A Blog Vacation and Special Music

OK, I know, shame on me; three weeks since my last blog post. No excuses, just this 'n' that going on, including my "milestone" 65th birthday, which came and went with a whimper. After these many, you're just glad to have made another. Accept my apologies for being missing in action for a time.

What inspired me today, though, is that I opened the iTunes program and began to listen to Christmas tunes for the first time this year. The first one to play, Jo Dee Messina's A Joyful Noise, immediately grabbed me by the throat...

Somethin' 'bout December
Gets me thinking of the past
How the child that I was
Grew up so fast
But I still remember getting caught in the thrill
In the magic of the season, and I know I always will

Make a joyful noise
Send it out across the sky tonight
Send it racin' through the cool starlight
Let it fall on Heaven's ears

Indeed.

Then, Celine Dion came along next blasting O Holy Night, as only she can blast it. Ah, the music of Christmas...joyous, beautiful, and full of memories. Even the more modern Chip Davis and his Mannheim Steamroller group takes those old time classics and makes them into extraordinary, synthesized, New Age wonders that help you to "see" the horse and sleigh prancing through the new snowfall, or the Christmas star shining over that stable in Bethlehem.

Our eclectic collection of Christmas tunes ranges from the piano of Jim Brickman, to Reba, Michael Bolton, Kenny G, Vince Gill and others. Each of them bringing their own flavor to add to the magic of this special season.

Merry Christmas, friends.

Of Mom and Memories

Oh, Christmas time, Christmas time.

My mother loved Christmas. She had many ways of making it so very special and memorable. Tonight, while eating dinner, we had Christmas favorites playing in the background and it just hit me. Choke time. From Oh Come All Ye Faithful to Silent Night, the songs took me back to those wonder- and joy-filled Christmases past that Mom made so very special.

She left us 28 years ago, but the music can bring her right back next to my side in an instant. She's smiling right now; Mom loved Christmas and everything about it.

Thank God for mothers, and thank God for His gift on that first Christmas.

Mom holding me in 1948. She's still making me smile.

Christmas and the New Year

Christmas has always been a very special holiday…Mom saw to that. She loved blue lights on the tree, special baked treats and making sure excited children had special gifts to open on Christmas morning. We always traveled to visit Aunt Mary or Aunt Nell, making it a special family day. Even Cousin Ed got into the spirit of things, coming by the house Christmas Eve dressed in his very authentic Santa suit, passing out new toothbrushes to we young ones after we lied about having been good during the past year.

Christmas star on our deck at the old house in Wyoming.

One of those special gifts for me was my twin six-shooters and gun belt, received when I was seven or eight. Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy and Gene Autry had a new cowboy to ride along with them. The smell of fired “caps” still takes me back to that Christmas. Of course, my Mickey Mouse hat was much appreciated, too, especially since they were the fancy hard plastic type ears, rather than cloth. Well, that was true until Billy Sheridan sat on them, breaking them into dozens of small pieces.

More than the gifts or decorations is the spirit of Christmas and the beautiful music that goes along with it. The birthday of the Christ Child, God’s incomprehensible love-filled gift to an imperfect mankind. We Lutherans love to sing and the strains of “Come All Ye Faithful” or “Silent Night” still can bring tears to this ol’ sap’s eyes. I must have been 13 or so when our church choir needed help with their Christmas program. Mom pushed, shoved and begged me to join…and I finally did. That experience, however, helped to instill a lifelong love of music in my ears and my heart. Mom was a very intelligent lady.

Wyoming house decorations---Christmas 2001

The last 15 years or so, I’ve come to really appreciate the Christmas music of Mannheim Steamroller. Founder and Leader Chip Davis has a beautiful way of producing the old favorites in a way never done previously. Even their rendition of Jingle Bells can touch my heart and take me back 50 years in an instant.

Mannheim Steamroller's first Christmas CD

As the famous song states, old acquaintances should never be forgotten and should be brought to mind often. That’s New Year’s to me. Remembering where we’ve been and looking forward to where the next year will lead us. Thinking of those family members and friends, near and far, that make up a part of who we are; New Year’s gives us reason to think about that and appreciate each of those folks and their contribution to our lives.