Tag: Christmas

O Come Let Us Adore Him

December 25, 2010 / Robert

Mass was at 5:00 PM. Although we are officially parishioners of St. Vincent de Paul in Stirling, we chose to attend the Vigil Mass at St. Joseph’s this year. We arrived shortly before 4:30 and found a pew near the front of the church, but it was filling up quickly. By 4:45 it was nearly standing room only. The church decoration was breathtakingly beautiful: the cornerstone for St. Joseph’s church building was laid in 1882, and the interior has recently undergone renovations to the sanctuary, new marble flooring, and was completely re-painted this past year. As former parishioners of St. Joseph’s we’ve attended Christmas Mass there many times, but this year the decorating was especially well done.

As I sat in our pew, waiting for Mass to begin, I tried to focus on my presence with Our Lord as we prepared to celebrate the birth of His Son here on Earth. I wondered: where the Advent season had gone; what had I done to prepare for this celebration; how does one prepare anyway? I felt unsure that I had done anything at all. Sure, I was looking forward to the time off from work, and I managed to decorate the house and shop for and purchase gifts for my family, but had I really been mindful of the true meaning of Christmas? I struggled for answers. For help, I read the first and second readings for the Vigil Mass, as well as the Gospel, and I thought perhaps I was getting clarity…

I do love Christmas Mass, as it is truly the only time of the year that I can sing all the verses of the hymns without needing to refer to the hymnal. The Mass began with O Come All Ye Faithful, and I tried harder still to focus on the celebration of The Word made flesh; I generally take Mass seriously, and try to listen intently to the message of the homily. The homilist, Very Rev. Richard Lyons, J.C.L., began by stating that as the Advent season drew to a close, perhaps many of us were wondering “where Advent had gone, and what had we been preparing for?” This guy was good. He urged us to remember that Christmas is the celebration of a specific event: the birth of Jesus. He wondered if anyone really offered a Merry Christmas anymore. While many of us are inundated with well meant wishes of Happy Holidays and Season Greetings, those sentiments generalize and diminish the celebration of Christ’s virgin birth. He further cited examples of the morphing of the secular and religious celebrations by telling of a neighbor’s front lawn decorated with an inflatable nativity, inflatable Mary, and Joseph, accompanied by inflatable Winnie the Pooh, Rudolph, and Frosty the Snowman to serve as the Magi. I thought of my own decorations, and took comfort in simply an illuminated angel and a couple of small deer. Although I understood I had fallen short in my own preparation for the celebration of Christmas, I also realized that it was not too late.

Christmas Crafts

December 24, 2010 / Robert

Many years ago, I was a bundle of creativity at Christmas. Hand-stamped Christmas wrapping paper, tied up with twine; hand-made cards; hand-crafted gifts. Since becoming a parent, with much less time to devote to such Christmas creations, they have taken a lower priority. Until this year. I had to dig out the hot glue gun to help Katie with something or the other when I came across the beginnings of a project I had started long ago: miniature Christmas trees made of wooden dowels, spools, faux greenery, ribbon, buttons, stars, etc. My early prototypes were still unfinished, but it inspired Edith and I to work with the kids to create these trees as small gifts for teachers, family and friends. We all went to work cutting, painting, gluing, and decorating; the finished products were incredibly beautiful in their simplicity. It was nice to have created these little trees, now with our kids helping out, and hopefully as the kids grow we will be more inspired to again work on these simple yet fun projects.

Katie asked me last week if we had any clay – she wanted to make a Christmas present for her family. Specifically, she wanted to make a snowman, for William. I picked up some air drying clay at the store, and helped her design her snowman. I showed her how to make the head, and the torso, and the little eyes, mouth and buttons, while I made the base and the carrot nose. We put it together and waited for it to dry, so we could paint it today before giving it to William. It is still not completely dry, and will need a couple more days, but will be a wonderful hand-made gift from Katie to her big brother!

A Tale Of Two Trees

December 8, 2010 / Robert

A by-product of attending the APHC show on Saturday night was to have been in New York City, and the opportunity to visit the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. You’ve heard the story before, about how I had proposed marriage to Edith while ice skating under the Rock Center tree in 1997, so the tree is always special. Each year we make sure we watch the tree lighting broadcast on television, and we try to visit the tree in person as well.

After the show, we took a walk up 5th Avenue to Rock Center, paused for a family photo, hung out at the rink for a bit, and wandered over to stand under the big tree itself. The crowd was pretty big, but not insurmountable; the weather was cold, but not as cold as 1997. From the tree we crossed 5th Avenue for a stop at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, then with starving and tired children in hand we walked back down 5th to 43rd to grab a bite to eat. Finally trekked back to Penn Station where we just missed the 11:11 train and had to wait for the 12:34 back to Summit. Arrived home at 2:00 AM.

On Sunday, we woke at 6:30 to be at Breakfast with Santa by 8:15 AM; Will and the 4th graders were serving as Santa’s elves, for two breakfast seatings. We got back home at Noon, and were back out again at 2:30 for the annual drive out to Rosemont Tree Farm to cut down the perfect tree. Again it was cold and windy, and we hunted for over an hour, but finally found a tree that was just right. Tied it onto the roof of the car and drove home, trimmed off some of the lower branches, cut a half an inch off the bottom, and brought it into the house. The tree looks good from any angle, so getting it set into the stand was a snap. Lighting was deferred until Monday night, and Edith and the kids took care of the decorations tonight.

The Twelve Songs of Christmas – 2010

November 28, 2010 / Robert

A follow up to last year’s list of songs that would appear on my list of twelve Christmas songs, i.e. the dozen top Christmas songs that, for one reason or another, are my favorites. Again, this year, a few popped into my head immediately, and generally the list came together pretty quickly this year. Here they are, in no particular order:

Coventry Carol/Lo, How A Rose ‘Ere Bloometh, Edgar Meyer, from Sounds Of The Season. An absolutely haunting rendition of a haunting carol, c. the 16th century. I first heard this late one night when listening to WHYY 90.9.
Christmas Bells, John Gorka, from A Winter’s Solstice, Volume 3. OK, I admit I’m a fan of the early Windham Hill records, and the holiday collections A Winter’s Solstice. Volumes 1 and 2 are so inviting, for me the Christmas season is incomplete without listening to them half a dozen times or more. Volume 3 starts to expand the sound of the collections, and includes vocals for the first time. I’d bought this CD long before I really knew about John Gorka and grew to love his music and voice, but I’ve always loved this song.
Prelude/Carol Of The Bells, George Winston, from December. Again, this early Windham Hill classic never fails to transport me to some very happy memories of the Christmas season.
Preiset Dem König! (Praise the King)/Emmanuel/Little Town/Christmas Hymn, Amy Grant, from A Christmas Album. OK, so not really one song, but these 4 string together so nicely on Amy Grant’s first Christmas album. I was not much a fan of Amy Grant when Edith introduced me to this album one day at work. I have to admit; I loved it immediately, and usually play it each year when the tree is being decorated. This album reminds me of how Edith is such a little kid at Christmas, and how she gets so excited, that I can’t help but loving her more when it is playing!
Il Est Né/Ca Berger, Kate & Anna McGarrigle and The Chieftains, from The Bells of Dublin. A nice mix of a French carol sung to Irish instrumentation.
On Grafton Street, Nanci Griffith, from The Flyer. Not really a Christmas song, per se, but Christmas themed. A sweet remembrance of Grafton Street in Dublin, Ireland:

It’s funny how my world goes ’round without you,
Oh, you’re the one thing I never thought I could live without
I just found this smile to think about you,
You’re a Saturday night, far from the madding crowd.
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Darlene Love, from A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector. What is Christmas without the wall of sound?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Cadillacs, from For Collectors Only. I just love the doo-wop vocal stylings of this recording, and I can’t help singing it this way myself.
Christmas Night in Harlem, Louis Armstrong, from What A Wonderful Christmas. A toss up here, as I could have gone with Christmastime in New Orleans, but I like the big band horns of this just a hair better.
Christmas Is Coming, Vince Guaraldi, from A Charlie Brown Christmas. Tough choice here, as I could have gone with Skating as well. Fond memories of watching A Charlie Brown Christmas in the late 60’s on my family’s living room floor in North Philadelphia.
Green Christmas, Stan Freberg, from Green Christmas. Not really a song, but a satirical look at the commercialism and merchandising of Christmas, recorded over 50 years ago in 1958. Even more relevant today, it is a gentle reminder of “who’s birthday we’re celebrating.”
Medley: Happy Xmas (War Is over)/Give Peace a Chance (Reprise), John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band, from Shaved Fish. Sure, it’s been over-recorded and over-played for decades now, but this is just a beautiful Christmas song. I must have heard this song a million times on the night of December 8, 1980 alone, and cried every time. December 1980 now seems like so long ago…

There are many more songs that could appear on this list, and by no means do I attest that these are the best Christmas songs of all time, but if I had to listen to only these 12 Christmas songs, I’d be more than happy for a very long time.

Taking Down the Tree

January 3, 2010 / Robert

Took down the Christmas tree this afternoon. We’d had our tree up since we cut it down (again this year at Rosemont) back on November 28th and it was still in terrific shape; it was taking water regularly, and had dropped hardly any needles at all. It felt a shame to have to undecorate it already, but with today being the final day of a long Winter break before back to work tomorrow, time will soon be consumed with other things so today was the day. Taking down the tree is always a sad event for Edith, and this year, I think more than most, she really would have liked the tree to stay up just a little bit longer.

I don’t know if there is an official name to today – the day one takes down their Christmas tree – but it is always time consuming. First, I have Edith and the kids leave the house so I can work without interruption. Second, I’m a bit obsessive compulsive by nature, and I have a need to carefully hand-wrap in tissue each and every glass ornament I remove from the tree before I place them into the styrofoam peanut ad bubble wrap lined plastic bin labeled “Glass Ornaments” that serves as the ornaments home in our attic for 11 months of the year. The less-fragile ornaments (yes, the plastic bin actually is labeled “Less Fragile Ornaments”) takes considerably less time, but the 17 piece ceramic Nativity set, hand made many years ago by Edith’s Aunt, also gets the tissue-bubble wrap treatment.

My job each year is to of course cut our tree (and to teach Will how to eventually take over the task,) tie it onto the roof of the car, bring it into the house and get it setup in the stand, and then proceed to string it with lights. For years, Edith and I disagreed on our tree lights: I like the simplicity of white lights, whereas she likes multi-colored lights, until one year, I came up with the idea to take a strand of white lights and a strand of colored lights and to string the tree with them intertwined. The effect is quite beautiful, and a keeps us both happy. Once the lights are strung and the star is placed on the top, however, I leave the ornaments to Edith and the children, only to return once the tree-decorating is complete. Our trees are among the most beautiful, each and every year.

We’ve accumulated a mix of ornaments over the years, and we’ve even got a “Retired Ornaments” bin for those ornaments that no longer find their way to the tree. I’ve got a couple of ceramic ornaments from my very first Christmas at Mellon back in ’85, hand made by Asst. Manager Sue Biddle in her home kiln; ornaments given to me by my UCTC/CoreStates tellers: Johanna Szillery, 20 delicate snowflake ornaments, hand-crocheted by her Hungarian college-professor mother; a little Fimo clay star from Lisa Erikson; a stained glass rose window ornament from Larissa Marone.

Edith and I both have inherited ornaments from our families – ornaments that hung on our childhood trees, or the trees of our grandparents; ornaments from our youth, ornaments we collected while we were dating (two favorites, a pickle and a red heart, we purchased at one of our trips to Winterthur’s Christmas House tour) and after we were married and started a family. This un-decorating time for me is my opportunity to take pause with each ornament and remember my brother who gave us those clip-on kitten and pinecone ornaments, or Edith’s friend who gifted us on our wedding with an enormous collection of glass ornaments to start out on our first tree, or William’s cinnamon and apple sauce ornaments he made in Precious Pandas now 7 years ago, or my sister and neice who gave us the TandyTake ornament, or the cowboy jalepeno ornament I bought on our vacation in the Outer Banks, or the 1996 WS Champion Yankees ornament I bought for Edith way back when (the one she says that when she received it, she knew that I really loved her) and of all of the many other special ornaments that remind me of the people and places and events that get lost in the routine of daily life. I think I agree with Edith – this year, I would have liked to hold onto the special memories held in the branches of our Christmas tree just a little bit longer.

The Twelve Songs of Christmas

December 30, 2009 / Robert

I was thinking earlier today of what songs would be on my list of twelve Christmas songs, i.e. a dozen of the top Christmas songs that, for one reason or another, are my favorites. A few popped into my head immediately, others came to me a little later, but here they are, in no particular order:

Light Of The Stable, Emmylou Harris, from Light Of The Stable. I first heard this beautiful song in the early 80’s, when I was taping some songs off the radio (WIOQ in Philadelphia) one evening. Simply a beautiful song.
Christmas Morning, Lyle Lovett, from The Road to Ensenada. The penultimate song on one of my favorite of Lyle’s albums. Written during the breakup of his marriage with Julia Roberts, with the lyrics

We stood at the altar and you held my hand
And everyone watched as the preacher he asked
Will you take him and love him for bad and for good
You looked at me then you told him you would
But hey what did you mean by that
Perhaps I’m the fool you take me for
Not anything more
Now each Christmas morning I sit in my chair
And I look up at the angels that float through the air
Some look down upon me, some come to my side
And they tell me that Jesus he said to say hi
Santa Claus, Go Straight to the Ghetto, James Brown, from The Singles, Volume 5: 1967-1969. I first heard this on a Christmas mix tape given to me by my brother 20 years ago. A tight number by Soul Brother #1.
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, Roy Wood and Wizzard, from Singles. Also thanks to my brother, probably closer to 36 years ago, this gem speaks volumes of the talented Roy Wood. This song more than holds up today.
Christmas Wrapping, The Waitresses, from Christmas Wrapping EP. I’ve loved this song from the first time I heard it c. 1982. A fun Christmas story and a fun tune.
Medley: Alfie, The Christmas Tree/Carol For A Christmas Tree/It’s In Everyone Of Us, John Denver and The Muppets, from A Christmas Together. This is from a television special that John Denver did with the Muppets back in the late 70’s. I remember watching it with my neice and sisters, and later bought the soundtrack on vinyl. We used to listen to it every year at Christmas, and it was always special – I’d love to see it released on DVD. Many years later, It’s In Everyone Of Us was used in the Tom Hanks movie, Big.
Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming, Traditional. Another simply beautiful song, with extra special meaning for me. My then very pregnant wife and I attended evening Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception back on December 8, 2000 at St, Joseph’s. At that time, the music program at St. Joe’s was outstanding, and after communion two women sang this song a capella, the beauty of which brought us both to tears. It would be a few short hours later that we would receive the shock of our lives when my wife’s water broke – 7 weeks early – and later the next morning we we Blessed with the birth of our son.
Bring A Torch Jeanette, Isabella/When Blossoms Flowered ‘Mid The Snows, Liz Story, from The Gift. One of my wife’s favorites, she plays this on her flute. I like the treatment that Liz Story gives on this, the opening track of the very first Christmas album I play every year.
River, Joni Mitchell, from Blue. Again, first heard this while taping off Q102. Loved the song for years, and finally bought the CD sometime last year.
Scrooge, Lord Buckley, from Jet Ride. Not really a song, but a hip recitation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Again, thanks to my brother, I can recite sections of this word-for-word because it too is played every year to kick-off the Christmas season.
“God bless Mr. Scrooge. He done did the turn about. He’s the Lord’s boy today.”
Op. 71 – Divertissement: Coffee (Arab Dance), Tchaikovsky, from The Nutcracker. Actually, I would select the entire Nutcracker, but of course it is so much more than just one song. I used to take in the Pennsylvania Ballet’s Nucracker at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music every year – the employee association at Mellon used to offer great orchestra seats – and I was enticed every year by the solo performance of this Arab Dance, as I sat just a few rows off center stage. I would swear that the dancer was making eye contact, and dancing for me alone. I still find this particular piece, shall we say, arousing…
The Hallelujah Chorus, The Roches, from Keep On Doing. Thanks again to WIOQ. Sure, there are many versions of the Hallelujah Chorus, most of them with full choir, but this a capella version by The Roches never ceases to amaze me in its simplicity.

I welcome your comments and your own lists!

Hi! Alleluia!

December 22, 2009 / Robert

Merry Christmas, from Our House to Yours, and Best Wishes for a very Happy New Year in 2010.

I received an email today, which is nothing unusual, I regularly receive plenty of email every day, and this time of the year I’m receiving many thought-provoking types of email, with well wishes for Christmas and the New Year, and thoughts of thankfulness for all with which we have been blessed. Often, I read through these types of emails rather quickly, if at all, as sentimental hogwash, and would never think of sending, let alone forwarding, such an email. The email I received today, however, caught my attention, and I felt it was worth sharing. It is reprinted below.

Today…I wish you a day of ordinary miracles…
A fresh pot of coffee you didn’t have to make yourself,
An unexpected phone call from an old friend,
Green stoplights on your way to work or shop.

I wish you a day of little things to rejoice in…
The fastest line at the grocery store,
A good sing along song on the radio,
Your keys right where you look.

I wish you a day of happiness and perfection… little bite-size pieces of perfection that give you the funny feeling that the Lord is smiling on you, holding you so gently because you are someone special and rare.

I wish you a day of peace, happiness and joy.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Send this phrase to the people you’ll never forget. It’s a short message to let them know that you’ll never forget them.

Take the time!

Wishing you the very best for 2010

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL