Skip to main content

The decadence of destroying art

As we head into another Christmas season of festive merchandise, I got thinking about all the beautiful things that we like to have around Christmas, only to chuck it all in the New Year.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with Christmas cards, and the idea that "it's the thought that counts". And yet, there's a pleasant feeling of generosity, luxury, and decadence that comes from giving a "premium" card -- thicker stock paper, gorgeous art, maybe even pop-ups or some sort of built-in audio device.

Some people do keep Christmas cards as keepsakes, but for the majority, they will likely end up in the recycling bin, if not in the trash.

That's art in the trash, people.

Then there's art meant to be destroyed. From the time of its very invention, Christmas crackers (those things that look like oversized candies, except you're not supposed to eat them) were meant to be ripped apart and destroyed for the goodies inside. Despite this, like regular Christmas gifts, we like them gorgeously and festively decorated.

And in a world of mass production, some are still carefully hand made for that extra special touch and bragging rights, like the ones from Designer Crackers. Even though one more or less looks just like another, there is a special uniqueness and limited-edition feel to something hand-made.

For any other occasion (say, a wedding) they might be beautiful enough to be a keepsake. But Christmas Crackers are meant to be destroyed. Even if they were stuffed with little gifts of quality (like the selection below, that goes into the best of Designer Crackers) that may well be worth having, the actual fun of a Christmas Cracker is in getting a friend to pull the other end, the bang when it comes apart, the goods spilling out -- The fun is in destroying it.

Designer Crackers connoisseur gifts

Designer Crackers - gold with brown check

Designer Crackers gold with holly and berries

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Meet Melissa Gaines and her blurry sexy pics

Oh boy! I had no sooner finished posting about the lovely Taylor Burch responding to my personals ad on Craigslist when Melissa Gaines (e-mailing from erikmcclure858@yahoo.com) mailed me a couple more pictures of her lithe body and selling her profile on the same looks-like-a-phishing-scam site (http://craigslistsafe.net/profiles/melx3/). One of them was an NSFW naked-breasts pic which I haven't posted here (sorry -- but honestly, nothing to write home about, especially with the serious bikini tan lines). Here's the e-mail exchange: Melissa e-mail #1 Here is my picture as attached. Please e-mail me details what you are looking for along with your pictures. Thanks and waiting to hear from you soon. Melissa e-mail #2 hey thanks for getting back to me we should definitely meetup sometime... if youre interested of course :) a couple things i should set straight though: 1 we use condoms 2 you join a dating site that I belong to safedates no worries though its fr

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 3

A picture from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. I can't remember why I had this couple in the picture, but I do vaguely remember this to be in London, on the first official day of the tour group getting together. Their insistence on my helping them take a picture caused the three of us to be late getting back to the bus. The local tour guide had a "rule" about lateness, that we had to buy chocolate to share with everyone. As it turned out, later in the trip, on at least two occasions, we were stuck on the highway on either a long commute or a traffic jam, and I had chocolate and chocolate-covered marzipan to share. About the chocolate-covered marzipan -- Apparently we were in Austria just as they were celebrating Mozart's birthday with special marzipans wrapped in foil with the famous composer's picture. I'm pretty sure it was Mirabell Mozartkugeln . Anyway, there were enough to go around the en

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 10

The last of my pictures (at least the ones that survived the cheesy disposable cameras) from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. Below is the obligatory group photo. Not sure everyone's in it, actually. I'm pretty sure this one was taken by the tour director, Mike Scrimshire as I'm in the back row, on the right side.