What A Card

Yesterday was TigerBlog's friend William's 10th birthday.

For his birthday, his parents told him that he could eat at any restaurant he wanted or have his mother make him anything he wanted for dinner. What did he choose?

He asked his mother to make him buttered noodles.

Ah, to be 10.

The holiday card that TB got from William's parents was among the best of the ones he's received.

As an aside, the cleverest was the one from two people who will be having their second child after the new year, and their card said "we're 'expecting' to have a happy and exciting 2012." Now that's sharp.

Meanwhile, William's card featured a holiday wish surrounded by about 15 pictures of William and his brother as they played lacrosse last summer.

TB is a big fan of the summer-in-winter themed card, which usually manifests itself as a scene from the family's beach vacation of a few months earlier. In the case of William, the lacrosse shots accomplished the same effect.

Or, for summer-in-winter, TB offers this minute in Princeton, where on the first full day of winter, the sky is deep blue and the temperature is in the low 60s. TB isn't sure if he should go caroling or to the beach.

The holiday card is a huge part of this time of year, and picking the right picture is crucial to the success of the card itself. Often, people go for a highly artistic approach, ad it doesn't always work. Little Miss TigerBlog opened one card, for instance, and said "they look fuzzy and unhappy."

TB is sure at some point that kids get too old for the family holiday card, though he's not quite sure at what point that is.

One of his favorite parts of Jadwin Gym is the back of the door in the business office, where Phyllis Chase - the department's travel coordinator - has a running year-by-year collage of the holiday cards of people from the athletic department, so it's easy to see how much all the kids have changed - and seemingly how quickly.

TB just got done posting a video entitled "A Day In The Life" to goprincetontigers.com. The video follows three Princeton athletes - basketball's Douglas Davis, wrestling's Garrett Frey and lacrosse's Lindsey deButts - through various parts of their Princeton experience.

The video isn't a holiday video by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a great piece of work, done by the good people of lonelyleap.com, the company where Princeton's original video machine, Jeff Taylor, works.

Back when Taylor was making videos here, TB was a bit envious of his creativity, which is extraordinary. And innate, for that matter.

TigerBlog, as has the rest of the OAC, gotten into the business of making original videos. TB still doesn't approach Taylor's flair, but he's gotten pretty good at churning them out at least.

Using the flip-cam cinematography of student manager Amanda Roman, TigerBlog created a women's basketball holiday video, which he posted the other day.

Back when Princeton made the decision to go away from the printed piece and to the video realm, videos like the women's basketball holiday video were exactly what the point was.

The video shows a close-knit team, one that is clearly loving the time it's spending together. It gives a much clearer view of the Princeton women's basketball experience than any printed piece ever could.

Plus, it has a great combination of heartfelt sentiment, genuine emotion and some great holiday humor.

What better way to say happy holidays.