A Christmas revival...

Unlike Thanksgiving, (or as I like to call it the "food coma" holiday) the boyfriend and I try to be festive and celebrate the Christmas season. School normally got in the way of any Christmas activities and the only time I would be in the "spirit" would be December 25th (a few days after finals).

2007 was the year to put a little more effort in the end of the year holidays. Besides the San Francisco zoo trip we also watched the tree lighting ceremony at Union Square amidst hundreds of gathered Christmas shoppers. We decided to brave "Black Friday" and go shopping for Christmas tree ornaments for our freshly cut 5 ft tree that the boyfriend insisted on. Those who knew of our plans scoffed at the idea of buying a tree so early but we kept that sucker green up until we tossed it on the garbage pile on New Years Eve. It was definitely difficult trying to travel that day but we made good use of the BART.

Facing south towards Geary St. at Macy's before the tree lighting.

Shopping on one of the most competitive day of the year and really brings out the "awesome" in some people as we saw a lot of Christmas "cheer" in hand gestures and flung spittle. Even trying to take a peep at the Macy's holiday window display to see the adoptable kitties and puppies will earn you a few elbows to the face or smooshed toes.

 

The crowds at Union Square that year was intense as everyone tried to fit (i.e. shove) into one square block in downtown San Francisco. City notables showed up to help entertain the crowd (the fire chief, the cast of "Jersey Boys", San Francisco Boys Choir and Santa Claus). What was kinda neat was PG&E trying to promote the use of LED lights that season and what better way to show how well it looked than have the Union Square tree be lit with thousands of LED's.

 I think I was pushed when I took this. D:

The weekend before Christmas the boyfriend and I made sure to go to the last day of the Great Dickens Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace. Nothing was better than to experience the holidays with Dickensian characters that were happy to survive another day in Victorian London (in the era of "consumption"). We partook in the huge variety of Victorian refreshments and street foods: meat pies, bangers, candied nuts, puddings and 4 o'clock tea time (and we just saw the new Sweeney Todd the other night).

"Some nuts, good sir?"

This woman made delicious cinnamon candied almonds that were so popular that a line remained while she made each fresh batch of nuts.

This little fellow (named Professor Phineas J. Flockmocker III F.H.S.G) was a part of the new Jules Verne themed troupe that joined the Dickens fair this past year. The Legion Fantastique members talked about and displayed their wonderful steampunk inventions that will hopefully, "CHANGE THE WORLD!". They were wonderful, energetic characters and if I ever break down and cosplay at the Dickens Fair it would be most likely a Jules Verne character.

"Powered by STEAM!"

These seductive ladies of song were the girls of Mad Sal's Dockside Alehouse who sang saucy songs to everyones delight. If you treat them very well you maybe rewarded with a tantalizing flash of a petticoat. Salacious!

"We'll sing songs about butts, dicks, boobs and vaginas!"

Another fun part of the Dickens Fair was to witness well known Dickens characters come to life and play their roles as you walk around the fair (in some scenes it becomes very interactive). It was really entertaining to follow the actors as the played out their story over time at different locations; we managed to catch parts of "The Adventures of Oliver Twist" and "A Christmas Carol".

"Don't patronize me, bro."

At the end of the day I managed to get a pair of pirate socks from the "Pirate Cove" (pic is from a Northern California pirate festival, not from the Dickens fair). They turned out to be very scratchy but I still love them.

Not pictured: the red/black ones I bought

We were exhausted by the time we left but we had A LOT of fun and will return in 2008; despite this party poopers efforts. We will return!

Prudey McPrudenstein proselytizing

Su