AND ANOTHER MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ME … CHEERS FROM THE MOTHER COUNTRY
on 12/24/2009 at 02:14 PM
And a very Merry Christmas to you.
Posted by sig94
12/24/2009 at 03:20 PM
Merry Christmas Peiper, and Drew, and Christopher, and all the rest of the BMEWS staff and readers/posters.
Merry Christmas most especially to the big three Drew, Peiper and Christopher who are keeping BMEWS going.
Wow. That’s just so touching. I never thought of myself being in the ‘big three’. Thanks Tiger and wardmama. And Merry Christmas to Drew and peiper. Especially Drew. I’m surprised I still have posting permission: I know I’ve annoyed Drew a few times.
But peiper, you’re right:
According to a couple of unhappy, lonely columnists – the family gathering is made up of mostly quarrelsome cliques. We buy presents we don’t like for ppl we can’t abide. Except at Christmas. Apparently it is the “LAW” that gifts must be exchanged. Then, the one on the receiving end must pretend to to be thrilled with the gift while thinking of who they can pass it on to. I think there’s some truth in that last remark.
Must say I don’t recall any such quarreling at Christmas gatherings. I do recall such things happening at a family-reunion during the summer. But not at Christmas. Christmas was when we’d all be gathered at Grandma’s in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace, and Uncle Bill would recite the Swedish version of the Night Before Christmas. It starts out:
T’was the Night before Christmas
And all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
So I’m quiet like a mouse.
I look at my watch
And midnight is near,
I think I’ll sneak out
For a cold glass of beer…Just imagine the influence Uncle Bill was on a five-to-ten-year-old Chris? He had more risquè stuff that he would recite while creaming me at chess. I’m still too young to repeat some of them.
Yeah, the gifts are a tradition I’m trying to wean my family off of. I’ve too much ‘stuff’ as it is. I’m throwing ‘stuff’ away. Or relegating them to ‘mathom’ status. (a ‘mathom’ in JRR Tolkien’s LotR were gifts that were ‘re-gifted’. In fact, I believe ‘re-gifting’ is now an actual real-life activity.)
Anyway, peiper, my favorite Christmas was 1972. We were living in a rented two-story rambling old farmhouse. We were so poor that winter that we couldn’t heat all the bedrooms upstairs. So it was decreed that me and both sisters would sleep in the same bedroom. My sisters had the bunk beds, I had the single twin bed.
That particular Christmas Eve, we didn’t have any gifts to give to each other, but Mom and Dad let us stay up watching the old B&W TV, which was also in our room. We had our own little two-foot Christmas tree set up next to the TV, and Sammy Terry, host of Nightmare Theater (WTTV Channel Four in Indianapolis back then), was showing The Fearless Vampire Killers. And it was a White Christmas that year. A very gentle snowfall occurred that required shoveling by me and Dad the next day. But it was pretty.
Anyway, that’s my fondest Christmas memory, me and my sisters, in our pajamas (that was a tradition, each Christmas we all got new pajamas), laying in bed or bunk, watching the Fearless Vampire Killers, and making snide comments. Would have been a great Mystery Science Theater episode.
Sadly, after that winter, we’ve never quite recaptured that camaraderie.
So, what is your favorite Christmas memory?
Oh darn, Christopher reminded me that I forgot. I mentioned TV BUT .. as kids EVERY Christmas we watched (black and white) Dickens, Christmas Carol. Except we were very lucky in seeing the original Brit version. The movie has been done several times since the 1951, but I find it incredible that with today’s technology and acting, NOBODY has equaled the original. Or even come close. And frankly I much doubt that anyone will. There really are some things that remain unique over the years.
There was a version made in 1938, but the one with Alastair Sim shines still. All the others can be fergot.
Wow, sadly Christmas (as was everything in my house) was an ‘event’ planned down to the second by my mother (and you were ignored and/or sent away, if you dared to interfere) so they all seem to blend together with Thanksgiving (which was also an event, highlighted every year by my great-uncle crying during the prayer) and for some reason terrible food.
I remember a pony in the house for one Christmas - I have photographic proof, just as I now have video proof of my Dad having to raise Bambi after shooting Bambi’s mother. I remember the year my Dad gave me the Sears catalog and asking me to pick my gifts - I (still to this day, no math wizard) put the decimal point in the wrong place - decided that was way too much for stupid toys and told him, I don’t want anything (he did not listen). And I have some pictures of a couple of Christmases. We did not do tv (remember, it is an event) and the same goes for the meal - I couldn’t tell you one from another. Sad when those are the only childhood memories.
There is a horrible one - but I will not post that here now - as it did not have to do with family specifically. And the most sad thing is, I can not remember the last Christmas with my Dad (1967). The mind is a curious thing.Hold onto those memories - as my mother enters the end years of her life - I feel sad that we are not closer and I can feel the depth of love and devotion I should - all I feel right now is obligation and resentment that the other two siblings feel even less.
But (and this is the salvation of faith) my husband and I have been building a new set of memories with our own children (and now their children) and for a record setting second year in a row we will all be together (different house this year) to celebrate the season, a new baby and our love for each other.
And that is what Christmas is about - the promise of a better, loving and more peaceful tomorrow.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all at BMEWS!
Now, here’s a song which has got José Feliciano up in arms:A Merry Christmas to one and all or as one of my former colleagues put it Brit PC speak....Please allow me to wish you a non-sectarian, non-denominational, racially, gender and sexuality neutral winter public holiday period. Grrrr
JayD that version of A Christmas Carol is also my favourite version. They showed it here in colour. What an abomination! Alastair Sim was a great actor. Check out “Green for Danger” if you get the chance.
Funny how much of British tv relies on US imports now. The days of the US making their own versions of British comedies seems to be long gone. Galton and Simpson and Johnny Speight RIP the creator of Alf Garnet (Archie Bunker in the US) were very clever chaps.
I have spent the day in the midst of total Christmas chaos watching my grand kids open all their presents, eating lots of good food, and just having a generally great time.
I need that at least once a year. Merry Christmas to you all on both sides of the pond. Thank you for the great reading and deep wisdom. Happy new year also
12/24/2009 at 03:34 PM
