love keeping the envelopes from mailed Christmas cards. Handwriting What did so-and-so’s handwriting look like? Nowadays the only time we see someone’s handwriting is on the envelope of a Christmas card. Is it messy? Neat? While spring cleaning in May, I came across a box of envelopes that I kept from the 2018 Christmas …
Invite for Tribune Content Agency holiday party
How to fit 100 columnists, 15 comic strips, and 50 employees into one holiday invite. This year I was asked to design the invite to our company holiday party this year. Normally, this would be finding some nice holiday stock art on our photo service. But this year I wanted to have a little more …
Beta preview of the Maldre Christmas card
I have a penchant for creating really complicated Christmas cards. This year I decided to print fifty photos onto strips of paper. Then slide those strips into a clear plastic ornament. Kinda crazy. But also kinda fun. Here’s a preview of our Christmas card: There are six strips of paper inside this ornament. Sliding the …
Christmas projection lights, your thoughts?
Do you know those projection Christmas lights? I can’t decide if they are incredibly awesome, or incredibly lazy. I suppose it depends on how you implement the projection lights alongside other decorations. Pair it up nicely with other decorations, and it might be pretty cool. If it’s the only decoration you put up — well, …
One alley, 16 discarded Christmas trees
Walking down the alley in suburban Oak Park, Christmas trees lay next to most garbage cans. The alley becomes like a Christmas tree lot, post-Christmas. Need a Christmas tree? Take your pick. Most trees are lightly used and varying degrees of dryness. All the trees laying down, sleeping. These trees are no longer in a …
How many handfuls of mulch is made from one Christmas tree?
Tree mulchers are crunching all the Christmas trees on curbs and in alleys. The plethora of trees will soon be a handful of wood. How much mulch does one Christmas tree produce? I’m guessing about six handfuls of mulch. What’s your guess? An internet search yields many articles outlining the benefits of mulching your tree (see …
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The Christmas Tree Throwing Challenge
When you throw away your tree, make sure to literally THROW it away. Walk your tree out to your curb / dumpster / alley. Stop about 20 feet short of where you would normally place your tree. Then try to throw the tree as far as you can! How far can you throw a Christmas …
12 reasons to start the Christmas Stick tradition
Have problems with your Christmas tree? Consider a Christmas stick. Sound crazy? Yeah, it is, but I’ve been doing it for three years and I love it. Love your Christmas tree? Of course you do, Christmas trees are beloved. You don’t have to rid yourself of the Christmas tree. You can consider the Christmas stick …
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