Christmas Archives - Page 16 of 16

Merry Christmas QUESTIONS

Merry Christmas 1989 spelled out with bodies on the south polar ice.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

How are spending your Christmas? (Or how did you spend it?)
What did you give as gifts? What did you get?
If you’re Jewish, are you spending it at a Chinese restaurant?

The great thing about this year, contrary to some (most) previous years, is that my wife became a much better hinter than she used to be. So she knows she’s getting that handmade wool sweater she saw at the Medieval Faire back in October. But the upside is that I had her primary gift, in OCTOBER.

There is a songbook I came across that reminded me of a book I grew up with in elementary school. One of my sisters got that, and I bought a copy for myself as well. My other sister’s getting a very nice item that surprisingly did not go in my blog contest. My nieces are getting items from the SERRV catalog. My mother remains impossible, but she DOES like her word puzzles, so that’s what she got.

I’ll talk about the daughter tomorrow.
Merry Christmas 1989 spelled out with bodies on the south polar ice.

All I Want For Christmas Is You

If it’s always the same, why does it always feel new to me?

I’m serious now. What I would like most from you this Christmas is for you to participate in a little thing I call ASK ROGER ANYTHING, which involves…well, you know. And he -[stop talking about yourself in the third person] – I have to answer your questions honestly, leaving a modicum of wiggle room for obfuscation. You may ask in the comment section or, if you’d rather, e-mail me. I will say that responses to e-mails of people who wish to remain anonymous will probably be murkier than those from people who own their requests. I’ll be answering them during Christmastide, which is to say the 12 days of Christmas, that period between tomorrow and Epiphany.

Meanwhile, I’ll be singing tonight at church. No surprise; that’s what I usually do on Christmas Eve. In fact, what’s surprising is when I DON’T, the last time I spent Christmas with my mother a couple of years ago. I’ve gone primarily to two churches in the past 25 years and the way the latter part of the Christmas Eve service plays out is pretty much the same. Hand out candles, light candles, dim lights while singing Silent Night, turn on lights, blow out candles, sing Joy to the World. If it’s always the same, why does it always feel new to me?

Did you see this rendition of one of my favorite seasonal songs; in case the link doesn’t work, try this. Can’t help but think that, at some point, I would have participated too; I mean, I DO know it by heart.
So it is replicated in the largest mall in Albany County; had I known, I might have ventured there for the first time in YEARS.

Getting Ready For Christmas Day by Paul Simon – the mp3 download with a description of the song and the YouTube post.
***
Let It Dough

Merry Christmas Questionnaire

The stockings Christmas Eve, presents Christmas morning.

From my friend Sarah Kim:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Ideally, wrapped in the Sunday funnies, though I have capitulated to wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
Real for my entire life until this year. Haven’t warmed up to the new artificial tree.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Varies widely. Last year it was December 21; ideally, it would have been earlier. This year, it was December 18.

4. When do you take the tree down?
I would take it down on Twelfth Night, January 6. However, others thought otherwise and it came down New Year’s Eve.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Yep, with amaretto.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

The Beatles white album, 1968. What I remember, though is that the intro to Birthday skipped and I had to get a replacement copy. This problem, I understand, was not mine alone.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
My mom, and has been for years.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
My daughter, who verbalizes what she wants.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, in fact, we have a couple; I married into these.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail, or not at all, it seems.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Actually, I have no idea. Well, unless you want to count the clothes my wife gets me.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
I’m leaning toward the Christmas Carol with George C. Scott.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Sometimes early if I have a bright idea, and this year’s going surprisingly well. Or the very last minute when I don’t.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Probably.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Real mashed potatoes, not the stuff in a box.

16. Lights on the tree?
White.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Anything with a descant.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Usually at home or my parents-in-law’s, a little over an hour away.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Yes.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Angel.

21. Open the presents on Christmas Eve or morning?
The stockings on Christmas Eve, and presents Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about the season?
The “war on Christmas” drivel.

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color?
It’s weird, but most of my favorite ornaments – mostly red – have gone MIA. I am fond of an Adirondack chair ornament from May 2003, just before Carol got pregnant.

24. Favorite for Christmas Dinner?
Turkey.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Other than the usual (Hess truck, World Almanac,) some music on my Amazon list.

Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol, one of my childhood favorites.

Bowie and Bing redux.
***
I read this to my daughter this month:

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus? It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Picture from Freefoto. Ref Number: 90-15-57; Photographer: Ian Britton; Camera: SONY , DSLR-A100; Date: Dec 1, 2006