C is for...

In the immortal words of someone I've admired since I was a wee elfling:

"C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me..."

Seriously! Oh, I know I could have said "C is for Christmas" but that seemed a little too predictable. Besides, cookies make the world go 'round. My mom's name was Ginger, as in Ginger-bread, and she made (and still makes) the best cookies in the world! No really, I checked. I personally have never met a cookie I didn't like. I guess cookies aren't too big a stretch from "Christmas" when you consider Santa's reputation. Scotty Claus likes a cookie now and then too I've heard, but since he'd rather not go the "belly like a bowlful of jelly" route, he tries to resist.

Scotty Claus thinks C should be for Conservation, but I thought that was just too big a word for a small elf like me. I decided to look it up though, and as it turns out, it is a pretty good word to know. On dictionary.reference.com it says that conservation is

"the act of conserving;  prevention of injury, decay, waste,or loss; preservation".

The Living Christmas Company is all about that idea. Our trees are not injured by cutting, they are not wasted, because after Christmas we pick them up again and take care of them, and they are not lost, because even when they get too old or too big to be Christmas trees any more we let them retire. They are planted somewhere where they will help improve the environment, or beautify an area.

Finally, last but hopefully not least, C is for Care'n Presents (that's me!) Merry July!

B is for...

"Believe in what you feel inside, 
And give your dreams the wings to fly.
You have everything you need,
If you just believe."

That comes from one of my favorite Christmas songs, coincidentally called "Believe" by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri (performed by Josh Groban).  It's all about believing the way you did when you were a child, and at Christmas time, we're kind of allowed to tap into our inner child so... 

B is for BELIEVE!


There are so many great things to believe in. You can believe in yourself, or in someone you love or respect. You can also believe that an idea can change the world!  Christmas seems to get crazier and crazier every year. It's so easy to get stressed out, and really, doesn't that go against all that Christmas is supposed to mean? Instead of venting on the poor sales clerk or helpful elf (ie: yours truly), try a little patience. It might make their day, and wouldn't that make you feel good too? I believe that kindness goes a lot further than well...grumpiness.

B is also for Blue Cedar, another one of the trees available to rent or adopt through The Living Christmas Company. No, we don't have 26 different trees, it's just the some of the ones we have just happen to be at the beginning of the alphabet. This tree's actual name is Cedrus Deodara which means (you're gonna' love this) "wood of the gods". This tree is even is included in legends and is even worshiped in the Hindu culture. In Pakistan it is the National Tree. On top of all this it smells really good, and bugs don't like it much. What more could you ask for in a tree?  

Back to "believing," Scotty Claus believes that we can all help change the world, one tree at at time. If you can't do that, you can start by recycling some of your stuff, or even just picking up your trash. Changing the world sometimes is a matter of changing the way we think. So think about it. Believe it can happen. 




Care'n Presents

Photo: cinemalicious.com

Some information found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedrus_deodara

A is for...

Well, since there are SO many great things about Christmas, I thought maybe I'd go alphabetically, and create the Living Christmas ABC's: unabridged, unofficial, and hopefully a little unusual. Being an elf, I figured the best way to start the ABC's is well...with E for Elf. Okay, just kidding. Really, we should start with S for Scotty Claus. Oh, all right, we'll do it the "normal" way, and start with A.


A is for "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." I know you know that song. We all sang it at some point. (Now it's going to be stuck in your head all day, right? Don't you just love me?)





Also, A is for Aleppo Pine, which frankly, I'd never even heard of until I started working for Scotty Claus. It's one of the types of trees available to rent from The Living Christmas Company.  I looked it up, and it's a really pretty tree.  It's so pretty that the artist Paul Cezanne painted a picture called "The Big Trees" because he was inspired by one growing in his garden!  These trees are native to the Mediterranean region, but they grow well in Southern California too. There's even a Greek wine that's made from the resin of the Aleppo Pine called Retsina.  Not that we elves ever drink wine or anything...well, not when we're working anyway.


Come back again later for...well the rest of the alphabet. I guess I'll do B next. Why not, right?

nationalgalleries.org

Care'n Presents

Merry Christmas!

What's that you say? Christmas in July? Please! But let's face it people, it comes faster and faster every year! Any minute there will be decorations in the malls, street banners, tree lots. That, however, is not what I'm here to talk about. 


Allow me to introduce myself: I am Care'n Presents. Think of me as "care and presents" or "a caring presence", whichever floats your boat. Put simply: I'm an elf. I work for Scotty Claus and The Living Christmas Company. Scotty is sort of Santa's younger brother from another mother, only sometimes I think that the Claus's may not entirely want to admit it. Scotty changes his mustache and/or facial hair I think, every season. His "Santa" hat is about five feet long, and well, he's a little goofy. On the other hand, his heart is in the right place. He likes to concentrate on some of the things Santa doesn't always focus on, primarily: the trees. It's not Santa's fault, by any means. I have a cousin who works at the North Pole and she says it's a mad house! All those toys, and now especially, since the kids these days want electronics. There's a lot of stuff to do, and not a lot of time to even think about the trees. 


This brings us back to Scotty.  He was helping deliver trees one year, and that made him so happy...until the weeks after Christmas. He saw these same trees, just dumped on the curb. What for years was a beautiful living thing, and for a few weeks was a sparkling symbol of love and family, was now just a lump of dry wood and needles to be cast aside. That, made Scotty Claus very sad. Oh sure, once in a while a tree got composted, but for the most part they were thrown in a dumpster and left at the landfill. So Scotty created The Living Christmas Tree Company, where you don't buy a tree and throw it out, you rent a living tree, you water it, it stays alive and happy in your home, and then Scotty sends out his elves and reindeer, to collect it back again. Then, and throughout the year, the trees are given a little tender loving care (TLC - hey, just like The Living Christmas) and if you want you can even rent that same tree the next year. I've heard, that the trees like it better too. Who can blame them?


Okay, I know you're thinking "here comes the sales pitch" but alas. I'm an elf, not a sales person. Obviously, I think it's a great idea, but my point is to give you some things to think about: some things that are not about what you should buy Uncle Dave, or your mother-in-law. I want you to think about what you can do to keep Christmas in your heart...all the time. I want you to think about ways to make the trees happy, and the world maybe a little bit better place. Mostly, I just want to give you some things to think about that will make you smile. The holidays can be crazy and stressful. As an elf, don't I know it? So take a moment once in a while, take a deep breath, visit me, and remember what it's about.


 My present is Care.