The Grinch That Stole Christmas...

...has apparently moved from the top of Mount Crumpit to Birmingham Alabama, or a surrounding suburb.

Crews clean up the debris from the city of Birmingham's Christmas tree in Linn Park, which was set afire by thieves early Wednesday.

Apparently, the person that did this was looking to strip the tree of its lights, and the lights of the copper in their wiring. I can't imagine that the wiring from a few strings of lights would yield a great enough quantity of copper to make such an undertaking worth the time and effort involved, but I suppose when you're short on both scruples and brains, even the most idiotic of schemes seems like a gem.

City officials didn't have many details Wednesday, but they said that, about 4 a.m., someone took the lights off the tree and apparently began using gasoline to try to separate the copper from the plastic casing. 

The fuel ignited.

"The fuel ignited." Imagine that. By the time the firefighters showed up, the tree was in ashes. The tree, which cost $7,500 was not going to be replaced by the city, the charred stump instead being covered by another symbol of the holiday season...

...the festive holiday Christmas cone. Feel the wonder. This guy did.

...And this is where the story gets good. You see, like in The Grinch, Christmas couldn't be stolen by someone whose heart was three sizes to small. The citizens of the city, the businesses, and radio stations all came together to make sure that the people of Birmingham could see a tree shining from Linn Park again, and soon.

As a result, little more than 24 hours after the tree was destroyed, shining holiday lights and ornaments will return to Linn Park this morning, a donation of radio station 98.7 Kiss FM and a quickly formed consortium of neighboring cities, business and individuals.

(I'm tricky, tricky with the crop tool! There's the new tree now!)

It wasn't so much about the tree as it was that people felt compelled to do something, to take something sad and make it glad. Now, to me, as a Christian, Christmas is about more than a fancy tree, pretty lights, or beautiful gifts, and nothing can steal that, not a Grinch, not a thief, not getting stuck with a fruitcake at the family gift exchange, but still, in a time when so many are concerned with the economy, terrorism, and the strife of politics, it's nice to see people come together, put their differences aside, and make sure that at least for a little while, all is bright.

acnatta's flickr (Linn Park 2006)

"Christmas day will always be

Just so long as we have we

Fahoo fores dahoo dores

Welcome Christmas bring your light."

 Dr. Seuss-The Grinch That Stole Christmas

All quotes and images from The Birmingham News unless otherwise noted.

Alaska, July 2009 cont.

One of these days, I'll catch up on this blog.

In the meantime, trekking back to Delta Junction...




During a break one day at camp I got use of a car and a few minutes to just go out and drive...by myself. I loved it. There's a buffalo farm just up the road and I wanted to swing by and see them. I've seen buffalo before, my dad's boss used to farm them, my sister was chased by one, and we've actually got some hybrids just down the road from where I live, but still. They were just out there, being...buffalo, and that was pretty cool.


I love the fact that there is this much land and nothing in it.


Of course, there are mountains...everywhere you look, it seems you'll find one range or another.

I know it's Alaska, but for some reason this picture looks very "Swiss Alps" to me. I think it's because of that small building, which in my mind, is a dairy farm.


Yeah...I could deal looking at that every day.

I really enjoyed the solitude of those moments. I rolled down the windows and just allowed my head to clear. It's been nearly a year since that drive, but I still recall it fairly sharply. That land has great attitude.

Back at camp, it's campfire time. Now, campfire time is a great little thing. Mark usually brings a message full of insight and wisdom and it makes you think 'stop knowing me so well!' We also sing, dance, act retarded, burn stuff, and generally have a great time in Christian love and fellowship.


Here's some of that singing I was talking about earlier. Boardwalk and Lena were the music leaders during the week, switching out guitar and 'hold the poster' duty. If you look closely, you can see that we were bringing it old school with the classic musical number 'Pharaoh, Pharaoh."



Did you know that the simple addition of cut up pieces of garden hose will turn your fire an array of beautiful colors? Well, it will, and now you know. (I'm not sure of the toxicity, but well, we all die eventually.)


We usually burn a couple of cardboard cores the last night of camp. The winds were really,really high that night though, so we couldn't double stack them this year. I mean, we're all up for a healthy amount of carnage, but not the kind that requires life flight and alerting the burn unit.


I. Love. Fire.


All the girls of Cabin Three, Camp Baldwin, Delta Junction, AK, July 2009. I love them all. It was a great group, fantastically ridiculous, and ridiculously fantastic.

Eeeeeeeexactly.

Next time, some post camp activities: Fires, Fat Mud, Wolves under glass, and all the salmon you can eat!

'Twas a week before Christmas...

This little tale that I'm telling to you, is based in pure fact, yes, it's pretty much true! It's cobbled together like a poorly made quilt; but I don't care, I don't feel any guilt. Enjoy the story, that's my true aim, I know it won't bring any fortune or fame. It's pretty silly, but what can I say, it's just my life, it's an average day...

'Twas a week before Christmas, and I could not believe

that no baking was done so close to the Eve;

The stockings were hung and a gift or two wrapped,

Still too much to do and my energy's zapped.

Most people were sleeping all snug in their beds,

while I, with the stress, thought of upping my meds;

A present for Dad is still left to buy,

"but what do I get him?" I thought with a sigh,

When out in the yard there arose such a clatter,

I ran from the kitchen to see what was the matter.

The screeching was loud, a thud then a thump

and it sounded like something was fixin'* to tump*,

The ice on the road was as black as the night

and gave all the drivers a terrible fright

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a bus in the ditch by the mailbox...how queer,

With an old lady driver confused in the seat

she'd run over the mailbox without missing a beat.

Skidding and sliding and stopped with a thud,

I could see that her bus was now stuck in the mud,

"Excuse me, I'm sorry, I ran quite off course !"

"Oh, and for your mailbox...I give my remorse..."

"It's alright I said, it'll stand back up straight,"

"I'm just happy you avoided a slightly worse fate."

As rain swirled about, (no we just don't get snow,)

We pondered on how to get her bus to go,

After much consternation, unstuck she came,

And no we did not file an insurance claim,

Then, there she went, quickly down the road,

Driving away in her over-sized load,

As I waved goodbye and was turning around,

I heard from inside a slight ringing sound.

The cookies I'd left in the oven to bake!

I'd forgotten about them! What a mess this would make!

The smell of burned baked goods soon filled my nose,

And smoke from the oven, oh how it rose,

A Christmas time fire, my that seems merry,

Unless it's unplanned, and then it's just scary!

I threw on my mitt and the oven door braved

And thought to myself, "can these cookies be saved?"

"I'll ice them," I said, "then they'll be fine,"

That slight smoky flavor will be nice with wine,

Of course the frosting would just be a cinch,

Except there's no sugar, who's been here? The Grinch?

"Ah the old standby" I said satisfied,

as canned Betty Crocker I quickly applied,

A sprinkle or two and no one would know,

of my near disaster with sugary dough,

I packaged them up and took them to work,

everyone liked them, from the boss to the clerk,

With crumbs just remaining, the office well fed,

my holiday plans had not ended in dread,

A few days to go I thought with a smirk,

Me, I'm just ready to head home from work,

"BYE!" I exclaim, as I drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, bake some cookies tonight."

*thems is Southern words y'all!