Episode- Xmas Tree

Ho Ho How Ya Doin'? 

The winter rite of Festivus is upon us, for those of you who practice. If you don't, fear not... we'll get to your holiday soon enough. Meanwhile, it fell to me to create an apt symbol of this post-harvest holiday, here in this ever-greening world. And not that the holiday couldn't use some greening-- between the massive yearly slaughter of innocent spruces and the deluge of torn and discarded wrapping paper, this season makes up most of the year's waste, I'll warrant.  

For me, a Christmas tree is all about the finely crafted decorations, the bright and twinkly lights and the delicate and sparkly garland. So this year I decided to MAKE a Chanukah bush (one changes to the other depending on decorations, right?), using terrible old packing crate plywood. That's it. There's not a fastener in the whole tree. The entire thing disassembles into flat pieces in 5 minutes! Is that not a top-shelf Ramadan shrub or what? Who could ask for better greenery? It assembles using half-slot joints, in five tiers, with circular joining plates between each layer. I originally wanted to bolt everything together, but it proved to be very sturdy even without fasteners. Just the way a Kwanzaa brier should be.

M      E       R       R      Y       /      H     A     P      P      Y       !

          A NOTE TO YOU, OUR LOYAL VIEWING PUBLIC

The end of the year approach-eth, and so does the close of our first season. When we return, we plan to update our cameras (from crappy, to one step above crappy); our sound equipment (from none to some); and our lighting (from whatever was on hand, to measuring it with a meter, at least). And the layout of our episodes will be more uniform: the same intros and outros; similar subject matter (no more singing episodes!); and we may even write a script... or at least an outline. All this will happen gradually, for our constant pleas for money from you, our loyal viewing public, has left us with nada. Nil. Zippo. Bare coffers (and I think one of you actually took some saltines from the coffers). So as usual, it all comes down to a generous donation from... mom.