Month: December 2006

The thing is that she says it when surprised, like a veteran user would. Of course, what surprises her may differ from what surprises others. Carol sometimes keeps her earrings under her pillow – no, I don’t know why – and Lydia discovered them, and came up with the retort.

It’s our inclination to discourage her, we get over the fact that, for some unknown reason, I find myself stifling laughter when she does it. Bad daddy!

We want her to be sure she knows the given names of her mother and me, which she does, without actually calling us by our given names. She’s only tested that idea once. Interestingly (to me), she stopped when I started calling her “daughter” instead of her name.

This is Lydia’s first Christmas where she is starting to understand this Santa Claus and presents gig. Her mother and I are trying to limit the amount of things she gets, buy she’s got grandparents and aunts and uncles. Even before the big day, she’s been receiving lots of STUFF, so we’re busy trying to regulate the volume she has at any one time, lest her toy box explode. At the same time, we appreciate the kindness and wisdom of these folks who had children before we did, so it’s a balancing act.

For instance, some guy I know wrote: “One leftover query–you can’t videotape? Huh? Splain (in your blog, if you prefer–consider it a request!)”

O.K., Lucy, maybe I miswrote. I CAN use a VCR, though I hardly ever do anymore. What I CAN’T do is take a program that I recorded on the DVR and record THAT to videotape. I need a couple of wire connections, but not sure what; I’ve been told, “It’s EASY!” They have no idea how difficult “EASY” technological things can be for me. This is not a complaint, merely an observation. The result is that I must keep the number of programs on the DVR at a certain limit, lest I run out of room. I’m saying here that running out of room is a GOOD thing, because it limits my TV consumption.

dwvr writes:
“Hey Roger-
Will they still let you be a Christian Blogger if you link to raw PANDA PORN?
Since there were no standards in the first place, other than acknowledging my Christian faith, probably yes. But you never know. If I were to write about, say, manatees, I’d probably be in trouble.

“Do you own any overalls?”
No, but I’m not constitutionally opposed to it.

“Why haven’t you stolen Lefty’s Top Ten List? You’ve stolen several of his other ideas.”
I’d write what Mr. Tosy (I think) said about stealing except I can’t find it, something along the line of “If I’m eating a hamburger, and you come along and want to eat a hamburger, it’s not as though you stole the idea of eating a hamburger, you just wanted a hamburger.” I’m sure I’ve done him (or someone) a grave injustice, but you get the idea.

Generally, though, I didn’t play much Christmas music at home or at work, mostly because my wife CONSTANTLY has the radio tuned at night to some local radio station playing nothing but the seasonal tunes – unless Dominic the Donkey comes on; then she’ll shut it off for three minutes. In fact, I’ve played Christmas music on only a couple occasions so far this season, one being when I received a couple discs in the mail recently – both very good, BTW.

Another occasion was this Sunday past. I had gone to church at the early service to light the Advent candle with Carol and Lydia, then stayed through the second service so that I could sing in the choir – I was churchified. By the time I got home, there was a bunch of my in-laws in the house. Carol said, “Why don’t you play some Christmas music?” So I grabbed the first five CDs in the Christmas section of the collection, put them into the player, and hit random play. The first song to come up was “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”. My father-in-law said, “Are you trying to send a message?” Oy.

Actually, I bought the single of “Grandma” when it first came out – who knew it’d become a perennial? – and the version is different from the one on the CD. When, in the original, Elmo asks “Should we open up her gifts, or send them back?” There’s no “Send them back!!” response. The “Rudolph” coda doesn’t exist in the original, either.

I find that’s true with a number of songs. The Harry Simone Chorale’s version of “Little Drummer Boy” has a last verse which is not so nearly as slow as the now-common recording.

There is this absolutely beautiful song called “The Bells of Christmas” by Julie Andrews, which I still have on a Firestone Christmas LP. I looked for it on iTunes, found it, bought it. I was disappointed, though, that they grafted on almost a full minute of extra instrumentation (from 1:08 to 2:02), which throws off the balance of the song. It’s longer (3:54 vs. about three minutes), but not better. Still, it will appear on the mixed CD I made for my colleagues.

I have a lot of tolerance for Christmas music – I think it’s a function of my parents having the single of the Chipmunks Christmas, which I used to do a fairly great rendition of – but some things do bug me.
* In search of the lost T: It’s Silent Night, not Silen Nigh. And Jesus Christ, not Jesus Cries. (Or maybe He does.)
* EE-yuk. I have this recording of Charlie Pride doing “O, Little Town of Bethlehem”, and he says, Beth-LEE-Hem, rather than a more modulated Beth-leh-hem. Others do it, too, but his is most egregious. Ironically, he also says “tha everlasting light”, instead of “thee everlasting light”.