Merry Christmas

I think I used this one last year, but it is my very favorite Christmas song!

Wishing you all the peace and joy the Holidays bring and a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Love,

Sharon and Margie

Christmas Eve

Here is another one of my favorite Holiday songs:

I remember watching this when it orginally aired on TV and thinking: "Wow, what an odd pair but very cool at the same time."

Who would ever have thought you would see Bing Crosby and David Bowie on the same stage together?

Sadly Bing Crosby died one month after recording this song and it has gone on to be a timeless classic.




Peace everyone

Room service

I am staying at a hotel tonight so I don't have to commute the 96 miles to get to the new job.

Dive - I salute you. I don't know how you do it man. The only thing you have got going is that you can fall asleep on the train and drool on one of your fellow passengers. If I fall asleep at the wheel (and I think I've done it a few times) you'll be reading about it on the evening news!!!

The hotel is in Bethlehem, PA. Kind of fitting dontcha think?

Christmas time?

Bethlehem?

Get it?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh nevermind.

What can I tell you about Bethlehem, PA. Nothing really. I've never been here before today and what I've seen so far is just a small glimmer of Route 22 and I don't think it's Bethlehem's best side!

I can copy and paste this information from Wikipedia though:

The Christmas Star
On December 7, 1937, at a grand ceremony, Mrs. Marion Brown Grace pulled a large switch to light the new Christmas street lights and a large wooden star. Mrs. Grace was the daughter of a former South Bethlehem burgess, Charles F. Brown and wife of Eugene Grace, President of Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Hundreds of Bethlehem’s leading citizens attended the ceremony and thousands more listened to the speeches and musical performances on the radio. The switch for the lights was located in the ballroom of the Hotel Bethlehem. This was the first year that Mayor Robert Pfeifle and the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce adopted the nickname "Christmas City, USA" for Bethlehem. Donations from the community were raised for the street decorations. The Bethlehem Globe-Times underwrote the expense of the large wooden star on the top of South Mountain, at a cost of $460.


The star of Bethlehem viewed from Main Street at night The star was attached to two wooden poles and was smaller than the current star. The star was created with four wooden planks, overlapped to create an eight point star. The dimensions were 60’ high, 51’ wide lit by 150 bulbs, 50 watts each. The installation of the star was done by PP&L and Bethlehem Water Department. The star was erected on the top of South Mountain, on property owned by the Water Department, located in Lower Saucon Township. The lighting ceremony, in the Hotel Bethlehem, was an appropriate location. This was the site of the first building in Bethlehem, a two room log house. On Christmas Eve in 1741, the original settlers were conducting their evening worship in this building. As their benefactor, Count Zinzendorf, observed the farm animals that shared the space and listened to the words of the hymn they sang, “Not Jerusalem, But Lowly Bethlehem.” he proclaimed the name of the settlement to be Bethlehem. The people gathered at the 1937 ceremony also heard those same words when the Bach Choir, under the direction of Dr. T. Edgar Shields, sang the old German hymn “Jesu, Rufe Mich (Jesus, Call Thou Me),” by Adam Drese. Malcolm Gross, the Mayor of Allentown, Joseph Morrison, Easton’s Chief Executive, Bethlehem School administrators, and prominent church officials were also there to celebrate. In 1939 the wooden star was replaced with a star made of Bethlehem steel, at a cost of $5000. It had eight rays with the main horizontal ray extended eighty-one feet and the main vertical ray was fifty-three feet long. In 1967, the star was redesigned, and Plexiglas was installed to protect the 250 light bulbs, 50 watts each. It was installed on the old steel frame which was ninety-one feet high and twenty-five feet wide at the base with a depth of five feet, set in concrete. In the summer of 2006, the city attended to some much needed repairs of the base. Rust was scraped off the steel base then it was primed and painted at a cost of $25,000. This is the star we see today. The star is surrounded by a 9-foot chain link fence topped with razor wire. A crew of municipal electricians changes the bulbs every two years. It can be a dangerous job so the crew wears safety gear and they avoid bad weather. Beginning in the mid-'90s, the star was lit from 4:30 p.m. until midnight, every day of the year. This schedule continues today. However during World War II, from 1941 to 1945, none of the Christmas decorations in Bethlehem were lit. At the time, Bethlehem officials explained that the lit star made "too good of an air raid target" and “during the global strife it didn't seem right for the lights to be all lit up when our boys were out in the darkness fighting for us." When lit, the star can be seen from as far as Wind Gap, 20 miles away. The star has become an important symbol for Bethlehem. Blue-and-white signs surround the city and direct tourists to "Follow the Star to Bethlehem.

So, there you have it.

My Dad tells me he vaguely recalls taking a car ride down here when he was a wee lad to see the big star.

I am at the Best Western and I have to tell you it's a really nice place to stay! The rooms are clean, the staff is friendly and I've had one of THE best dinners I've had in a long time. It was chicken something and something. Grilled chicken with mozzarella cheese and grilled vegetables and a bit of balsamic and some kind of potato something or other (because you know an Irish lass needs her potatoes).

It was DAMN tasty.

AND - they gave me 20% off the bill because they didn't have the wine I wanted.

How freakin' cool is that?

So hear I am...in a hotel room,

all by myself,

blogging about some little town in butt-fuck Pennsylvania

eating and drinking all by my little lonesome.




How freakin' sad is that?

ugh.

:::sigh:::

Whatever...it's Christmas! It's Happy Happy Joy Joy!!! Both of my kids will be here on Christmas morning and we'll have a nice big breakfast and then good ol' semi-conductor will be here for Christmas Dinner and then somewhere on the weekend I'll meet with Neetzy and her family and we'll have a gay ol' time!

Wooooo Hooooo!

(fuckin' holidays)

Back to the favorite Holiday songs for 2008. I'm going a little off script because this isn't really a favorite of mine, but sitting here in a hotel room by myself I thought it to be the better pick. (can you tell I'm feeling a bit lonely tonight?)

I'm popping my ambien and inserting my earplugs and heading off to laa laa land and I will leave you with this!

Happy Freakin' Holidays Y'all!



Peace!

I'm tired

I actually slept until 9:30 this morning.

That has to be a new record for me. I can't remember the last time I've slept that late and it was WONDERFUL!

Today I hope will be a lazy day, but already my mind is racing with all of the things I should be doing.

I should clean up my office.

I should make Christmas cookies.

I should take my film to be developed.

I should clean off the pool table that has become the repository of crap that I haven't felt like putting away.

I should go out and buy a new mailbox since the stoned pizza delivery boy last night took it out and then totally denied it. jerk

Eh, maybe later.

Right now I'm trying to figure out which song to post next. Looking at my list of songs I realized that most of them are just "holiday" songs and don't really say anything about "Christmas". Not that there is anything wrong with that I suppose, but Christmastime is very symboloic.

Throw away the marketing and the BIG sales offered by all of the retailers, the blow up Nativity sets on your neighbors lawns next to the blow up Santa on a Harely and all of the houses that are decorated with way too many flashing blinking lights and it's like the very end of the Dr. Suess Book: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".

“PoohPooh to the Whos!” he was grinchishly humming.
“They’re finding out now that no Christmas is coming!”
“They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do!”
“Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
Then the Whos down in Whoville will all cry BooHoo!”
“That’s a noise,” grinned the Grinch, “That I simply MUST hear!”

So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow.
But the sound wasn’t sad! Why, this sound sounded merry!
It couldn’t be so! But it WAS merry! VERY!
He stared down at Whoville! The Grinch popped his eyes!
Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small,Was singing!
Without any presents at all!

He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?”
“It came with out ribbons! It came without tags!”
“It came without packages, boxes or bags!”
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.”
“Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”

And what happened then? Well…in Whoville they say,
That the Grinch’s small heart Grew three sizes that day!
And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light,
And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!
And he, HE HIMSELF! The Grinch carved the roast beast!

Whatever your beliefs, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Agnostic, Atheist or just plain ol' grumpy and miserable there is something about this time of the year that changes your heart just a little.

At least it does mine anyway.

I don't like the commercialism, I'm not a religious person, but I like the spirit of this time of year. Even if you're worried about the financial mess the whole world is in or if you can't buy your kids that gift they really wanted because you just got laid off, there is still this glimmer of hope in people you just don't really see any other time of the year.

So I was thinking about one of the last times I attended church for Christmas. A woman named Dorothy was a sort of seregate "Grandmother" to a small group of us who were all of the same age. Young, starting new families and we all helped each other along. Dorothy would invite us all to her home for dinner occasionally and we would have her in our homes as well. She had her own family, but many of them have moved far away and her husband passed away and I think she just was one of those people that loved to be around young people. It kept her young as well.

She was a Christian woman, but not a regular church goer. Christmas and Easter like many people who feel that they need to make some kind of appearance.

Everyone knew her and she knew everyone. One of those warm hearted people.

She sat next to me during a Christmas day service we attended. This was when I was very active in the Methodist church. Much to the chagrin of my Irish Catholic parents. the church played a very important part in my life back then.

Anyway, one of the songs for the service that day was "Go Tell it On the Mountain". I was a bit puzzled, I just never thought of it as a Christmas song. Spiritual song, but not a Christmas song. Then I read the lyrics:

"Go tell it on the mountain. Go tell it on the mountain. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ was born."

Well duh, that makes sense!

Just as the organ fired up the intro Dorothy turned to me and said that this was one of her favorite songs.

Standing next to me singing out of the top of her lungs was one of the few times I got tearful in church. She wasn't the best singer in the world, but she sang it with all her heart and soul and with the most beautiful peaceful smile on her face.

I sang louder that day than I think I ever did any other time in church.

That is one of those moments that I reflect upon during the holidays. That feeling of being connected to other people for some reason. All wishing each other peace and health and happiness. That is what this time of year means to me.

Looking around on You Tube for a version of this song I finally found one that I thought is the way that the song should be sang. It's an Afro-American Spiritual that is sung slowly and with all it's meaning put behind it. Plain and simple - just listen to the words and enjoy it!

Go Tell it On the Mountain by Mahalia Jackson

Last day!

Ta da!

It's my official last day here. It is bittersweet. I will miss the people that I've worked with and have gotten to know over the past 2 years.

Super Sales Admin guy - the other side of my brain who I could not have done without.

Gentle Patrick - Tall, handsome and as gentle as a lamb with a fondness for wheat pita!?!

Mr. Greene - Smart and witty and is exploring the world right now. Good for him.

The Big Cheese - I will miss his impromptu visits to my office to talk about politics, kids, the economy or whatever else is on his mind at the time. He has to be the most approachable Presidents of a company I have ever met.

The Chief, Cook and Bottle washer - every office has one. The Office Manager Supreme. She amazes me in so many ways. She raised two smart successful girls on her own. She battled breast cancer, lost two very important people in her life within 2 months of each other: Her Aunt and her Mother who she watched wither away to nothing with dementia. This woman is absolutely amazing and I hope we stay in touch.

MDW - my boss, mentor, friend. She gave me a chance here and I hope I didn't disappoint her too much.

Auntie Mame - She still cracks me up with her humor and is off on a very tough journey ahead. She's as tough as Texas itself though and I know she'll pull through OK.

Our California Gal - Little Miss Sunshine. Always smiling and happy. We were each others sounding boards here when things got a little hairy. You always need someone to bitch to and let them bitch back once in a while. It's office therapy.

There are others of course. Our UK friends, although most have left the company and gone on to greener pastures. Our editorial staff and those hard working production people who have made some miracles happen.

Over all a great group of people.

I've learned a lot. A lot about the publishing industry, a lot about the Academic Library world, a lot about myself and I feel like I am moving on at the best possible moment.

Enough of the mushy stuff and on to the next song on the countdown.

I went out for drinks with an old friend and her new girlfriend last night. It was good to see her and catch up. They are engaged! New Jersey allows for same sex Civil Unions. They looked very happy, very much in love....very young but so damn adorable you just want to squeeze them!

Whenever I hear this song I always think of Dan. Christmas is her favorite time of the year and she is always singing holiday songs. You don't really get too annoyed with her because she is just a really beautiful person inside and out. One of those people who just makes you smile.

So, this song goes out to Dan and her future wife and I wish them both lots of love, health and happiness together!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams

Counting down

Two more days left here at my current employer and 7 more days until Christmas!

I'm almost giddy!

Almost - I'm not really the giddy type. I'm more of a bellowing laugh kind of gal or the Mutley wheezy laugh and when I really get going, I don't make any sound at all I just kind of shake up and down uncontrollably.

For the last two days here at this place, I have brought my camera and will attempt a photo journal of sorts. I actually took pictures on the highway while driving about 75 mph, not sure how they are gonna turn out. Probably blurry as hell, but we'll see. I am going to photograph the area I work, the building, the parking garage, some of the more colorful characters on the streets and whatever else I fancy at the time.

Be warned odd and strange things may be coming your way.

Also remember I have a FILM camera so it may be a bit before I actually post them all.

Next on the countdown I thought I would list my 7 favorite Christmas songs.

One every day until Christmas.

I can't really think of anything else to write at the moment, so this is just filler really. I have a lot going on and am really busy trying to get my accounts together and work on finding a sublet to rent for the month of January so I can attend the training I need for the new job which I start on Monday!

No rest for the wicked!

So - # 7 on my Christmas Countdown is a song that always reminds me of my Mom. When we would have Christmas dinner at my parents house, inevitably my Mom and my Sister and I would start to sing this song - mostly because of the backup singers! They really make the song.

I give you Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley!




You just gotta sing the doo doo DOO doo doo.

Ya gotta!

Getting there

We got the tree up yesterday and we also managed to decorate it!

A few years ago we bought a fake tree. I prefer real trees, but the mess of the needles kind of drives me nuts. Months after Christmas is over I still find pine needles popping up in the carpet or working their way out of the furniture.

M is getting into the holiday spirit this year which is great and she wanted a live tree - so that's what we got! A few weekends ago we went on a spending spree and bought all new ornaments to replace some of the older balls that were starting to fade. We went with more the "decorator" look and bought ornaments that were in the same color scheme. The really remarkable part was that we both agreed on which ones we liked!

It looks very pretty, but there is a part of me that misses the ornaments that I've had for years. The ones the kids made for me when they were little. The two "baby's first Christmas" ornaments that are now well over 20 years old. My Mom even gave me some of the ornaments we used to hang on our tree when I was little. Unwrapping them each year is like opening a photo album - the memories just flood back.

I'll find places for them around the house somewhere. There's always a plant that needs a little holiday flair added to it!

Right now the house is a complete mess. I have about 6 tubs filled with holiday decorations that I have to find places for. They are all opened and sitting in my dining room with some of the contents pulled out and strewn about the floor. Some on the dining room table, coffee table, kitchen table - basically any available space. Today we'll put of the rest of the house decorations and try to clean up the place a bit.

Driving to get my coffee today one of my favorite Christmas songs came on the radio. Heirlooms by Amy Grant.

Here are some of the lyrics:

Up in the attic,
Down on my knees.
Lifetimes of boxes,
Timeless to me.
Letters and photographs,
Yellowed with years,
Some bringing laughter,
Some bringing tears.

Time never changes,
The memories, the faces
Of loved ones, who bring to me,
All that I come from,
And all that I live for,
And all that I'm going to be.
My precious family
Is more than an heirloom to me.

I think many people get very nostalgic around the holidays. You remember Christmases when you were a kid or when your own children were little and that wonder that came along with the season.

The commercialism of the holidays drives me insane. Seeing Christmas decorations up in the stores the day after Halloween is just maddening. Radio station that go all holiday music from Thanksgiving through New Years also drives me nuts. It's kind of killed the anticipation and the special feeling I used to get around the holidays.

Maybe I'm just old and crotchety now - that could very well be, but the holidays have lost a lot of meaning to me. And not just because of my lack of any religious convictions either. I am agnostic leaning more towards the atheist side of things but I had a time where religion did play an important part of my life. Now I'm just skeptical and grumpy.

I do like Christmas though and I still get mushy inside when I unwrap my manger set that my parents brought me from Ireland. I used to love to play with my parents manger set when I was a kid and looked at that little baby Jesus and wonder just who the heck was he and how did he go from a little baby to a man on the cross in just a few months?

Obviously I didn't realize that they skipped that whole middle part of his life in the bible. I still wonder what he was like when he was a kid though. Was he a bratty little 2 year old? A defiant 3 year old? What was he like as a teenager? Did he go out and drink with his buddies? Have wild camel races in the desert?

My mind obviously has some really odd thoughts going around in it!

Still - I think about it. I know I can't be the only one.

Well, back to the business of finishing up the decorating and then cleaning up the mess I've made.

I'll put my Christmas music on and my little Santa hat and let my mind wonder through all of the years of Christmas past: "Some bringing laughter, some bringing tears".

Peace all!