The First Tie of the Day

Here's the first "tie of the day." This will also begin the Christmas series.

Late this summer, I sorted through my ties and tried to pick out some of my favorites to start the year off. There were so many in the box, that I could not fit them all on the rack or in the top drawer of my dresser. That drawer is designated as the "tie drawer." Sorting them was supposed to help this, so as I watched some rerun of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I began the process. I was soon overwhelmed. I have, at best estimate, over 300 ties. So, to make the sorting process easier I decided to pick out the ties that I like to wear on special days. This meant I could organize by seasons.

Christmas ties seemed like a good place for me to start this blog. The blog is essentially an experiment and I needed a reason to write it. Sharing my ties with the world seemed like a good excuse. I hope to tie in some stories and other miscellaneous tidbits as we go along.

I have 23 winter, snow man, or Christmas themed ties. I refuse to wear a Christmas tie before Thanksgiving, so that means that I only have 15 school days to wear these ties. Tonight my wife and I attended the school Christmas dinner and silent auction sponsored by the local NEA chapter. We had a good time visiting with some of our friends and colleagues. During one particular conversation with a fine elementary teacher and his wife, the subject of ties came up. He declared that he had one Christmas tie. I will be giving him four of mine. I am glad to share them, as I am not in the classroom each day and think that they would be appreciated more with him. I would like to continue doing this, both getting and giving away.

I am not sure where this particular tie came from, but I really like the color on it. Specifically, I appreciate the red border and the different color of snow flakes. I still wasn't too keen on choosing a tie that jumped right into the Christmas season, but this seemed subtle enough. A snowman reflects the winter and cold (it currently is 28 degrees out), but hint at the coming holidays. I think I will try to stay with that plan for most of the week.