Greetings!
Christmas
is almost upon us and like most I tend to get nostalgic this time of
year thinking of Christmas past when I was just a youngster. Christmas
morning was always spent at my Mom’s
house until my Dad picked me up. Dad would take me around to various
relatives before ending up at Nana’s for the large family gathering and
then home to his house where I we would have our Christmas and by that
time I was pretty tuckered out.
Because
my Dad picked me up Christmas morning I never got to experience the
traditions on my Mom’s side of the family. One year I almost did as I
was determined to stay with my Mom for Christmas
and see what exactly they did. Once Christmas Day arrived though, I
was super sad that I was not going to be with my Dad or go to Nana’s
that I broke down and cried and asked to go to my Dad’s. I’m still not
sure why my Dad didn’t come pick me up, but instead
Mom & Irving drove me to my Dad’s house that morning and we had
Christmas in reverse starting at my Dad’s and ending at Nana’s.
Now
a days with my family being splintered and big it would be impossible
to celebrate with everyone on the same day so we celebrate on and around
Christmas when I have the kids and when it
works out for everyone’s schedules.
Kate
and I are making a conscious effort to establish our own traditions by
doing things together that we had not done with anyone else before. The
first one being Kate’s idea last year when
we celebrated our first Christmas together being married was making
popcorn strands to trim the tree with. I love this idea because it’s a
very old Christmas tradition and they look really good on the tree! It
is a bit time consuming but we can get them
done in one evening.
I have a certain set of Christmas Specials that I like to watch every year, in no certain order;
A Christmas Story – Jean Shepherd’s classic story of Ralphie and his red ryder BB gun, how can you not like this movie!?
Garfield’s Christmas
Charlie Brown Christmas
Muppet
Family Christmas – It’s the only time the Muppets, Fraggle Rock, Sesame
Street, and Muppet Babies were all in one special, capped with a cameo
by Jim Henson at the end it’s THE greatest
Muppet production ever! I have the Canadian bootleg edition with is a
complete uncut version. When it originally aired they only had the
rights to use certain songs for the initial broadcast so when they home
video version came out they had cut scenes and
entire songs while adding in a few scenes. This version I have someone
seamlessly cut together a crisp DVD release with a high quality copy
recorded off TV.
Twas
the Night Before Christmas – 1974 Rankin and Bass cartoon that has also
suffered over the years from harsh editing. This time though and
entire song was edited out because the lyrics
used the word gay to describe happiness.
Prep & Landing – the newest addition, these tow half hour specials and 1 short are just fantastic!
Love
Actually – a British flick featuring a wonderful ensemble cast of
multiple intertwining stories of love during the Christmas season.
A
Christmas Carol - the 1938 version with Reginald Owen as Scrooge. I
first saw watched this in my early teens on Turner Classic Movies and
now watch it every year on Christmas Eve. There
have been several other outstanding versions of the classic Dickens
story that I truly enjoy, but this one has always been my favorite.
I try to watch each of these with the kids in hopes that they will also grow to love them as I have.
That’s all for today, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and until next time,
Later Readers!
My favorite Christmas Song
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