Do You Hear What I Hear?

 

Today I'm joining sprite once again with a post for this year's Virtual Advent Tour.  She has been doing it the last few years, and I find it both interesting and a lot of fun.

Wednesday afternoon, when I was at home and The Tim was napping after his medical procedure, I was listening to Christmas carols, and singing along with some of them.  Singing Christmas carols was always something that everyone in our family did, as well all love to sing.  My father had a beautiful voice, and my middle sister has one too - my mother had a decent voice and I can carry a tune, but will never be asked to be a soloist anywhere.

And then there is my oldest sister, Nancy.  Nancy really loves to sing, and she never sings in anything but an enthusiastic manner.  The problem is, she cannot carry a tune even if one was handed to her in a bag.  I mean, she doesn't even come close to the mark.  But to her credit, she doesn't care, and still enjoys singing ... loudly ... and often.

I was thinking of one year when we had a plan to go as a family to Midnight Mass.  Both of my sisters were in high school, so I would have been in elementary school, and they convinced my parents that we should go to Midnight Mass because then we could sleep later on Christmas morning, and not have to interrupt/stop opening gifts to get ready and go out.  My parents finally gave in, and the plan was made.  

Now, it was pretty well known that if you wanted to get a seat in our nearby church at all, you had to be there absolutely no later than 11:30 p.m., and even that was pushing it.  On Christmas Eve, we were all ready to go, except for Nancy, who was still fixing her hair (being a self-proclaimed fashionista, she took longer to get ready than the rest of us combined).  She finally sashayed down the steps about 11:40, and suffice it to say that my dad was already annoyed.

Unsurprisingly, we arrived and there was pretty much standing room only.  My middle sister saw a friend of hers, who let her squeeze into the pew, and a couple of young kids got up to give their seats to my parents.  But Nancy and I would have to stand the whole time.  About ten minutes before the Mass started, some hymns were played and singing began.  The first one was "O Little Town of Bethlehem."  Well, Nancy was standing in an area of the aisle that had particularly good acoustics, and all of a sudden, all that anyone in our section could hear was her extremely off-key version of said hymn.  And as I said, we were all *very* enthusiastic singers.  As you might imagine, many heads turned and looked in our direction with either puzzled or amused expressions, but Nancy was so busy singing, she paid no attention.  And so it began.

On the way home, we were all having a good time being amused by everyone noticing Nancy's bad singing.  But my dad - who found it impossible to believe that she was that bad of a singer - kept asking her why she did it.  She would respond each time that she couldn't help it, that was just how it was.  Then he said to my mother, "Why do you let her do that??" which of course led to her saying that it wasn't her fault that Nancy couldn't sing, and how was she supposed to not let her sing, etc.  Of course, we all found it hilarious, but my dad was truly irritated with my mom, who then became really irritated with him, which made us think it was all even more hilarious.

Never again did we attend Midnight Mass as a family.  Apparently because my mother just couldn't find a way to not "let" Nancy sing poorly ... 

To this day, the first strains of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" make me laugh.

Fourth Sunday of Advent 2018

Today on this final Sunday of Advent, when for so many, things are at a fever pitch, I am sharing one of my favorite musical arrangements of one of my favorite carols.  I hope you will enjoy this quiet piece of loveliness and that it will give you a moment of calm in the crazy.

And to all of you, but especially to Kym (she'll know why!), best wishes for a 

Happy Christmas Eve eve. :-)

Sugar Scrubs

It occurred to me that although I had said I was going to make this Rosemary and Peppermint Sugar Scrub for some Christmas gifts this year, I never followed up to let you know how well it did or did not work.  So today is the day to give you my report.

According to the recipe, each batch makes two cups.  I looked at several different options for jars to use, and finally decided on some clamp type jars that I got at Ikea.  

As you can see if you have looked at the recipe, it's really straightforward.  The only thing that was different for me was that it took approximately 45 to 60 seconds for our microwave to melt the coconut oil; and, I used more drops of each essential oil for scent.  

I had also considered adding some color to them, but I couldn't find any of our food coloring.  Finally, The Tim informed me where he had "put them away" after Easter last year - when I was on the last two!   But I added just a couple of drops to those, and got a lovely pale pink color.  Here's how it all looked when I was finished.

I have to say that if you need a fun but also quick gift, this is a good one!  The hardest thing for me was getting the coconut oil out of its container to put into the measuring cup to melt, as it was pretty solid.  But otherwise, it was really easy, and it was also fun to see the ingredients become a scrub.  The house smelled so good for the rest of the day after I made these!  I took the small amount left in the bowl once I was done, and put it into a small jar to use myself - it is so nice, and my hands have never been softer. :-)

The whole thing was discovered to have one drawback though - the jars are glass, which meant that sending them through the mail could be trick (no problem, bubble wrap), and well ... they ended up being kinda heavy.  So they added a bit of weight to packages.  Overall though, I still saved some money with this idea, which was the original plan.

Switching gears, I'm glad you all enjoyed Santa Pip!  He's such a funny cat - he wasn't exactly thrilled to be dressed up, but didn't really make a fuss, and seemed more puzzled than anything else.  I told him that he made people smile, and that is what Christmas is about, so I'm guessing that the real Santa will reward him for being a good boy ...

Also, we had tickets this past Saturday night for the Christmas concert by the Philadelphia Boys Choir.  It was fantastic, but I had to laugh when they started one number - "Carol of the Drums" ... or, as most of us know it, "Little Drummer Boy!"  The Tim almost had a heart attack, and at least 10 times on the way home told me he has NEVER heart it called that (neither have I).  From some of your comments a few posts back where I learned he has many compatriots in  his distaste for that carol, I thought you'd enjoy the story.

I am behind on responding to comments, but I plan to do the best that I can to catch up. Though for some of you I have either misplaced, or never had, your e-mail addresses to respond.  So please know I'm not ignoring you!  I guess I should try to respond on the blog, but I just never think to do so.  I'll get it together one of these days, honest.  :-)

A Carol for the Second Sunday of Advent

Because I assailed you with horrible songs this past Thursday, here is one of my very favorites for you today.  Happy Sunday, Happy Advent!

You're Gonna Hate Me For This One

I apologize in advance for my list today for Three on Thursday.  Why?  Because I realize it will cause earworms and not the good kind.  So I suggest you don't read it until you can counteract it with other music IMMEDIATELY.

My list today is Three Christmas Songs That Should Be Illegal.

Let me start by saying that I'm pretty willing to let a lot slide as far as Christmas songs go.  There are a lot that I think are stupid, or that I just don't like (The Tim gets stabby when "Little Drummer Boy" is played, which amuses me greatly, since it doesn't bother me one way or the other), but most of them fall into a benign category where I just move on to something else or turn off the radio.  Those listed below though, are far outside the pale of my patience and tolerance.  What better way to declare this than to share with all of you??

In no particular order (I hate them all equally), here they are.  And to give you at least one ounce of respite, I'm linking to the Wikipedia entries and images rather than to the actual audios.  If you are lucky enough to be unfamiliar with one/all of them, I would suggest going no further than reading about them.

Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer

Every time I hear this, I wish I could be run over by a bus.

Nuttin' for Christmas

There is a perfectly good reason this annoying kid is not getting anything for Christmas.

Oh and whoops, I lied - there is another one, so let's just say these two are in a tie:

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

I will call The Hippopotamus Protection League if I have to!

Dominick the Donkey

I have nothing against Italians, or Donkeys, or certainly not Christmas.  

Together in this song, though?  A crime against humanity.

Again, apologies for the earworms - if it's any consolation, now I'm stuck with them too!  Time to find some music I like and try to salvage my brain.  :-)

Christmastime Friday Lullabye

One of my favorite Christmas CDs is this one.  And though I have never ever thought of it as a Christmastime song, the last one on the CD it is Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel), by Billy Joel.  Their performance of it is so beautiful, and evocative of Christmas feeling in the way it is arranged, that it has become one of my favorite versions of an already favorite song.

So on this Friday, when there are 9 days left before Christmas Day, I hope you will enjoy it as well.

Have a wonderful holiday season weekend.

A Gift, a Date, and a Rant

A Gift

Once upon a time, there was a knitter whose niece had a little baby boy, born on Cinco de Mayo.  The knitter wanted to knit something for her new great-nephew, but a couple of things held her back: 1) the baby lived in San Francisco, so really heavy duty items like sweaters were not totally necessary, and 2) this niece did not say "thank you," "drop dead," or even "UGLY" when she was sent a pair of hand knit socks for Christmas a few years ago.  However, the knitter had always made something for any new babies in the family, ever since she had learned to knit.  So she thought about making one thing, then something else, another thing, a failed project.  Finally she just gave up.

But as Christmastime arrived, and she wasn't knitting any other gifts, she started to rethink the whole thing.  She found a pattern that she liked, and could use some yarn that she already had, and figured, what the heck, one more try couldn't hurt, right?

A week later, she had finished the knitting, and it was actually pretty CUTE!  Sure, she had to fiddle a little bit with the pattern, which was challenging for her, but her  calculations worked (a Christmas miracle in and of itself), and that was encouraging as well.  Hopefully, the gift will fit the recipient.  And maybe she'll never know, and maybe the parents will hate it.  But the knitter decided that she wouldn't care what happened once the gift was given, because then it was all out of her hands.

And so, I give you the finished item:

and a closeup of the owls that go across the front:

Details:

Project: Owls for Parker

Pattern:  Owl Baby Vest by Jodi Haraldson (a freebie on Ravelry!)

Yarn:  Berrocco Vintage Colors, colorway 5220 (1 skein and a teeny bit of another)

Needles:  US4, US5, US6

Modifications:  When I was starting the rows above the owls that turn into the sleeves, I noticed that the owl on the left (as you are looking at it) would be under the left arm, when following the pattern as written.  It looked weird, so I ripped it out and redid it, after fooling with some numbers.  (These details will appear soon on my Ravelry project page for this item.)  I was pleased and surprised when it worked, and the finished piece looked so cute!

Other comments:  I can recommend this pattern.  It's easy, quick, and the result is just adorable!

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A Date

Today is 12-12-12!  How cool is that?  Did you know it is the last symmetrical date we will see in our lifetimes?  I hope you will do/did something special or treated yourself to mark the day.  Being "numerically aware" (as my niece referred to me), I couldn't let the day pass without noting it!

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A Rant

If you have read this blog for more than three seconds at any given time, you know that I love holidays in general, and Christmastime in particular.  And this year, more than others, I'm really tired of the Scrooges who are everywhere: in person, in print, on Facebook and Twitter.  

The latest is the discussion of Christmas carols.  Granted, I have ones that drive me nuts, or that I think are wrong (i.e., "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," "Dominic the Donkey), but I ignore them when I can, and sigh loudly when I can't.  And a lot of people don't like any Christmas song that isn't a hymn, which I can understand, but find to be personally limiting.

However, I MUST take exception with two discussions that I have come across recently that in my opinion are completely ridiculous.  Apparently, for years, we've all been listening to the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside," and not realizing that it is all about date rape.  And, the song, "Santa Baby"?  Well, that's about prostitution.  

REALLY?  Give me a break, people!  Why can't they just be amusing or silly holiday songs?  Every single thing in the world does not lead to some morally questionable result.  At least not in my world.  I just feel like these people need a sense of humor, you know?

In the meantime, there are now only THIRTEEN DAYS left until Christmas Day, and I sincerely hope that you will do everything within your power to enjoy them, and the rest of Christmastime that follows.  

And now?  I'm finally signing off ... :-)