 |
| This afternoon. |
For me one of the most important parts of Christmas is music. I cannot remember a time when I did not know the common carols we sing. My family sang together a lot when I was growing up, especially in the car and at Christmastime we sang carols. We also had a few Christmas records that I would play on our ancient record player. I only remember two from those early days, both albums were by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, of course. We also knew popular Christmas songs like Jingle Bells, Silver Bells, White Christmas, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, and The Little Drummer Boy. That all changed in 1971.
In 1971 I was 13. We lived in a house out in the country near Ravenna, Ohio. It was during that year that my Aunt Sally came to live with us. Aunt Sally is my father’s younger sister. Her husband, Uncle Wes, had died earlier that year and Aunt Sally left San Antonio, Texas, where they lived, and came to stay with us while she sorted out what she would do next. She only stayed with us a little while, just a few months, I think, but she brought some things with her that she left behind when she moved on to live in California. One was a cat, Whitey, who was loved by us for many years after. There were some pieces of furniture, I think. The only piece of furniture I really remember was the television/stereo console. We already had a television. We’d always had televisions and they had always been black and white. Aunt Sally’s was a color TV. It was amazing watching TV in color. But as great as that was, the thing that had the greatest impact on my life was that stereo and Aunt Sally’s record collection. We had lots of records, but they were almost all classical music. I loved them and had listened to all them many, many times. But Aunt Sally’s records were different. She had jazz albums – Al Hirt, Thelonius Monk, Stan Getz, Herb Alpert and the Tiajuana Brass. She had pop albums – Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Barbara Streisand. And best of all, she had big box sets from the Readers Digest of Big Band Music, Show Tunes, and Christmas Music. Those records changed everything for me. They broadened my musical horizon and it’s never stopped expanding.
That boxed set of Christmas records was my introduction to some Christmas music I’d never heard before sung by performers I’d never heard of. It was love at first listen. There was Doris Day singing Toyland, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Mitch Miller and His Gang singing The Twelve Days of Christmas and Frosty the Snowman, and Mahalia Jackson singing Go Tell it On the Mountain. There was Mel Torme singing Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme singing Let It Snow and Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Johnny Mathis singing Blue Christmas, and The Brothers Four singing I’ll Be Home for Christmas, and so much more. We played those records over and over, year after year and sang along with them. The music became an essential part of our Christmas and of our lives. We played them until we wore those records out (they are real records, pressed vinyl) and I still play them. I love them - scratches, pops, and all.
 |
| The much loved and very worn Christmas album. |
I learned I’ll Be Home for Christmas from those records and that song has special meaning for me. In 1979, when I was a sick (bronchitis) and homesick missionary in Japan, I was singing that song to the other missionaries in our cold and dreary apartment in Okamachi when the phone rang and the mission president asked me if I would like to go home a few weeks early and be home in time for Christmas. I said I would and I arrived home on December 15th, thirty-eight years ago. I make a point of singing I’ll Be Home for Christmas every year on that anniversary.
Friday evening was our branch Christmas dinner. The theme this year was Christmas Around the World. Everyone was to bring food from different countries. Our family took enchiladas and guacamole (Mexico), lebkuchen and pfeffernusse (Germany), soft gingerbread with lemon sauce (Pennsylvania Dutch), potato latkes (Jewish for Hanukkah),and curry, neureos, and nanketes (India). After dinner we shared stories about family traditions.The dinner was great and it was well attended.
 |
| The the branch Christmas dinner. |
 |
| The branch Christmas dinner. |
Saturday night was the big Christmas concert hosted by the Rigas family held at the Consistory in Coudersport. The group that performed was a string orchestra from New York City called Shattered Glass. This is the second year they have performed for us. It was an excellent concert. They played a variety of Christmas music and several classical pieces. Daniel, Miriam, and the missionaries from Bradford were ushers at the event. Afterward there was a reception for the Rigases’ employees and invited guests. Stacey, Hannah, and Miriam all work for the Rigases, so we were there as well. It was a very nice affair.
 |
| Shattered Glass at the Christmas concert. |
 |
| The Bradford missionaries with Mr. Rigas. |
 |
| Daniel with Mr. Rigas. |
This morning we awoke to snow and it’s been flurrying off and on all afternoon. There isn’t much, just an inch or two so far, but the forecast says there is more on the way tonight. I’m ready for a bit of snow. It makes it look more Christmasy. On the way to church we stopped so I could take a photo of the winterberries that grow along a stretch of the Genesee River. They are a type of holly, Ilex verticillata, that loses its leaves which makes the berries stand out. I love to see them every winter. The birds eat them, so they don’t last too long. Now we’re home. It’s cold out, but it’s December and that’s as it should be. We’ve got a fire going in the wood stove. Lunch preparations are underway. Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we. Good Sabbath!
 |
| Winterberries on the way to church. |
