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What a Lamp! – A Christmas Story Ornaments

  • Posted on January 28, 2010 at 4:28 am

  • A Christmas Story
  • 3 1/2″ H

Product Description
A Christmas Story

Adorn your tree with the major award from the cult Christmas classic A Christmas Story.

3 1/2″ H…. More >>

What a Lamp! – A Christmas Story Ornaments

The Story Behind National Style Homes

  • Posted on November 23, 2009 at 3:19 am


National-style homes are common across the nation, but not always easy to identify. That’s because they tend to mix several pre-Victorian era building styles, as well as Native American building traditions. The result is a surprisingly simple and elegant architectural form that’s great for building attractive, affordable homes, and has just enough ornamental appeal to work on high-end custom homes.

To understand the look of a National home, it’s important to go back to the style’s roots. This is perhaps the building method most closely tied with Native American building styles, which date back centuries, and were loosely adopted by settlers throughout the 19th century. When Victorian architecture became popular across the nation in the early 20th century, the National style was chosen by builders who wanted to preserve the best aspects of Native building in modern homes. For this reason, National homes tend to have a narrow profile, with steep angled roofing similar to teepee and lean-to construction, and often including four or more high gables. Other Victorian-era homes, by contrast, have less gabling, and a wider, more squared profile.

National-style homes come in a wide variety of subsets. Most common are the “hall-and-parlor family” and “I-house” styles, both of which have narrow floor plans that are generally two rooms across and one room deep, with two floors. National homes with floor plans that are deeper than one room are referred to as “massed” homes – these often have a large gable on the side of the building, as well as a shed-roofed porch. Whichever type of floor plan is used, a National home typically features rectangular shaped rooms and a pyramid-shaped roof.

National homes also typically feature large front verandas reminiscent of French Creole and Dutch Revival styles. However, porches in this style are different in that they are higher from the ground than French Creole verandas, and more centered on the house than those used in the Dutch Revival style.

While National homes are quite attractive, they have been criticized in geographic regions for its vulnerability to storms and high winds. The high pitched roofs on these homes, in particular, are known for “catching wind like a sail,” and easily being torn off houses in hurricanes.

Where practical however, National homes have always made a good choice for builders looking to combine afford ability and easy of use with a stylish design.

Do You Like the Holiday Story I Wrote?

  • Posted on November 21, 2009 at 2:15 am

I’m in 9th grade and my English teacher had us write a short holiday story.

What should I title it?
Do you like the story, the writing style?

Cold water soaked her right ankle and oozed quickly down into her favorite shoes, a pair of beaten up converse. “Damnit!” she yelled, though over the loud, pouring rain, her family couldn’t hear her, as they scrambled to get into the silver SUV. They had just started their holiday shopping at the mall for the distant relatives. It was cold, wet, and miserable. Winter. Turning on the radio, her dad hoped to put everyone in a little bit better mood, but the over sung Christmas song by some unknown female pop star looking to cash in on the commercialized holiday put Noel Riga in an even worse mood.
She hated everything about the holiday season. She hated the mindless materialism, the hypocrisy of it all, the crowded malls, the terrible music, and everyone looking for a tip. But most of all, Noel despised that it was a family holiday and that her relatives felt obligated to come over. A fight would always break out, like last year, when her grandma screamed in broken English that she was leaving, and never wanted to see her unappreciative family ever again. The annual holiday party her mom hosted was yet another catastrophe, because her mom’s opinion on clean could rival that of an operating room or a five-star hotel. But Noel couldn’t just help dust and vacuum, she had to do it all while being yelled at at an excruciatingly loud decibel by her mother. It was awful.
And yet another quip of hers was her name. Noel!? There really couldn’t have been a worse name for a Scrooge like herself. She considered going by her middle name for a while, but Carol wasn’t much better.
So, as her calendar got more and more X’s on the month of December, Noel found herself dreading the holiday season more than usual. She wished with a snap she could make it January 2nd, and forget about the horrid holiday’s altogether.
It was her family’s tradition to make their wish lists on December 15th, exactly ten days before the big day. She scoffed at her brother’s list, which was frightfully long and detailed¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬: “#16. Slip on vans, blue with black trim, size 13. Check online.” She pondered what to put on her list. She had pretty much everything she needed or wanted, and the few things she needed or wanted already, and the couple small things she desired could be bought with the money given to her by an aunt or uncle who wouldn’t dare getting a more personalized gift, lest he or she get the wrong thing.
So Noel’s list contained only one item- a drama-free, happy Christmas and Hanukkah celebration. That was all. Unfortunately, she knew her twin brother was more likely to get everything on his long list, which was now being continued on the back of college-ruled notebook paper. She had little hop or faith in her family. “How are we supposed to get you that?” they asked.
Noel sighed. Looks like another crappy December.
But she had spoken too soon. Her mother had informed her that she would be forgoing the holiday party. The relatives came, and went for a walk any time the tension became uncomfortable. The Riga’s even agreed to not play holiday music, unless it was a true classic.
Noel helped her mom put all the old keepsake ornaments in the tree while eating homemade gingerbread cookies, the whole time wearing a (gasp!) Santa hat. And for the first time in her 14 year life, she was proud of her name: Noel Carol Riga.

Christmas Story Inflatable Lawn Ornament – Leg Lamp

  • Posted on November 20, 2009 at 3:16 pm

  • A Christmas Story The Movie
  • Great Gift for the Holidays!
  • Highly Collectible!
  • Family Classic
  • High Quality Product from NECA

Product Description
Built-in fan and lights inside. Display indoors or out; 5′ 9″ high…. More >>

Christmas Story Inflatable Lawn Ornament – Leg Lamp

A Christmas Story Ornament

  • Posted on November 19, 2009 at 9:14 pm

Product Description
Globe Christmas ornament with picture of Ralphie from “A Christmas Story”… More >>

A Christmas Story Ornament

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