{"id":1413,"date":"2006-12-25T15:30:23","date_gmt":"2006-12-25T19:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=1413"},"modified":"2013-01-21T13:05:06","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T18:05:06","slug":"ye-old-merry-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Ye Old Merry Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Spacing editor Anna Bowness has said, a few times, that Sesame Street taught us everything we needed to know about urbanism when we were 3. It’s true, that street was the perfect idealized Jane Jacobs big city neighbourhood (especially warm and cozy for the 1978 Christmas Special<\/a>). I realized yesterday, back here in the ancestral split-level house in suburban (nearly exurban) Windsor, that these Christmas displays my mom has been putting out for the last 20 years or so, that I secretly love, are little urban dioramas. They were one of the few instances of urbanity we had out here in the transitless boonies — maybe in some way planting some kind of urban seed long ago like Mr. Hooper’s store and Oscar the Grouch did.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The little city here is now so big it has spread to various corners around the living room. The scenes vary between Edwardian and Victorian England. Here we’re caught up in the bustle outside of Victoria Station. A well dressed gentleman carries some kind of bear under his arm, a lady stumbles around with a candle and look, it’s the Vicar and his young friend, hanging out.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The company that makes this stuff has a few different lines. Most here are from the “Christmas in the City” collection — but one year in the early 90s I mistakenly bought Fagin’s house for my mom as a gift, which is actually from the “Dickens Collection” so the timeline and universes of this world has to be taken with some suspension of disbelieve (it caused minor concern that first year, but I think we’ve gotten used to it now). Here the Vicar and his young friend are watching the butcher sell birds from his cart. The Vicar likes to show his young friends the town.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

These blurry people are stumbling from the pub. Also at some point in the 90s Christmas went from dry to wet for us, which coincidentally had a correlation with how easy it became to spend 4-5-6 hours watching American Football games in relatives’ basements, so we cast no aspersions on these people and understand their need for a pint.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The chattering but loyal ladies of the British Empire are beginning to whisper about the Vicar and his young friend always showing up together, but at Christmas there’s too much to do in the city, and they’ll wait to let loose their allegations during the January doldrums.<\/p>\n

For now, Merry Urban Christmas. I’ve yet to see Toronto on Christmas day or eve as we always return to Windsor. Until told otherwise, I’ll imagine it’s an updated version of these scenes. Is the subway festive on Christmas? Does the city seem empty or full of life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spacing editor Anna Bowness has said, a few times, that Sesame Street taught us everything we needed to know about urbanism when we were 3. It’s true, that street was the perfect idealized Jane Jacobs big city neighbourhood (especially warm and cozy for the 1978 Christmas Special). I realized yesterday, back here in the ancestralContinue reading “Ye Old Merry Christmas”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21758,3],"tags":[2161,28,4233,1158,4231,4230,4235,504,4234,4232,311,19,464,1319,853],"class_list":["post-1413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-events","tag-anna-bowness","tag-behaviour","tag-butcher","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-day","tag-fagin","tag-hooper","tag-jane-jacobs","tag-merry-urban","tag-oscar","tag-spacing-editor","tag-toronto","tag-united-kingdom","tag-victoria-station","tag-windsor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYe Old Merry Christmas - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ye Old Merry Christmas - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Spacing editor Anna Bowness has said, a few times, that Sesame Street taught us everything we needed to know about urbanism when we were 3. It’s true, that street was the perfect idealized Jane Jacobs big city neighbourhood (especially warm and cozy for the 1978 Christmas Special). I realized yesterday, back here in the ancestralContinue reading "Ye Old Merry Christmas"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-12-25T19:30:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T18:05:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/christ1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shawn Micallef\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shawn Micallef\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/\",\"name\":\"Ye Old Merry Christmas - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/christ1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-12-25T19:30:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T18:05:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8d98edb04b3feea4f2216e6da54ba5d5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/christ1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/christ1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ye Old Merry Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8d98edb04b3feea4f2216e6da54ba5d5\",\"name\":\"Shawn Micallef\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/964f908ab2d251eb62a28900a2f8bd76?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/964f908ab2d251eb62a28900a2f8bd76?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shawn Micallef\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/shawnmicallef\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/shawn-micallef\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ye Old Merry Christmas - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ye Old Merry Christmas - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Spacing editor Anna Bowness has said, a few times, that Sesame Street taught us everything we needed to know about urbanism when we were 3. It’s true, that street was the perfect idealized Jane Jacobs big city neighbourhood (especially warm and cozy for the 1978 Christmas Special). I realized yesterday, back here in the ancestralContinue reading \"Ye Old Merry Christmas\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2006-12-25T19:30:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T18:05:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/christ1.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Shawn Micallef","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shawn Micallef","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/","name":"Ye Old Merry Christmas - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/christ1.jpg","datePublished":"2006-12-25T19:30:23+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T18:05:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8d98edb04b3feea4f2216e6da54ba5d5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/christ1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/christ1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/12\/25\/ye-old-merry-christmas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ye Old Merry Christmas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8d98edb04b3feea4f2216e6da54ba5d5","name":"Shawn Micallef","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/964f908ab2d251eb62a28900a2f8bd76?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/964f908ab2d251eb62a28900a2f8bd76?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Shawn Micallef"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/twitter.com\/shawnmicallef"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/shawn-micallef\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36560,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions\/36560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}