Christmas 2011 - Christmas Eve Service

Dale and I sang at the 4 p.m. Christmas Eve service at Gethsemane Episcopal Church this afternoon. Mom attended the service. I had a solo in Children Run Joyfully, that went, if I do say so myself, pretty well. The service itself was lovely and it was so nice to have Mom there with us. The above photo was taken on December 4th. We haven't had much snow this season. In fact, it's the first brown Christmas we've had since 2006.

Christmas 2011 - Christmas with Ed Ames

I've been looking for Christmas with Ed Ames on CD for a few years now. Mom's had the vinyl edition since as long as I can remember. The album was originally released in 1967. As a kid one of my favorite Christmas songs was Carol of the Donkey. I've never heard anyone but Ed Ames sing a this song about a donkey that feels he's not good for much but finds joy when he's the one picked to carry the Virgin Mary on his back. One of my all time favorite Christmas songs is I Wonder As I Wander and my first exposure to it was on this album. Ed Ames has a most gorgeous baritone voice. Listening to this disc has brought back some very good feelings of Christmases past...

Christmas 1996 - The Ultra Lounge: Christmas Cocktails

Cocktail culture and lounge music made quite a comeback in the late 1990s and the Ultra Lounge series celebrated with Christmas Cocktails. This quirky collection, released in 1996, features a lot of great retro material with a couple of my favorites being Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo by Billy May and Cha-Cha All the Way by the Capitol Studio Orchestra. For us, this one usually comes out right after Thanksgiving. I remember listening to it at the house on Pillsbury.

Christmas 1996 - Rosemary Clooney White Christmas

Rosemary Clooney's White Christmas was released in 1996. I think I first saw the movie of the same name in which she starred with Bing Crosby about 10 years earlier. The film has become one of my all time favorite movies, Christmas-themed or otherwise, and this album has become one of my favorite recordings, Christmas or otherwise.

Christmas 1997 - The Ultra Lounge: Christmas Cocktails Part 2

Part 2 of Christmas Cocktails from the Ultra Lounge series was released the year after Part 1 and it's just as kitschy. Favorites of mine include The Merriest by June Christy and Christmas Island by Bob Atcher & the Dinning Sisters.

Christmas 2001 - Rosemary Clooney

Dale, my friend Noel and I went to go see Rosemary Clooney at Orchestra Hall in December 2001. The orchestra played the first half and Rosie sang with the orchestra backing her the second half. When we got back to our seats after intermission we noticed a chair had been set by the piano. Now, we saw her do a Christmas performance a few years earlier where she used a stool to sit on for support from time to time which made sense because she was about 71 years old. Having to sit for a performance is not something I'd seen a performer do before so this did not look good. When the show started she had help walking to her chair and did indeed end up sitting the whole performance. She was in fairly good spirits but was nowhere near the energy level I was used to. She mentioned to the audience that she had recently been to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for test and that she was fine. I assumed she was just under the weather and, being a trouper, felt that the show must go on. Sadly, she passed away early in 2002. She was just shy of 74 years old.

In the Bleak Midwinter

This is one of my all time favorite Christmas carols. I remember singing it for the first time during my freshman year in college for the choral Christmas concert.

In the Bleak Midwinter

words by Christina Rossetti

music by Gustav Holst

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone

Snow had fallen snow on snow, snow on snow

In the bleak midwinter, long ago

Our God heav'n cannot hold him, nor earth sustain

Heav'n and earth shall flee away, when he comes to reign

In the bleak midwinter, a stable place sufficed

The Lord God incarnate, Jesus Christ

Angels and archangels, may have gathered there

Cherubim and seraphim, thronged the air

But his mother only, in her maiden bliss

Worshipped the beloved, with a kiss

What can I give him? Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb

If I were a wise man, I would do my part

Yet what I can I give him, give my heart

Christmas Music - The Kingston Trio

The Last Month of the Year by the Kingston Trio is another of my all time favorite Christmas albums and I don't remember a Christmas season when I have not listened to it. It includes lots of obscure Christmas songs which is one of the things I like about it.

My most favorite track from this album is Mary Mild. This happens to be Mom's favorite as well. The song tells a story, not found in official church teachings, of Jesus as an 11 year old boy. In this touching ballad, Jesus builds a bridge made of beams of the sun for a group of boys that will not let him play with them. Mary chastizes Jesus for this but is told by her son that he only did it so the boys would play with him. His use of his godly powers for the all the wrong reasons is forgivable due to him being a child just looking for the acceptance of his peers.

The album was released in 1960. Mom says she bought it late in college or sometime shortly after she was married; probably 1964 or 1965.

Christmas Music - The Harry Simeone Chorale

The Wonderful Songs of Christmas by the Harry Simeone Chorale is one of my most favorite Christmas albums from my childhood. It was probably released in 1963.

This album exposed my brothers, Sam and Pete, and I to 20th century Christmas standards like Silver Bells, White Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and also much older and more obscure carols like Pat-A-Pan and Masters In This Hall.

I remember my brothers and I helping mom make cookies, decorating the house on Stevens in Minneapolis, or just staring at the colored lights on the tree as this album played in the background.

I remember one Christmas Eve eating dinner while this record was playing. Sam was about 3 years old and I must have been 7. In this album's version of Pat-A-Pan there is an interlude where all the singers whistle. At the point the whistling began, Sam jumped up from his seat, bolted to the living room, and started running around in circles. I'm not sure what that was all about but it sure was cute. The last time I mentioned this incident to him he swore he had no recollection of it ever happening.