I recently looked back at my very first few blog posts, way back in the olden days of blogging. The first few were right around Christmas of 2006, so of course, I couldn’t help but talk about Christmas and all the ways I love it.
In this post {click here to see the original}, I shared a quote from a cup of Starbucks coffee. I liked it. I am glad I wrote it there.
We can sing beautifully alone, but to add harmonies, to join with voices blending, sharing the emotion and depth of meaning in the words: this is best. Life and songs and Christmas are meant to be shared.
I just realized I should have added “A Few of My Favorite Things,”
“Silver-white winters that melt into spring…”
Oh well.
News flash: I am living in the arctic tundra. Not really. Still Denver. But it looks like the arctic tundra. It feels like the arctic tundra! It is not just cold, people, it’s downright frigid!
“God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend. For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth…'” Job 37
My friend Kaye posted on her FB yesterday,
If it was 100 degrees warmer, I would not be sad.
Meaning: “if it were only 80 degrees outside.” That’s right! It hit 20-degrees-below-ZERO in parts of Colorado yesterday, which was common when we lived in the perpetually icy Minot, ND and the main reason we do not live there now! Ay-yi-yi!
But, you know, standing at the window with a steaming cup of coffee in my hand, I can look out at the snow sparkling in the sunlight on New Year’s Eve and be quite romantic and idealistic about it. For now, anyway.
Includes: Lots of standards (like Snow from the movie, White Christmas, and A Winter Romance by Dean Martin, some Bing, some Sarah Vaughan, and even Julie London), a little pop (The First Snowfall, Carpenters), a nod to country (Anne Murray’s Snowbird), some bright-kid-fun-tunes (Pretty Snowflakes by Peggy Lee, Little Snow Girl, too), and a few deeply reflective songs (Lazy Snow and Somewhere it’s Snowing, see lyrics below).
“…when snow covers the earth,
That it hides the worlds scars,
and gives nature new birth…
God’s grace, like the snow, is falling again!”
That final song encapsulates what the snow always really reminds me of, when fresh snow, like grace, covers the faded, dormant landscape. The imperfections are evened out, the brown leaves along fence lines and even the litter in highway ditches get covered in a thick blanket of white purity. And underneath it all, where the eye can’t see, magic is happening. The snowflakes have joined hands to hide the forthcoming, joyous surprise ~ The Creator is fashioning a spring, having sent snow from His storehouses (reserved for times of trouble, stockpiled for when we need it most, see Job 38.22-23). The snow is suspended moisture. It speaks of a future, of a spring-green hope, His word in us, causing growth and fruitfulness again, regardless of how dead or lifeless our fields look today.
“As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55.10-11 NIV
Grace to you, friends and familia on a snow-covered day in Colorado.
Yes, it is true. From my Family-Table-November Spotify playlist (see it to your right), I can’t get the song by Sara Evans off my mind. It may just end up being the song of the month for me. However, I really have no idea what the lyrics are, except:
These are the moments I thank God that I’m alive
These are the moments I’ll remember all my life
I have all I waited for – And I could not ask for more…
That’s all I know. And I am pretty sure it is a love song and probably a codependent love song where she is putting ALL her stock in one person for her happiness, which is a lot of pressure for said person. Haha.
Just another November the 8th…I’ve enjoyed 55 or so of them so far.
But, the words I do know, the ones above, which I bookend with lots ‘o humming and made-up-lyrics, are reminding me to look for the simple moments I should be grateful for, the little, everyday snippets of life that don’t seem to amount to much, but are the Jenga blocks that make up my ordinary living, and give structure and solidity to dreams.
I went to sleep last night to the sound of the sweetest November rain. It signals a change on its way from the sunny, amazingly beautiful fall weather we have been having. Snow is headed this direction, they say. But oh, the sound of that cleansing, whole, full-on rain. That was a good moment.
It morphed in to the brightest sunrise, blue skies and raindrops sparkling on the windows. The earth was rejoicing for the deep, refreshing drink. My Aspens are half empty now, but the way the remaining leaves dance against that Colorado-blue sky takes my breath away. It’s such a savory moment. I’m dining on it still, as I write.
It was Grandparent’s Day at Hunter’s school yesterday. So I reciprocated by making it Hunter Day. :)
The waitress gave him another one to go! Ay-yi-yi!
The grand-boys are here (it was a sleepover): Gavin (11) and Hunter (10). I cannot believe how many dishes they generate in such a short time. Meals, snacks, snacks after snacks. Soda-pop glasses, hot-chocolate mugs. Candy wrappers piled on the coffee table (blame their grand-poppa, I tell you!) and some candy wrappers just found a spot on the floor beside the couches where my little men piled blankets and cushions for movie-watching, boy-flicks. And as I load my arms with the dishes and debris to head for the kitchen, I can’t help but sing it, I could not ask for more.
We all make bucket lists and have grand plans and create goals and make Pinterest boards of exotic places we want to see and things we wish to do. But I never even took my kids to Disney World. Can you even believe that? And I took French all through junior high and high school and I have never gone to Paris. These trips would have made for the most incredible memories, moments-of-a-lifetime, for sure.
But this morning, my cutie-pie grand-boys helped me move the sofa away from the wall and what did we find? Birthday gift-wrap wads. We have gift-wrap paper fights at the end of gift-opening, every birthday. All the kids go after Uncle Rocky with zeal, because he deserves it for always getting me right in the face! And there they were: remnants of a happy celebration past.
And there were 3 or 4 Hot Wheels behind the couch because Malakai is all about those cars these days and a few are bound to crash off the back of the furniture at the speed they are going. A few crayons were there because this house is about my children’s children being able to express themselves creatively. And some wayward gum balls from the gum ball machine that supplies the grandbebes when they are here were back there, too. Those are things I found behind the sofa. And I could not ask for more.
Kai-Kai is a boy on the go.
When Dave squeezes the middle of the toothpaste tube because he likes to do that, I try to remember that he thinks I tighten it all up from the end just so he can. And when he leaves the bread on the counter right beside the bread basket instead of in it {which may or may not make me slightly crazy}, I know it is just one of the things I will always remember about him. I’ll remember that he loves me like crazy, that he pays too much for rib-eye steaks {“Wait until they are on sale, honey!“} because he knows I love them and I could eat steak everyday. I’ll always remember that he wants to close the bedroom windows through the winter, but he freezes all night because I need fresh air. These are the moments, ya know? And I could not ask for more.
The baby who cries all night – means we have a baby to love, a little person to usher in to their destiny. Used diapers are a sign of health and life. Lots and lots of life. :)
The dirty dishes piling up in the sink, means we had food to eat. There are so many things in the fridge that I can’t decide what to have for breakfast.
The relationship that needs mending means we have people who mean enough to put forth the effort. We’re so lucky.
How on earth did we end up with this much laundry, except that we have so many clothes from which to choose? Leaf-blowers make tidy piles for us and a big truck comes and takes the autumn debris away, no-muss, no-fuss. Toys are scattered around the house because they don’t even fit in the designated boxes. Kids are loud, parties make messes, meal-making comes around three times a day, day after day. They are just mundane moments passing by. They are not glamorous, nor brag-worthy.
But they are surely divine – the things for which we can be grateful. Day in and day out, one foot in front of the other, faithfulness in the little things – I could not ask for more.
My life and times and seasons are soundtracked by songs and melodies. October was “Autumn Leaves,” feeling memories and melancholy drift by like the leaves of an old tree.
But November, November’s song is really less Sara Evans and more thankfulness, reflection, gratefulness for life, the things we’ll end up remembering with deep fondness. Maybe less about trips to Disney World. And more about all the candy wrappers we were privileged to scoop up and throw away.
NOTE: Ohmygoodness. I am just about to hit publish and in come my guys, Dave-the-husband, and Gav and Hunter, the first two of my nine beloved grandchildren. They all three tracked mud all the way through the house. After I had vacuumed. Oh yes, they did! Haha. Oh my…
These days, these monotonous, wearisome, repetitive, routine and sometime tedious days: “These are the moments I thank God that I’m alive.” #thesearethemoments
What are yours? What makes you thank God you’re alive?
The title, of course, is from The Partridge Family theme song, “Come On, Get Happy,”* a true classic if ever there was one!
I’ve decided to introduce my granddaughters to the old TV show and Gemma just got to see the first three episodes last night. Tonight is Guini’s turn.
Sometimes you hop on Pinterest and find a theme. Pinterest has provided all of today’s great graphics! Music, songs – ahhhhhh, yes!
A chart explaining it all is so helpful.
It’s true.
Plus
Hey – in other music news, Spectacle: Elvis Costello with… {season one}is available on Netflix. Love Elvis, love executive producer, Elton John (who is guest on the first show). It’s a talk show with some of the best musical artists in the universe. “Talk and roll, rhythm and muse,” one promo tags it.
I just watched the episode where Elton John interviewed Elvis’s wife, the AMAZING Diana Krall (her vocal styling and interpretation is perfection and her piano playing – I nearly faint). The three of them on one show? It’s like a rich dessert! My moonlight indulgence while Dave is protecting the State of Colorado – extremely good music with a myriad of fantastically creative artists and the spontaneous performances that happen when they’re onstage telling their stories. So good. SO good!
Lastly, I just became the proud owner of a stash of Andy Williams (6), Perry Como (1) and George Maharis (1) albums for my collection. So retro, modern and beautiful. I also scored a couple of jazz albums I want to listen to soon.
The slight crackle of the needle on the vinyl, the spinning record and smooth love songs – instant transportation waaaaaaaay back in time!
This playlist is a huge category. There are soooooo many songs about hearth and home or houses and hometowns. Quite overwhelming, actually. I had to leave off another 8 or 9 that I really liked (like “Lucky” Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait – to be used on a future list) just because I was determined to keep this list at 10. There is a playlist from YouTube at the end of this blog that includes each of the songs I have written about here.
I’m a home-grown, home-loving, home-girl. I don’t necessarily mean a house, either. I mean home the feeling, home the people. Home. Sweet home.
LORD, it seems You have been my home forever, from ‘once upon a time,’ to ‘happily ever after,’ (from before the mountains were formed until time is no more), You are God and You have been my God and my home. Psalm 90.1-2, my paraphrase
Check out my top ten songs and why they made the cut.
#1 Back Home Again, John Denver
Long story, told as sparingly as possible. The rest are shorter.
Why do I love this song? There is a whole family story. I cannot capture it here, but suffice it to say that my brother Joe (yes, that Joe), ran away from home. My dad had accepted a church far, far away from any home we’d ever known and there was some culture shock and he was a HS freshman and of course, we showed up mid-year, so it is hard.
It tore our family up – days of Joe just missing. But after the better part of a week, he was found and the police were putting him on a plane and my parents drove to New Orleans to get him and he wasn’t there. The airline said he hadn’t boarded. We all mourned even more. My mom was sick with sorrow. We assumed he ran again after the police delivered him to the airport. There was a heavy darkness at our house.
Then a phone call: the flight he’d been on was cancelled – he arrived late (airlines can be dumb). We all climbed in the Ford Station Wagon and went to get him. What a relief. There was much love and my dad took us to a really nice steak house and we feasted on the fatted calf, so to speak. The son had come home.
It was nearing midnight, I think, as we drove back to Robert, Louisiana, past our school-night bedtime. The excitement was quieting down and we were just so happy he was there. The family was settled in listening to the radio, still, as the car hummed along. Just as we pulled in to the driveway, John Denver’s voice filled the car
There’s a storm across the valley, clouds are rollin’ in
the afternoon is heavy on your shoulders.
There’s a truck out on the four lane, a mile or more away
the whinin’ of his wheels just makes it colder.
He’s an hour away from ridin’ on your prayers up in the sky
and ten days on the road are barely gone.
There’s a fire softly burning; supper’s on the stove
but it’s the light in your eyes that makes him warm.
My dad put the car in park, but none of us moved, not a muscle. We all sensed the holiness of the moment, the serendipity of this particular song at this distinct second in time…and we just sat there…in the driveway…in the late night – listening, knowing somehow God was blessing the boy coming home. We listened to every single word and note of that song, almost afraid to even breathe…
It’s the sweetest thing I know of, just spending time with you
it’s the little things that make a house a home.
Like a fire softly burning and supper on the stove.
And the light in your eyes that makes me warm.
Hey, it’s good to be back home again
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend
Yes, ‘n, hey it’s good to be back home again.
It was a moment barely spoken of for years, for it was too precious. And it was this monumental transcendent time-fragment we’ll never forget. Because for all of the fear and sadness and rejoicing those days had brought, that moment became the time we knew we were together, all those miles from our kin and the life we’d known before, and we were home.
And the brother I loved was safe. My little Joey.
So how could I not love this song? It’s my number one song about home.
#2 The House that Built Me, Miranda Lambert
This was the Country Music Awards song of the Year in 2011, I believe, maybe 2010. Such a great song. It is the story of adult going back to the house she grew up in and asking the owner to let her come inside to look around. She calls it “the house that built me” because of all the memories of her experiences growing up there. It immediately, when I heard it, reminded me of 1723 York Street, an address which, if you read this blog, you’ll recognize {the house of my carefree-childhood memories}. A quick search and you will see the address shows up regularly here…I wonder how many times? :)
And I have always wanted to go back there, to my house-that-built-me and see if I could go through it. And if the owners now ever stumble on this blog – I hope they won’t think I am crazy. I hope they’ll just watch the Miranda Lambert video and be able to understand that many-many-many years ago, I was a little girl there, and the memories are sweet and fine. O, the projects I planned and the dreams I dreamed and adventures I experienced there…
I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness in me might start healing…
If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory from the house that built me.
#3 Home is Wherever I’m with You, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
This song is so fun-gritty, backwoods-country-AND-modern and did-I-mention: fun. The sentiment is that “home” is where your “people” are, the ones you love the most, not so much a location and street address. And that is a true thing! Cute-cute-cute!
#4 Who Says You Can’t Go Home, Bon Jovi
Well Bon Jovi is a great rocker who wrote and performed this song, which highlighted the work of Habitat for Humanity. I like him a lot. Crank it up and roll down the windows and sing loud while you are enjoying your neighborhood. You can go home again!
#5 I’ll Be Home for Christmas, The Carpenters
Everybody and their dog has performed this classic Christmas number. This song, written about a WWII soldier coming home from war for Christmas, was first recorded by Bing Crosby in 1943. But then the likes of Amy Grant, Anne Murray and Andy Williams recorded it, too. Other covers were made by the Beach Boys, Smokey Robinson, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and Brad Paisley. Neil Diamond, Kenny Chesney and Elvis sang it, too. Hundreds of people have recorded the song and it is a lovely,melancholy tune recalling, with great affection, the beauty of “home.” It speaks of a longing, a homesickness, that resonates for all of us when we just wish we could be with the people we love, in a place we’re together.
Dave and I were talking about the renditions we heard most growing up. And though I feel like I heard the Johnny Mathis version a lot, we determined The Carpenters was the primary version we grew up with, that Karen’s haunting voice was the smooth sound that made this song relevant in the 1970s and beyond. She interpreted well and as far as songs about home, this one has to be in the mix because, Christmas or not – sometimes dreaming and remembering is the only way we actually get to be with our families, our loves.
#6 Home, Phillip Phillips
Phillip Phillips won 2012 American Idol. He was good and my pick from early on. He is very earthy and young, but also sort of timeless and seasoned and when the 2 finalists got to pick a song they’d release in case they won and I saw him perform this song, I was like, “O-my-gosh he will positively win this!” He just killed this song. In a good way.
And you know how sometimes when you first hear a song it takes a while to grow on you? This song was not like that. I loved it immediately! It speaks of some one making a place for you, a home, a safe place. LOVE it.
Hold on, to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this wave is stringing us along
Just know you’re not alone
Cause i’m going to make this place your home
Settle down, it’ll all be clear
Don’t pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found
Just know you’re not alone
Cause i’m going to make this place your home
#7 Green, Green Grass of Home, Tom Jones
It was the 1960s…and this song just sucked me in. I couldn’t seem to hear it enough back then and the surprise ending got me every. single. time. Tragic.
#8 Home, Michael Buble
Just smooth and sweet, sung by the super-suave crooner of the day. He is on the road (trying to write her letters) and and he is missing his love and he just wants to get on the plane and go home.
#9 House of Love, Amy Grant and Vince Gill
They sang this in 1994 way before they married and I do not really understand the official video (the little house thing?), but I just enjoy this hope-filled song. I had a friend going through a break-up when this was on the charts and this was the song we prayed through. And it is a fun song to sing and “the lights are coming on in the house of love.” And they did for my friend!
#10 Taking You Home, Don Henley
The gravely-soulful drummer-boy of the Eagles. “Take my hand, love, I’m taking you home, Taking you home.”
Come on. Let’s go home. :)
Embedded // the WHOLE playlist, in no particular order:
“For me, home is the coming together of my past memories and experiences, of my love for my children, husband and friends;…my optimism tangibly expressed in life-enhacing ways, room by room…” –Alexandra Stoddard
Some days, I just pull out the old Hosanna! Ingrity Music and worship my head off. Couldn’t find a Youtube for this particular Hiding Place song, though the other You are My Hiding Place song that I also love like crazy is everywhere there.
But in looking, I also found this one. I sang this so much back in the day that people in our church liked to play it and say, “Hey, Tredessa (or whichever kid), – who is this singing?” “Mommy,” they’d say. I sang it that much. I’ll tell you something now, we’d have to drop it about 3 or 4 keys!
Wow I loved this song back then! Those late 1980s…
Forever my baby. Born on “tax day” (finally, the day was redeemed) and during a freak ice storm in Sioux City, Iowa. She was a big baby, even though we were total vegan at the time. And she was born to applause because the doctor, at the teaching hospital there, was so impressed with how well Dave and I were handling the labor process (I’d been through it…a few times, very recently, actually). He asked more than once if they could bring the students and interns in to observe us. I said no several times, but when it got to the “really fun” part, my defenses were low and when I said yes, the room filled with 20+ observers who cheered us on and affirmed our expertise in baby making and birthing.
But even though she arrived center stage, the star of the show, and though she holds the position as baby-of-the-family, Stormie has never been the “typical” version of that. She was never an “absent-minded, friendly manipulator with a craving for the spotlight and everyone’s rapt attention,” those things commonly used to describe her birth order ranking.
Stormie Dae, born with a headful of dark hair, just entered the family quietly and sweetly, enthralled by all the activity in a home with 4 older siblings, 1 1/2, almost 3, almost 4 and almost 7 years of age (that’s right: 5 kids in less than 7 years). She brought joy and a certain sweetness. She got her daddy’s personlity: easy-going, peaceful, servant-hearted and deeply loving. She got his dimples, too. And she won my heart.
Today, Stormie Dae, I thought I’d give you words
Because words and song are how I show my love. So when I started listing my words, I couldn’t get Michael Buble’s song “Everything” out of my head, so it was hard not to turn this into a song-lyric-poen thing, but maybe that is as it should be. Because, “You Took My Heart by Surprise” and since the day you came I have wanted to be “Close to You.” But maybe none of this means anything since I have also been singing Stephen Bishop’s “Save it for a Rainy Day” for 3 days now, too?
And etc. {a mom is allowed to be corny on her baby’s birthday}
But I mean these words. And I could have gone on. Yes, I could have. But I ran out of space…
You may need to open another screen to see all 50 or 75 of them?
created at www.picnik.com (just plopped lots of words with 3 different fonts onto a photo from Stormie’s (and Steph’s) www.maydae.com blog
Love you, sweet-pea. So proud of you. Happy Birthday.
I tend toward the sentimental with Christmas music. And I’m a little bit {more} country. At Christmas. For some odd reason.
But certain sings must have certain singers.
“Happy Holiday”s has to be Andy Williams.
“Winter Wonderland” belongs to Johnny Mathis.
“Drummer Boy” has to go to Bing, but Bing gets bunches of them (including “White Christmas” and “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”) because I love him. he is Mr Christmas!
Ellie invited me to do a Christmas music swap, my favorites for hers and I decided, though on different days I am in love with different moods and melodies of Christmas, to put together 12 songs that represented our family from 1981 to the present. They include Bing, and there is Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” but I included Whitney Houston (“Joy to the World”) and Mariah Carey (“O Holy Night”). Kenny Rogers got 2 selections (“Kids” and “Christmas is My Favorite Time of Year”) because his was the first cassette Christmas music tape we bought as a new family. I did include Casting Crown’s updated version of “I heard the Bells” because Dave really likes it and of course, the collection would not be complete with the Charlie Brown Christmas song, “Christmas Time is Here.”
I didn’t get ot include a lot of songs I love by Dolly Parton, Karen Carpenter or Elvis, Alabama, Amy Grant or the Partridge Family. I just really love Christmas music and I have lots and lots of it representing the 1940s to the present. They made thousands of recordings in the 50s, it seems and each year, a new song or two is added to my list Christmas songs I love…
And I am kinda in love with this duet, which is more about winter than Christmas, but don’t you just love Willie and Norah? I do! CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN*
It WAS actually cold yesterday for about 17.238 minutes and we actually got at least 6.798 minutes of some sleety, snow-ish, rainy/gray/sky something or another before blue skies busted back out just before sundown. I had inserted the word “finally” above the word “cold” but alas this morning, another sunny, temperate day and they are saying no snow for Christmas. But I am sure we’ll have some for May Day. Grrrrr…….
What are you singing these days?
*Willie Nelson & Norah Jones – Baby, It’s Cold Outside
I LOVED this song when I was about 14. I bought the 45. The other day I taught it to GemGem. Only she had to sing “Nonna, What if…” It was hilarious. Everytime we got to the end and I’d ask, “Do you love me, Gemma?” She would smile, declare a very decided yes and grab me and hug me, as if she were really concerned I might not know, and then she would always be late coming in on singing the final refrain, “You better start loving me again, again…you better start loving me again!” It was so sweet!
