By Vladimir Brezina
Photos by Daniel Kalman
A couple of days ago, we lit the candles on our Christmas tree for the last time before taking the tree down…
These photos were taken by our friend Dan, who was visiting us for a few days.
Copyright
Wind Against Current by Vladimir Brezina and Johna Till Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.Authors
Vladimir Brezina (RIP)
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.Johna Till Johnson
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.Recent Comments
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Wind Against Current 
I’m impressed that you actually use real candles. Twinkle and/or sparkle, especially in combination with the tinsel!
The closest thing we had to a tree this year was a cherry tomato plant – it came pre-decorated with all green balls that will eventually turn red!
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Love your cherry tomato plant! And yes, the tinsel shimmers in the light…. truly lovely.
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Very pretty, I like the candles! The kiss is cute too!
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Thanks Lisa! For you guys it’s bridges, for us, Christmas trees…. :-).
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Beautiful, but you are braver than I am–I love the warmth and twinkle of lights, but wouldn’t dare use open flames on our tree. We are leaving ours up until the end of January so our son can Christmas when he comes home from Turkey for winter break. It is always hard to see it go!
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How fun that he’s coming home! I can’t wait to read (and see) all about it on your blog. That’s great you’re leaving the tree up for him to enjoy.
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You must be thrilled! And how nice to have something to look forward to in the post-Christmas doldrums.
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Hi Johna, I’ve had plenty to keep me busy–news storytelling shows to work on and some good days in the garden. Here in Seattle it feels like spring is here, but I’m still counting the days until my son comes home, and when he does we will find ourselves up to our ears in Christmas again! BTW, I love your wonderful blog!
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I’m glad Dan took pictures of you two – especially the kiss! It was fun to see the tree, although I agree with Naomi that I probably wouldn’t use real candles either. Beautiful, but too risky for me.
Nancy
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Yes, he says there aren’t enough pictures of both of us. Plus, he has a spiffy camera that can capture the whole tree.
Re: real candles. It’s actually quite safe the way we do it, which is:
–have a fire extinguisher at hand
–have a bucket of water as backup
–place candles carefully (none where they can’t be seen)
–watch the tree like a hawk, looking for candles to get short enough to burn the branches
Not something you just set up and leave, in other words. For that we have ordinary electric lights…
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Lovely – and I’m always a little sad when taking down the decorations.
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Thanks! But there’s always next time….
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Pure magic! ❤️😀
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It really is, as the ornaments and tinsel shimmer in the candlelight and heat :-)
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the photos say a lot about you… a little chance taking…love…and magic…I think that is wonderful!
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Well, a little chance-taking is sometimes necessary. It is indeed magic—thanks so much, Marilyn!!
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Lovely – a beautiful, warm scene.
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Thank you so much, Mary!!
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beautiful! :)
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Thank you!! :-)
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Ours is still up as we are finallu having our Christmas this Saturday! Lovely and charming scene. But I do have to ask, did Dan also do the background peeling effect around the window to make it look like the walls were a bit too warm from the candles? ;-)
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No, Dan bears no responsibility at all. But the building dates from 1890 or so and has just a few issues ;-)
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1890? That’s incredible! Well, it actually adds a lot of charm to the photo. Nostalgic. Again, beautiful photos!
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Love the tree. 🎄 Love the love. ❤️
Makes for a happy new year. 😊
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We certainly hope so!! :-)
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You are brave! That we all know. I really liked the last photo.
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:-) Thank you!!
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Gorgeous tree. Happy New Year!
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Happy New Year to you, Brenda! :-)
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I miss Christmas already.
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