Where I grew up, Christmas season didn't start the day after Halloween, nor did it start the day after Thanksgiving. It started on December 1st - the day the Advent Calendar went up on the wall, and we could start counting down the days by peeling back a little bit of cardboard every morning.
Today the unstoppable Leslie Harpold kicks off Advent Calendar 2006, where each day from now until the 25th you get "a Christmas memory, a holiday link and something special." Mind you, this is no auto-posted template-driven affair; each day's entry is a lovingly hand-crafted and custom-designed thing of beauty. Want proof? This is the Leslie's sixth year of online Advent Calendars; after you've peeled back today's, revisit December 1sts from 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001.
wow. following cognitive connections in this world and i am back to this post, starting with your post on leslie's passing (i made the connection when they mentioned to advent calendar and i remembered you had just mentioned them).
i have no idea if i ever heard of her or met her or used any of her creations, but it pains me deeply when someone, especially such a creative person, who everyone was so fond of and who was deeply influencial in so many ways, passes away suddenly and so young.
sigh.
thanks for the inadvertent roping into this.
a quote of hers in sfist:
My advice to you is this: make something you love. You love to make things, feel best when you're creating something you feel has value, even if only to you. Tap into the vein again, as many tries as it takes. Find that place where the world blurs by, and it's just you and your project in pure creation mode.
sigh.
Posted by: charlie | Dec 17, 2006 at 12:34 PM