get it here

[foxtongue]

courtesy of collectibles.about.com

Nato, a dear, dreadfully clever and entirely nifty friend of mine, has gone into the very niche business of selling LED Christmas Trees at LEDtrees.com. This thrills me. Oh yes. For I have seen these trees, and lo, they are awesome.

The first time I encountered an LED tree was years and years ago while I was still in the habit of occasionally Christmas shopping, (yes, I've mostly recovered). The retailers had rented a gutted section of failed stores, taken down the plywood frontage, littered the space with enchanting, glowing trees, and didn't install any lights. Stepping from the grossly shiny Christmas shopping bustle, commercials and glam into a dark, fairy-tale area of soft, gleaming, colourful trees... It was stellar, wondrous. Completely Narnia. I may never forget it. It felt like creeping around a corner and stumbling sideways into the fantastic. Science as a substitute for the mad ceremonial waste of precious tree flesh. Pretty science. Pretty and really, really neat, making me happy in a gleeful child sort of way, like that "magic" wand I posted.

I love the internet world we live in, how connected we can be to anything we like. I love that something I'd always thought of as skin riveting rare is something that a friend is in business in. I especially like the white ones that look like some deliriously designed set piece created for a preposterous yet super stylish retro-future. Timeless and absurd, all at once, the Christmas tree Barbarella would ask for to go with her albino bearskin space-ship, or a fashionable, couture Dexter, (Showtime's nonsensical, blood-splatter serial killer who feels nothing, but for ANGST!), to go with his immaculate, crimson clean lab. I'm obscurely proud that Nato keeps one hanging upside down above his desk, a cheerful lunatic lamp all year round. I want to do the same.

Of course, that said, it's not like I've done Christmas for several years. This year, though, David and I are batting around the idea of having a Hannekuweenmas house-warming party, (it's not our fault he wasn't moved in by October 31st), an all day non-denominational, costumes optional, holiday social and house party, with crepes in the morning, tea in the afternoon, and candle-lit silent black and white horror films until dawn. What do you think? Would you come?

Thanks to a new technique, DNA strands can be easily converted into tiny fibre optic cables that guide light along their length.

Comments

[kindelingboy.livejournal.com]

I will be in the great white cold north, battling polar bears, most likely.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

Are you gone for all of December, then?

[kindelingboy.livejournal.com]

Just between the 21st and 28th.

[wildcherrygal.livejournal.com]

I would totally come, but I will be in Chicago from the 21st-28th. (My family being Sicilian Catholic and all-it's easier if I'm not going to disappear into the desert for me to go home then deal with the 30+ calls guilting me for not coming home)

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

I hope this will happen before then.

[wildcherrygal.livejournal.com]

That would be awesome. I'm done with school on the 13th too

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

Done!

I've got a play this Saturday, (consider yourself invited along, if you like), but past that, nothing.

[dys.livejournal.com]

since i've moved away from my parents, i have only had 1 christmas tree in about 4-5 years.

mostly because that christmas tree ended up staying in the living room for about 3 years.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the same would happen to me. That could easily be part of why I think fake trees are a better way to go.

[mallinson.livejournal.com]

By God would I ever come. The 20th is my birthday, and the 25th is the real McCoy (except in historical fact) but most other days are potentially perfect.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

I was thinking maybe the 13th...

[natowelch.livejournal.com]

I might be able to swing the 13th, as it falls immediately after the 7 business-day cut off time for feasible UPS ground deliveries before xmas.

Seasonal business is so peculiar. A month of business, 6 weeks of HELL BUSY and then *poof* gone in a week.

[givemesodapop.livejournal.com]

I'll come. I'll even drag Jen with me, if I can.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

You'd get better luck "politely asking" than "dragging". Just a thought.

[natowelch.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yours appears to have shipped today. You will need to sign for it. Le tme know if you get any customs bills after it arrives.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

Fingers crossed. Toes crossed. I hope it helps.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

You might want to send a word to your peoples in Chinaland. The package arrived today and it turned out to be a green needle tree instead of a white one. They be foolin you.

[natowelch.livejournal.com]

crap. Actually, that was my fault. We don't have white trees in that size, so I sent the green one instead. I'm sorry I didn't think of it.

[skonen-blades.livejournal.com]

DNA as fibre optic cable? SQUEEEEEE!

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

I KNOW!

[ericastratton.livejournal.com]

I would not only come, I would steal the idea for myself.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

Best flattery, I suppose. Heh. Better bring some eggnog.

[silveredmane.livejournal.com]

I'd come, on the 13th.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

Whoo! That's wonderful. Plans, solidifying.

[babykarret.livejournal.com]

I think I could also do the 13th.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

Seems to be solidifying on the 13th. I think I might make a Doodle, just to be sure, but maybe not.