Kham and I watched 500 days of Summer the other day for a light movie fare.
I love Zooey Deschanel, her voice, her quirky personality, and her retro vibe. I cut Kosette some bangs on the 4th of July. Turns out I gave her the same cut as Ms. Deschanel herself, but it was subconcious I swear!
As usual, we would’ve changed the ending. But Kham and I do that a lot, mentally reconstruct endings of films. I enjoyed watching it mainly because I enjoyed watching her and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Who DIDN’T like him in 3rd Rock from the Sun?
And I am glad for his professional successes. It’ll be fun to see him fight his way in to the in-crowd of young Hollywood “it” actors. But to me, he’ll always be the polite, little boy in my piano class and Kelli’s drama class lisping, and squeaking (his voice was starting to change), his way through “Wells Fargo Wagon” from Music Man (we have photos and videos somewhere). He was shy when you spoke with him but then would come alive on stage. He so obviously LOVED performing and lacked visible nerves. He stole the “show”. But watching him grow up is making me aware of my aging as well. Yikes. I hope he’s retained some of that sweetness. Here’s them doing a fun little music video for the movie but I think it shows some of his yet-untapped talent:
Kosette and I have enjoyed watching and listening to clips of her singing on YouTube. I’d like to get her album one of these days. She’s part of a duo called “She & Him”. It’s sweet and syrupy and fun. Good summer listening. Here’s Zooey in her own video for She and Him for the same song as above. I love the vintage look of it.
Ever had one of those less-than-stellar parental moments when perhaps you’re standing in the kitchen working on dinner, waiting for your spouse to return from work, and muttering to yourself about your kids driving you nuts and just when you’re about to freak out and blow your top and do – you scream at the kids in the other room, “That’s IT!!!! I’ve had it!!!!” only to hear happy cries of “Daddy!!!” (who must’ve just walked in the door but you didn’t hear the door open because you were too busy losing your temper), and the radio goes silent as it switches to a new song, which distracts your brain from its tantrum long enough for you to notice what the new song is and comprehend the lyrics in a whole new way? And then it makes you feel sorry, ashamed, and foolish enough to chuckle at yourself and then go apologize to your kids?
Well, I did. Just yesterday in fact. And this was the song that was the comedic ice breaker:
Lyrics to “Undun” by The Guess Who
She’s come undun
She didn’t know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late
She’s come undun
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn’t fly
It was too late
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
She wanted truth but all she got was lies
Came the time to realize
And it was too late
She’s come undun
She didn’t know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
Mama, it was too late
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
Too many mountains, and not enough stairs to climb
Too many churches and not enough truth
Too many people and not enough eyes to see
Too many lives to lead and not enough time
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
Doe-doe-doe-doe-doe doe un doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe
Doe doe-doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe doe-doe-doe
Doe doe-doe-doe doe doe-doe-doe doe doe
—— flute ——
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
She didn’t know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late
She’s come undun
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn’t fly
Mama, it was too late
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
No no-no-no-no-no no
Doe doe doe-doe
On the flipside, I handled a very similar moment to this comic strip the other night much better than my aforementioned breakdown. After being awoken in the middle of the night to tend to Kellen’s growing pains (this entails Ibuprofen, Ben Gay type substance massaged into legs and sometimes arms, and nuking a sand/rice hull heating pad in the microwave). I had been enjoying this quiet, private, very sweet, tender moment with my son whereupon many kisses and lovey dovey words were exchanged and had turned to leave when Kellen suddenly cried out with great urgency, “WAIT!!!” Startled, I asked him what was the matter. The reply and subsequent interchange went something like this:
Kellen: I have something important to ask you.
Me: Yeeees? (thinkingto myself: What on earth could it possibly be? That’s so urgent and so important to know right now at 2 am?!!)
Kellen: How do you make pizza?
Me: Giggle, giggle, snort, tear, tee hee… I love you Kellen. I’ll show you tomorrow. You can help me make it for dinner.
Kellen: Ok. Mom, will you get off my blanket? I want to sleep now.
Me: Ok. Giggle. You are too cute, Little Man. Sweet Dreams.
(door closes) Man, I wish Kham was awake so I can tell him that one!!!
Compared to Kosette’s thought-provoking but taxing and loaded questions of late like “Who and why was the earth created? And why does Mother Earth give me headaches? Why did Mother Earth make me so short when you’re so tall? And why would someone want to kill themselves?” it was a relief to get a question I could answer without having to think so hard and answer so carefully. Ah, my children amuse me so much. Think I’ll keep them around a little longer. <Wink>
I’ve been enjoying my summer….away from the computer. Not that the computers or the internet has been functioning correctly recently. Arg! Somewhat the main reason for my lack of email, blogging, and facebook communication. I’ll be cooped up in the fall and winter soon enough. So I, and the rest of us Oregonians, have been basking in the summer sun, relishing the perfect temperature for evenings outside, and generally avoiding all things relating to or relegated to the interior of a home. Thus, my noticing and enjoyment of said sky.
Tonight we went to the free concert in Central Park here in Corvallis and listened to three different acts whilst sitting on our picnic quilt and watching our kids gallivant with other youngins. We couldn’t help but chuckle as the music seemed to match our children’s antics to a tee, making it the perfect soundtrack. It was absolute mayhem resembling a mad chase scene from Scooby Doo or some other cartoon: they were running around in circles, doing mad puppy sprints, dog piles, dives back onto the quilt, cartwheels, and dress spinning while the band played.
Looking like this:
Only to music more along the likes of this only a little more 60s Scooby Dooish:
Later, a different band played some retroey funky stuff that Kham and I were sorta able to swing dance to. I kept on wanting to break out into a frug like in some Bob Fosse number from Sweet Charity:
or the big dance scene in Austin Powers (which, by the way, if this music doesn’t make your toes twitch and you want to dance, you’re made of stone!!!)
And as we left the clouds in the sky were the most amazing peachy pink against the periwinkle blue…I wish I’d had my camera. This is some other person’s random picture on the internet and it resembles our sky alot.
I call it Maxfield Parrish sky. We get that around here and it is so stunning. How lucky am I to live here in this place where I can pretend I’m living in a Maxfield Parrish painting?!! For those who don’t know who Maxfield Parrish is, well, he was an amazing artist who painted a lot of landscapes as well as nudes in fantasy settings with a blue and white sky undertoned background. I’m not even going to attempt to describe his work to you. But he is famous for the luminosity and interesting hues in his skies. I’m sure you’ve seen posters and prints of his work or a coffee table book somewhere. He is one of my favorite artists and here is a wiki link where you can learn more. Maybe these will help jog your memory:
I’ve been reading The Secret Garden to Kosette and Kellen a little bit here and there and explaining the plot in detail as we drive to school in the morning. Well, I happened upon the soundtrack at the library and we have been enjoying it while in the car. There were a couple songs that I could remember and sing off the top of my head before refreshing my memory such as Lily’s Eyes and Come To My Garden but I had forgotten about two of them that I quite like now that I’ve become somewhat of a gardener – “Winter’s On the Wing” and “Wick.”
Today, despite the cold, bite to the air, the daffodils are blooming strongly, the pussywillow’s catkins have burst open, the tulips are headed up, and the maples are impersonating the cherry blossom trees with their salmony colored tender leaves unfurling like blossoms. Winter is on the wing….we can feel it. And so do the customers, because work is buuuuuuusy. In all of your day-to-dayness don’t forget to “stoop and feel it and stop and hear it”….all those little signs of life swelling on branches and emerging through the earthen crust…this cursory time in season’s transitions. It’s fun to find those bitty signs of life. Before gardening, all I really knew was it’s cold so it’s still winter, but since we have warmish days here and there and I knew spring was coming. Or I’d see the daffodils bloom and know it for the obvious sign that springtime is near. But now my more trained eye is attuned to so much more. It’s like someone gave me these magical glasses that I can slip on and now I can see all the secret things that other people are oblivious to (I see dead people = I see spring coming). There’s no going back now. My visual world has been forever changed and winter no longer feels so long now that I can note its passing with each bud swell or seed germination.
The Secret Garden Cast – Winter’s On The Wing Lyrics
DICKON:
Winter’s on the wing,
Here’s a fine spring morn’
Comin’ clear through the night,
Come the day I say.
Winter’s taken flight
Sweepin’ dark cold air
Out to sea, Spring is born,
Comes the day say I,
And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.
And now the sun is climbin’ high,
Rising fast on fire,
Glaring down through the gloom,
Gone the gray, I say.
The sun it spells the doom
Of the winter’s reign,
Ice and chill must retire
Comes the May say I,
And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.
I say, be gone, ye howling gales,
Be off, ye frosty morns!
All ye solid streams begin to thaw.
Melt, ye waterfalls,
Part ye frozen winter walls.
See, see now it’s starting.
And now the mist is liftin’ high,
Leavin’ bright blue air
Rollin’ clean ‘cross the moor
Comes the day I say.
The storm’ll soon be by
Leaving clear blue sky,
Soon the sun will shine,
Comes the day, say I.
And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.
I know some of our friends and family have had a tough 2009 with deaths of family members, pets (many would argue that’s the same thing), burned down homes, job loss, and all in all tightened belts. Here’s wishing all of you a Happy(ier) 2010!!! And please know that if there is anything that we can do to help make it so, we’ll sure do our darnedest.
Big shout out to Michelle, for informing me about this little diddy by ABBA that I had never heard of before and thought I’d share with you:
It was so hard to find a good Auld Lang Syne song!!!! This is the best I liked after wayyyyy too much searching time. Pure and simple and with its beautiful poetry written for your eyes and ears to imbibe as well.
I couldn’t end this post without a quote from the most perfect New Year’s Eve movie, When Harry Met Sally. It just wouldn’t be right:
Harry: What does this song mean? For my whole life I don’t know what this song means. I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot”. Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances or does it mean if we happen to forget them we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot them!?
Sally: Well may be it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something. Anyway it’s about old friends.
Cheers From Corvallis to all of our old Friends! and Family! Be ye past or present!
but did you know that Kelli and I were on a Dolly Parton Christmas special when I was in the 6th or 7th grade? Yes indeedy. No, I’m not shitting you. Yes, Kelli, some hardcore Dolly fan finally ripped it up onto YouTube. I’m the girl in the blue dress with the crimped hair decorating the Christmas tree and Kelli, I think is across the room at a table of toys. (Hey Kriste, one up me on this one!) How’d this all come to pass? Well, our next door neighbor was the music director and I went to school with his son (I had a crush on him FOREVER. He’s the one in the green sweater they show a lot at the table to the right). He knew that we sang and invited us to join the children’s ensemble. The couple weeks it took to do this, paid for much of my high school graduation trip horseback riding in Ireland.
Dolly Parton is inextricably linked with Christmas for me just for that reason; that and washboards. I adore Dolly. I have always loved 9 to 5 (own it) and I, like the rest of the world find her an incredibly talented songstress and smart business woman. Loving Dolly is yet another thing I have in common with much of the gay community. She was the nicest, and sweetest, and most polite lady. She seemed to genuinely love kids and want them there, and if it weren’t for having to do actual work, I think she would have visited with us more. And I’m telling you, she is so teeeeeeeeeny in person. Her waist and hips were like a corseted victorian. She wore knee high red boots with stiletto heels and she still must’ve only made 5’1. Her nails were those crazy long fake curly acrylics in a Jungle Fever red polish. Come to think of it, Kristen Chenowith would be perfect to cast as her if they ever did a bio pic on her life. She’s a little country, she’s teeny tiny, could have big hair, widish smile, firecracker personality, seems super nice, and big boobs to boot.
It was one of the few times Kelli and I got along; even friendly to one another. We were both so new and shy around all these kids that were so familiar and at ease on the set and the process. It was a really neat experience to have as a kid. We got to see the production tricks (taking an inside tour of the Punky Brewster set and meeting Soleil Moon Frye in Brownies because one of the parents wrote for it doesn’t count):
Like ice skating on set – the actors skated around on this white, acrylic fiberglass piece with mounds of batting spray painted with additional textured clumps around the perimeter.
And snow – it was like shredded white plastic grocery bags shaking out of big machines in the ceiling. That I remember well, because I accidentally inhaled a piece
And the fact that we were filming in early fall, which, in LA, is some of the hottest weather. Which meant we were dressed up in fluffy winter clothes with scarves, ear muffs, turtlenecks and mittens, on a set with lots of very hot lights pointed at you. I now always feel sorry for actors I see portraying a winter scene obviously using a sound stage.
The Mac guy seemed grumpy, and Burl Ives (WOW! I can’t believe I got to sing with Burl Ives.) was old so he disappeared any time he wasn’t needed for a scene like it was hard on him.
And animal trainers in the wings calling out commands to their reindeer.
And the people hiding under tables and couches with monitors working all the large puppets. That was really fun to see and watch their process. Seeing everything backwards and upside down – that’s talent. I forgot which celebrity it was, but I once watched an interview with them saying NO way would they go on Sesame Street, which seemed like a totally rude response. But then they explained themselves saying that they wouldn’t want knowing too much disillusion the magical place and characters that they had watched their entire lives. That was one mystery they wanted to keep. I can totally see that. Another actor spoke about Mr. Snuffaluffagus hanging from the ceiling and some of the “cool” things that they saw in the inner workings of “the Street.”
And the magical ginormous costume department………yeah, the costume lover in me LOVED that! Tons of clothes to choose from. I felt like orphan Annie walking around and singing “I think I’m going to like it here” while all the maids and servants carry her around the palatial mansion on their shoulders and parade a new wardrobe before her eyes and fluff her pillows and lofty quilt, all the while singing “I’m very glad we have a little girl…”
And the hair department….I’ll never forget THAT moment. Walking down the long white hallway seeing a door ajar on my right, slowing my gait so that I could get a gander at what mysteries would be revealed inside that room only to find a long table with elevated foam heads with extremely large, curly, blonde wigs displayed. There were practically spotlights on them. I think that was the most surprising thing of all to me. I knew that Dolly had fake boobs and nails and wore lots of makeup but I didn’t know she had fake hair and false eyelashes too!!!
I find it amazing how I can’t remember at what age my daughter took her first steps (that’s numbers, my brain doesn’t retain those. I had to write all that stuff down in the baby journal), but I still remember all the lyrics to “I’ll be Home with Bells on!”
We also did studio work later that involved standing in a small closet sized room looking up at a mic and laughing on cue. Ah, laugh tracks.
We must’ve come home and talked up a storm over dinner. Both Kelli and I would’ve liked to have done more but I don’t think it occurred to us to even ask. I guess we both felt it would be impolite and a faux pas; that if people liked us enough, thought we were good enough, we would be invited back. Guess we weren’t aggressive enough in nature and too naive. My dad never pushed us, although he had some serious contacts. I think it’s funny still, that we just never thought to ask. My dad was surprised when I told him years back about that regret. He shook his head, dismayed, because he had never thought to ask us. He figured if we really liked the experience, we would bug him more about it.
Kelli, don’t kill me! But it suddenly dawned on me the other night that that might be somewhere in YouTube land and I looked it up for kicks. Then it got me thinking…and then I just had to share my thoughts. That is the point of this blog, right?
On New Year’s Eve, Kham and I were partying like it was 1999, because it was, when all of a sudden Kham pulled me into my friend’s kitchen and started reciting the final scene of When Harry Met Sally, my favorite movie. And I know I looked at him like I was nuts, and I know that my forehead/nose creased as I scrunched up trying to figure out why he was saying those lines and wondering when on earth he had learned them…had I really watched the movie so excessively that he had picked up Harry’s entire monologue? Then I cocked my ear and head when I heard someone (Beth!) hush partygoers in the other room with a loud, “Shhh, Kham’s going to propose!” And I turned back to him and refocused my attention – hoping that she was right, fearing that she was wrong, not trusting her assessment, not thinking that she was in on it, feeling mad at her for getting my hopes up like that and we were going to have to explain to a room full of drunk people that Kham was just being sweet and romantic and quoting my favorite movie back to me in the privacy of a kitchen so we could have our own New Year’s kiss unobserved.
So, when Kham smoothly knelt down on one knee and asked me to share the rest of my life with him, because, “when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start – as soon as possible.” I had to ask him, “Are you serious?” (This was the man, after all, who said outright that there was no chance in hell he was ever getting married again. He was damaged goods and wouldn’t make anyone a good husband. – What can I say? I guess I like a challenge.) When he switched to “Kari, will you please do me the honor of marrying me?” I knew he was serious. Well, that and the fact that he had gently pulled my hand out and held aloft the ring I had so admired from the artist at the Renaissance Faire (a twining two piece ring with a round diamond coming out of a 3 dimensional rose bloom as if it were a drop of dew). Of course I said yes. In fact, that’s about what I said, “Yes, of course I will.” But I couldn’t resist the smiling “took you long enough!” elbow dig (Really only 3 1/2 yrs. but it felt like forever).
What can I say but I guess I like a challenge? Or maybe, One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure? Or, I knew that whole “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free” is just parental propaganda!”? Whatever the case, I guess for me, choosing a husband is like choosing a Christmas Tree. I like a little bit of the Charlie Brown factor, the underdog, the one was perfectly good, if not grand, but got overlooked by most. Kham, you are my goldmine of a husband and my ultimate bargain shopping score and often a tremendous challenge. I think I got the sweeter end of the deal. poor thing. Sometimes for you, I’m sorry that it had to be me. But once you create two wondrous and beautifully hearted and bodied children with me, help me through labor and delivery, provide me with a lovely home, scrape the ice from my windshield, warm my frosty toes in bed, helps me find my fallen glasses or misplaced coffee, and eat practically everything I ever cook for you even when I, myself, wouldn’t dare eat it, well.. you loved me, you wanted me, and now you’re stuck with me forever and ever. So there! You are still the last person I want to talk to before I go to bed at night. Thanks Babe, for a wonderful memory and an interesting tale to tell to our children and the blogosphere. You make it impossible for me to hate you. You see what I did? I can’t take it back now because it’s already out there.
I know, I know, MORE Carpenters. But I can’t help it. Her version is just the best to my ears. I love it. The Ella Fitzgerald would have to be my second favorite in this case. I happen to really love this song, period.
Betcha haven’t seen this version of What’re you Doin’ New Year’s with Rufus Wainwright and Boy George live in concert!:
As I blast through my old drafts, I see that I didn’t follow-up on how Kosette’s and Mommy’s Night of Fun went, when we attended OSU’s production of Pirates of Penzance. It was great fun for both of us. She was so excited, ate her dinner speedily and with no whining so we could leave sooner. She wanted to “dress up fancy” and borrow my pearls. After having received a brand new fairy doll that day in the mail, she insisted that “Jasmine” come along too. So off we went to OSU’s Whitycombe Hall theatre, just the two of us, dressed “fancy” (for Corvallis).
As we waited in line to pick up our tix from will-call, lots of people smiled as they spotted her, the only 6 year old in a crowd of grown-ups, “dressed up”, wearing her mommy’s pearls, clutching her fairy doll. I got approving looks and nods from some of the older crowd as if they were telling me how great they thought it was that I was exposing a new generation to the pleasures of musicals and live theatre. I was filled with pride; not with myself for the exposure, but because my daughter already had heard the music and WANTED to come; not HAD to come. Once inside, and our seats found, Kosette grew quiet and she just looked all around, studying things.
I was dying to know what she was thinking but allowed her her moment to just sit, and absorb, and process this new experience. Finally, I talked to her about what to do if she needed to use the restroom and refreshed her memory on what we had discussed in the car ride over about what was appropriate theatre behavior. This talking jogged her into formulating questions from her observations from inside the theatre, and they just burst forth in an endless stream like water released from a dam. It was fascinating and amusing to see what she had noticed, what made an impression on her, such as light placement, orchestra members, stagehands in black, people standing in the aisles and not sitting in their seats, and why she couldn’t talk but the annoying women to my right would not SHUT UP the whole time and spoke at full volume.
I think the funniest thing was that she seemed annoyed at the casting. Clearly the male character with the Kevin Klin- like, Pirate King pants, and the brown hair should have been The Pirate King. And Cedric was short and stout, not at all the pretty boy lead as cast in the film version. The differences between the film and the stage production agitated her.
Despite the late hour, she stayed awake the entire time and made it to a block from home before she passed out in her carseat. Kham met me at the driveway to help carry the sleeping girl since I was wearing super high heels. I slipped her shoes off and tucked her into bed, pearls still on, with her hand on top of the covers still clasping the fairy doll. I felt like I was in the scene in Annie when Daddy Warbucks and Grace return with the sleeping Annie from her first time at the movies and they change her into her nightgown and tuck her into bed, without disturbing her passed out slumber. It was a sweet nightcap to a sweet night with my sweetie. Daydream about having a daughter of my own #5: Take my daughter to her very first live production of a musical. CHECK!!!
…But I wouldn’t mind if we rebelled as a nation and burned all albums created by them like so many did in the 1970s in the Disco Sucks age.
Their “music”, and I use the word VERY loosely here, is absolute sheer, f*ing torture to listen to. Of course, this is just one woman’s opinion, but still. I must start a movement – Steamroll the Steamroller! They wouldn’t need water boarding for torture, just lock them into a room and pipe in Mannheim Steamroller in a loop for hours on end. They’d break me in the first two songs. I’d sing like a canary and weep for my mommy and offer my body up for abuse…anything to stop the insanity!!!
I’m not kidding. That’s how vehemently I hate this band’s music. I get an instant headache when I hear their songs, especially the one below. And for some reason, their songs evoke the overwhelming smell of old lady perfume like Georgio and Red Door and White Shoulders from me. I don’t know why. Maybe it has something to do with……..
Now imagine sitting in the back of a mini van where your Dad has Mannheim Steamroller, his favorite Christmas band/albumS of all time that he wants to start listening to starting from our return trip from Solvang to LA on Thanksgiving night!, cranked because he wants to listen to it loudly but my mom wants to talk to him in the front so he blasts us out with the back speakers. We would be dressed to the nines’ most likely on our way to our annual Christmas Eve event at the Blowitzes prior to the late midnight service at our church. This meant we were wearing stiff, uncomfortable, fancy clothes with cashmere sweaters and panty hose, packed next to our siblings with intermingling and competing perfumes, colognes, lotions, and hair products, with the air conditioning on because it’s still warm in LA then. At least warm for that wardrobe that early in the evening. It’s hot, stuffy, uncomfortable, and lots of cloying smells, with the most obnoxious music ever made on the face of the earth played for the 25th day in a month at a very loud volume…Maybe that has something to do with my aversion to their “music”. You think?
For those who are lucky enough to be blissfully unaware of their prolific presence in our nation’s Christmas music repertoire, Mannheim Steamroller was most popular in 1984, and their “sound” which is heavy on the electric keyboard and brass section, sounds like the character, Andy, from The Office, doing a Christmas song in his obnoxious sound effect style for every single instrument layered together. You know, I don’t think I could use the word obnoxious too often in my description of them. It’s just too befitting with noxious being defined as “ injurious to physical or mental health “. Well, they sure are to mine.
But these synonyms work well too. Oh yeah, there are some real good ones here:
All I’m saying here people is, if you invite me to your Christmas party, I’d rather hear the Wings “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time” or even the meowing cats doing “Jingle Bells” than this f*ing song, any of their songs. Or I’m gonna go apeshit like someone brainwashed to commit evil acts of violence triggered by certain songs.
Says Kham on the topic, “Worst thing to happen to keyboard ever. Keyboard abuse.”
Now, I must clear my head for something completely different to get that song out. The pathetic thing is I had to actually search through the youtube clips and listen to them to find the one that I find most obnoxious. There’s that word again. And there’s my headache again.
This is sorta the antithesis of the last post in its positivity. There are certain movies that I pack with our holiday box and love to pull out and watch each season. Of course there’s the Charlie Brown Christmas, the 3 claymations of Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph, St. Nicholas, and the Little Drummer Boy, and the old Grinch Who Stole Christmas. I thought it was so funny that people were freaking out the other weak over the President of the United States Usurping the Charlie Brown screening time for his important address. It was like, “Oh no he di-int! It could be a freakin’ national emergency but you are not cutting into my Charlie Brown time. I need to hear “Christmas Time is here… in order for it to feel real.” I mean, they were up in arms! NPR talked about it repeatedly! NPR!! There are a few that I like that maybe aren’t so typical. Well, okay, one is REALLY typical, White Christmas. Bing Crosby is the male voice of Christmas to me. What a great album he has and I’ve also been listening to the rebroadcasts of his radio specials on Sirius. Boy is that a trip!!! Really amusing and syrupy sweet. Too bad he beat his kids. Sorta puts a clinker into the enjoyment when you hear how much his family is used in the sketches. I know – Debbie Downer, but still.
My sister and I performed a rendition of “Sisters” once. But that’s not my favorite moment. This is:
But I also love to watch Judy Garland, in that gorgeous red dress and sparkly hair scarf, sing the best rendition of this song ever in the musical Meet Me In St. Louis. This might very well be my favorite Christmas song ever:
Yeah, now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
But another movie I like to watch at Christmas time that’s a little nontraditional is Sleepless in Seattle (When Harry Met Sally is my customary New Year’s Eve movie). My favorite Christmas part is 2 mins. in when Meg Ryan’s singing to the radio “Harses, Harses, Harses….”
