Fifth night of Hanukkah / Chanukah

Well, for giggles, I thought I'd reprise my online celebration of Hanukkah this year. It conveniently coincides with my two weeks off from work (yes!) and I'm doing one of those "stay-cations" where I take the two weeks to do absolutely nothing except sit on my butt at home (yes!).

For the 8 nights of Hanukkah, I'll try to find some kind of Mathieu-related "gift" to share. So, in honor of the fifth night of Hanukkah, here is gift number 5.

This one caught my eye in the good ole Unofficial Mathieu Schneider Homepage archives (see September 8, 2005) because "christmas tree" was mentioned. Actually, that mention had nothing to do with Mathieu at all. The following came from a Helene St. James piece in the Detroit Free Press that, you guessed, isn't available online anymore. Anyway, it was about what the Red Wings players' did during the lockout. Apparently, Niklas Lidstrom had a huge Christmas in Sweden, thus the tree mention. What did Mathieu do? He organized:

...While Lidstrom lit up a Christmas tree, Schneider labeled. That, it turns out, was his self-realization. "I'm OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), without a doubt," he said, laughing. "I think it was hidden for a while, but just being around the house, looking for things to do all the time, brought it out." Schneider organized everything in his garage, and when that had been done three or four times, moved inside. That was when his wife intervened. "I was labeling stuff in the kitchen," he said. "My wife had to steal the labeler away from me."

Dang skippy, now I know what I should have asked for for Christmas. I'm totally feeling Mathieu on the labeling and organizing thing (I am, after all, a librarian), and I actually don't own a label maker. Oh the things I could do with one of those!

An aside: For those who are interested, here is a neat "what you need to know about Hanukkah" story from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Spinning Tales: A Hanukkah Primer. And don't laugh at the graphic. That was the first animated gif I ever made, back in 1997 or so (using Claris Works clip art and a semi-legal copy of Photoshop). It was hot stuff at the time. =)