I did some Christmas shopping today. I went to Costco for a few groceries and wound up browsing the aisles of toys and wrappings and tree decorations. Once my eyes saw the twinkling lights on the artificial trees, I was a dead Christmas goose.
I didn’t buy any Christmas stuff, but I left the store feeling all nostalgic and googly. Some years it seems like I’m just not able to immerse myself as totally in Christmas as I want. A few years ago, much to the amusement of my friends, I started combating that lack of immersion by listening to Christmas music beginning November 1. Now I do that every year. There’s one radio station in the Seattle area that helps a lot by playing Christmas music 24/7 continuously for at least a month.
What’s your favorite Christmas music? Right up at the top of my list has to be Silent Night. I love Hark the Herald Angels Sing too and most of the old classics. But I can never seem to get enough of Handel’s Halleluiah Chorus – in fact pretty much all of The Messiah, especially The Young Messiah. I have performed The Messiah and The Young Messiah with choral groups and both are just a thrill to sing, especially in an old gothic-style church with its high ceilings and soaring arches, flickering candles, pipe organs and wonderful acoustics.
I’m also pretty fond of goofy Christmas songs like Santa Baby; I Saw Mommy Kissin’ Santa Claus; Santa Got Run Over By a Reindeer; Run Rudolph Run; The Reindeer Boogie; The Twelve Days of Christmas; Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; We Three Kings and so on.
Other sappy contemporary songs I like include: I’ll Be Home for Christmas; Blue Christmas; Holly Jolly Christmas; Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree; and Christmas in Dixie. Although I’m not a country music fan, Alabama’s rendition of Christmas in Dixie just tingles my tinsel s every time I hear it.
Many of my favorite Christmases when I was growing up, were spent in Oregon with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. When all those crazy Italians got together and the wine started flowing, the stories got taller, wider and funnier, and everybody trying to talk over everybody else drove the decibel level far past any OSHA-allowed levels. And oh, the goodies: wow! We’re talking umpteen types of pies, dozens of different cookies, several varieties of fudge – it was a veritable cornucopia of pre-diabetes comfort food.
A really outstanding Christmas was the first one Kathleen and I had together. We spent the holiday with her family in Bozeman – again, lots of people, lots of food. It was wonderful. And of course we were crazy in love. Christmas is totally cool when you’re in love.
Other Christmases that stand out include the one when I got my B.B. gun, even though my stepfather had just about convinced me there was only a dead alligator in that long white box under our tree. Later, after we had moved to Ukiah, CA. I came down with rheumatic fever and was bedridden and my dad was out of work, but some local charities brought food and presents to our house staving off a gloomy Christmas and turning it into a miraculous celebration.
What’s your favorite Christmas story or song? Let Sam and I be the first to wish you and yours many, many wonderful Christmas memories. Fleas on your dog!
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