Santacon & My First Tree Trimming Party

Santacon at 8th Avenue
So every year a couple of days before Christmas half of New York decides to get into  a Santa costume and get totally wasted. I had heard about it last year and maybe even the year before, as I don't think it's a phenomenon that's unique to NY - there definitely is some strange activity like this going on in London too, I hear. But only this year did I learn that this is not something like a belated Father's Day and a male only thing as I had assumed. One of my female colleagues was also getting into a Santa costume to start drinking at 11AM.. And I just saw on the more or less official Santacon website that there are plenty of sexy Santa costumes available for purchase so I'm assuming, like everything is this country, it's become commercialized. I'm probably getting old but doesn't sound too appealing to me anymore...

Another co-worker had invited me to my first tree trimming party. At first, I asked her which wood we'll be meeting at since I was assuming that the party would be about cutting the xmas tree somewhere in the woods. Somthing my dad and his company had done previously - just taking the whole office out to the woods and having some hot wine there. But turns out tree trimming in this country has nothing to do with cutting anything - it's much more about decorating the tree. So what happens is that the host has a tree put up but it's still completely green and the guests each bring some ornaments for the tree decoration and start putting them up then. I think it's a nice tradition and an ornament is a nice gift to give - even though the tree might look very much like a colorful, messy arrangement later on, at least it's all kinds of stuff you got from your friends and you can remember the night fondly every time you look at your tree.

Contrary to what I expected most Americans I talked to actually get a real tree and do not work with these fake versions. I haven't see anyone to opt for real candles but that actually is a fire hazard so maybe the electric ones are just safer. Everyone seems to be looking forward to Xmas although noone is allowed to say 'merry xmas', it's always 'happy holidays' - my flatmate told me that it's tradition for New York Jews to go to the movies and have chinese take out food on Xmas Eve - doesn't sound like the worst night either..Some of the ornaments for the tree trimming
An.

The Tree Trimming is Taking Shape

You can take a wild guess what my co-worker's hobby is...