Lydster: making my life brighter

office chair

lampsMy daughter has been making my life brighter for two decades, but right after Christmas, it wasn’t merely a metaphor. My wife and I had gone out to see a Saturday matinee. When we got back, she had put together three lamps for the living room that Santa had brought for me.

The front of the living room was too dark, so I couldn’t read the spines of my CDs. The last time my friends visited for a hearts game, the room was too dark for them, so this was a really important addition.

That she did it all by herself was quite remarkable. She had wanted to do this earlier, but her parents were always around, so she had to wait until we went to the movies.

Better seating

She also brought an office chair upstairs and put it together. I had one that broke down. Then, I used a stationary chair, which was more comfortable but less easy to get in and out of—the office chair swivels. Additionally, the new chair makes it much easier to clean the room. The hardest task was taking the old chair to the attic; I was not strong enough to do it myself.

During the cleaning – I picked up, and she removed stuff – we also had a wonderful conversation about life. We talked about the friends she had when she was younger. She still has some of them, and others have faded away, but she keeps track of many.  We talked about our friend Bonnie, who she believes is the first significant person in her life to die. She doesn’t really remember my mother; the last time she saw her was when the daughter was five. Also, we discussed other relationships each of us have had.

We talked about the time we deconstructed the rotting shed in the backyard, one of the great joys I had working with her. It was a wonderful evening.

Lydster: Wall of boxes

miracle

When our daughter came home from college on December 20, we had a wall of boxes. The wall between the hallway and the living room was a bunch of presents we had received via UPS and the Postal Service. 

The Amazon box contained a small Christmas tree we received from relatives. As you might be able to tell, the huge box contained an office chair, which, as it turned out, was for me. 

The three similar boxes were packages with a bit of a story. UPS had been delivering certain deliveries to a CVS closing on Thursday, December 12th. I received a notice from UPS that the boxes had been delivered to that address on Wednesday, December 11th. So I went there, but the boxes weren’t there—hmm. 

As it turned out, the boxes were delivered to the CVS in Stuyvesant Plaza. The next day, I took my cart and went to that CVS to get the three boxes much bigger than I had anticipated. They weighed about 20 kilograms apiece, but they were also bulky. Getting them home on a bus with a cart was a challenge, as only one box fit into the cart. The other two hung on the top, and it was an interesting balancing act. After I got them home, I was pretty much spent for the day.

In addition

The tall, thin box was a bed frame for our daughter’s room.

Lydia's stuff

Then, our daughter’s stuff was hanging out behind the wall of boxes. It included the things she brought home this month and some items from when she came home for Thanksgiving, so half of the living room was swallowed up.

Fortunately, she did yoeperson’s work and cleaned all this up by the evening of December 23, plus set up and decorate the tree with a friend. The big box in this picture is the same chair, and the little tree was the one in the Amazon box, also put together by our daughter. 

The picture below was taken the morning of Christmas Eve. It’s not entirely tidy, but it’s considerably less chaotic than it had been only a few days before. It’s our little holiday miracle. 

Christmas tree 2024

On the calendar: Ask Roger Anything

naming the weeks

Christmas and Kwanzaa are always right next to each other on the calendar. But this year,  Chanukah (Hanukkah) “starts at nightfall on December 25, 2024, and ends with nightfall on January 2, 2025, beginning on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev, and lasting for eight days.” I happen to love holidays that have movable dates. Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Easter, and even the Monday holidays have different dates.

I spent more time than it was worth trying to answer a question somebody posted on Facebook. We have names for the months of the year and for the days of the week. Why don’t we have names for the weeks? It’s primarily because of the quirky nature of the calendar.

Even if we did name them, what would they be called? November 2nd to 8th could be election week, and November 22nd to 28th could be Thanksgiving week. But that doesn’t work for two good reasons. There are only 13 days between them, and they’re way too specifically American. Starting on the equinoxes or solstices is problematic because they aren’t the same worldwide. 

I’ve concluded that weeks are just not meant to be named, although if you have some ideas, please let me know. It must be a system that applies to multiple countries, cultures, and religions or eschews them.

The ask

Whatever holiday you celebrate, you can provide a present: Ask Roger Anything.  Roger loves this present. This is the time of the year when you let him know what you’re thinking about. You will likely ask him questions that he had not thought of asking himself.

Running a daily blog involves talking to oneself, so having you talk to him is much more enjoyable and far less schizophrenic.

Whatever you ask, I will endeavor to respond in the next several days. I’ll even promise to tell the truth; it may not be the WHOLE truth, but it’ll be pretty close. 

You may leave your questions in this blog’s comments section, on my Facebook page (Roger Owen Green), or on my BlueSky page (roger green.bsky.social); always look for the duck.

 

My favorite Christmas music?

Oíche Chiúin

Keep Christ in ChristmasMy wife suggested I post my favorite Christmas music. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I know what that is. Sure, a song from A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi should be on it. But which one? Linus and Lucy seem so obvious. Maybe I’ll put the whole thing.

Kelly always gives me an eclectic array of music during his Daily Dose of Christmas, including music I’ve never heard. The Nutcracker will be included somewhere.

Listen to Coverville 1515: A Very Coverville Christmas Volume 20.

Here are songs I manage to play every year. I have all of them in some physical form.

A list

Christmas Wrapping – the Waitresses. Except for this song. Even though I own this on a vinyl EP, it slipped from my memory for a while.

What Child Is This – Vanessa Williams. From A Very Special Christmas, Vol. 2 (1992)

The Mistletoe and Me – Issac Hayes. A STAX cut.

Jingle Bells – Fab 4. Because tomorrow never knows.

Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday – William Bell.  It was a minor soul hit on the Stax label in the mid-1960s.

Louisiana Christmas Day – Aaron Neville

Getting Ready for Christmas Day – Paul Simon. Simon is sampling (!) a sermon from 1941, the year he was born.

Christmas Is a Comin’  – Leadbelly. I have this on an LP my father owned.

The Wexford Carol – Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss 

Every Valley Shall Be Exalted – Lizz Lee & Chris Willis & Mike E. from Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration

Christmas All Over Again– Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers from A Very Special Christmas 2 (1992)

Winter Snow -Booker T. & The MG’s. Isaac Hayes wrote this melancholy STAX tune.

White Christmas – The Drifters

Silent Night (Oíche Chiúin) – Enya. It’s one of my favorite versions of this song. 

The Coventry Carol – Alison Moyet

What Christmas Means To Me – Stevie Wonder

The Bells of Christmas– Julie Andrews (at 17 minutes). There are at least three other versions of this song by her on these Firestone albums, but this, by FAR, is the best.

Sing we all with one accord

A king is born, glad angels say

Roger singing
Roger singing, Trinity AME Zion Church, age 6

There’s a song from my childhood – my sister Leslie remembers it too – that I can’t seem to find on YouTube.

I think these are the words:

Now sing we all with one accord

on Christmas Day in the morning

The tidings of our glorious Lord

on Christmas Day in the morning

something something glad tidings bring

oh sing Noel in the morning

A king is born, glad angels say

oh sing Noel in the morning

Sing we all Noel.

The tune: Low means below middle C, the 2 or 3 is the number of beats. The lowercase b is a flat sign. 

low G   C2   G   F2    G   Eb2  D    C2

low Bb  low G2    C     C   D   lowBb   C3 C3

Leslie reminds me that it was done as a round.

No, it’s NOT this: Now We’ll Sing with One Accord

Or this: Now Let Us All with One Accord

Or this: Sing We Now Of Christmas

And definitely not this: I Saw Three Ships

I don’t specifically remember when we sang this. It was probably in high school, although it could have been in junior high. I’m hoping that one of my former Binghamtonian choristers can shed light on this question because it’s driving me freaking nuts. And I don’t mean chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

Meanwhile

I came across a few other tracks:

Gaudete – Steeleye Span. Last year I bought a box set of Steeleye Span 

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence – PICARDY

E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come. My choir sings this Paul Manz piece almost every Advent. Unfortunately, I missed that particular Sunday, having seen Rebecca Jade with Dave Koz in New Haven the night before.    

Ramblin' with Roger
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