I have over a quarter of a century of Christmases under my belt, and with the tree trimmed and the stockings flung, I thought it would be cool to reminisce about the jolly days of yore. So each day until Christmas I will post a memory – recent, distant, or somewhere in between. And since I missed the first two days of December, you get three for the price of one today! How lucky are you?
We’ll start with a recent memory. Last year was my first Christmas season in DC. All the roommates of the 1/2 house got together to decorate. Laura's family had a spare, fake tree lying around, so it was brought home for us to work our Christmas magic. The tree was quite easy to put together - just three sections with the branches already attached. We just had to fluff and primp (or probe, as Tara called it) the branches and plug in the already strung lights. The tree was beautiful, but it was missing the all important stand. We tried to be resourceful but our resources as far as makeshift tree stands were non-existent. So we just leaned the tree up against the wall. Yeah, tacky, I know, but it totally worked. This year we have the same tree with the same problem. But instead of leaning it against the wall, we took the fireplace tool stand and tied the tree up to that. It's secure and errect despite a 30-40 degree lean to the right. Color lights have been added and currently there are nine ornaments on the 7-foot tall tree. For some reason it seems fitting that the tree leans...it adds character.
My grandparents had an 8 track player when they lived in the Willow Valley mobile. One of the 8 tracks was of Christmas songs. It was a white deck with colorful pictures of a stocking, candy cane, and several other Christmasy images. There is only one song from the 8 track that I remember - a rendition of "Silver Bells." I'm not sure if this is true or if I just made it up, but I think "Silver Bells" was my Grandan's favorite Christmas song. He whistled it often. I'll have to see if we kept the 8 tracks and player when my grandparents moved. It'd be cool to listen to it again.
Memory #2 was triggered this morning as I was listening to my Zune player. I put my Christmas music on random and Neil Diamond's version of "Silver Bells" came on. Neil Diamond leads me to my next memory. My mom is a huge Neil Diamond fan. I'm pretty sure she was able to drag my dad to one of his concerts years ago, so we definitely had his albums in our house. His best album? The Christmas Album, of course! Growing up, my brother and I shared a room. Some nights we would jump out of our beds and put on The Christmas Album, skip to track #4 and rock out with Neil Diamond to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." It was not uncommon for us to bust out the air guitar and air drums.
So there's Christmas memories one, two and three for December 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Tune in each day, every day until Christmas for a new memory. Just 22 more to go! Feel free to share a memory of your own. And to get you in the mood, here's Neil Diamond singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."
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3 comments:
Motorized Christmas tree stand, snow, and presents.
Chelsea,
I think that this is an excellent idea, your providing Christmas memories all the way until the observance of the holiday. Speaking of your memories, particularly concerning your tree, I would suggest that you hang heavier ornaments on the side that that could displace the weight of the other side of the tree so that your tree could stand erect. I thought that was a rather humorous tale of your decorating skills, especially when you leaned it against the wall, and I should have liked to see a picture of that to see if it matches the image in my mind as I think of it.
If I may proceed, I must say that I am elated to see an new post, and I thank you for providing such a comprehensive reply to my last comment on your post about Wagner. You did ask if I had seen or heard the Ring cycle in its entirety, and I regret to say that I have not; however, I did hear three of the installments to the Met's late production of it over the radio, but I have heard that it has been much better produced in the recent history of the company. Judging from the cast, I would say that the premiere of the Otto Schenk production, which is on DVD and CD available from Deutsche Grammaphon, is a most desirable recording to obtain. In any case, should you wish to revisit the Met's latest production of Wagner's magnum opus, you can download three of the installments from http://www.opera-collection.net/uploadsmet20082009.htm , and if you like Theorin as much as I believe you do, I would urge you to do so. Placido Domingo also gave memorable performances of Seigfried at the Met, and I would offer this run to your experience as well.
Finally, I hope that you get a new computer soon so that we may receive more of your eloquent posts. I greatly enjoy reading them, and I am elated to be able to call you an acquaintance of mine. Perhaps one of these days we shall meet at a performance at the Met or at WNO, and I shall find that I like you even better in person.
-Tyler.
Tyler,
We have the tree bound to the fire tool post so heavy ornaments aren't going to alter the tilt, but that's a good suggestion. Here's a very poor quality image of the tree (w/ one of my roommates) http://twitpic.com/rxds9 I think the photo doesn't do justice to how much it actually leans.
Thanks for the link to the Met/Theorin ring installments. Looking forward to listening in some spare time. The order for my new computer is in and I should have it in my possession on Dec 21st!
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