blessing the Christmas tree

this evening i walked next door to deliver some mail to my neighbor, Sister Vincentia. there were 2 Christmas cards addressed to her that had erroneously been put in my mailbox. she invited me in to look at her Christmas tree with the lights and ornaments in place. i'd seen it in its bare, naked state several days ago when she first got it. but this evening she had her living room lights turned out so that the lighted tree shone in all its glory. it's an unassuming little tree, sparse of branches, handcut in the Jemez Mountains by friends of Sr V. she said it's the kind of tree that's used for candles set on on the branches. i've seen pictures of candle trees, but have yet to see one in person.

Sr V even had me put on a special pair of glasses, similar to 3-D glasses, that made the mini lights look like multi-colored snowflakes!! awesome!

V was going to bless the tree and invited me to participate. i've never even heard of such a thing, although according to Google, it's a regular Catholic tradition. you'd think that with me being the good Catholic that i am, cough, cough, that i would be familiar with this. au contraire, mon frere. i asked V if participating meant i had to lift my leg to leave my mark. no, she responded in her best nunly demeanor, which really means she guffawed good-naturedly.

V read the lines of blessing, and i responded like a good church-going congregant would, except that i'm no such thing, as we all know. but i haven't completely forgotten congregant responsibilities so i spoke my lines on cue, with a nudge to the ribs here and there. i even got to sprinkle holy water on the tree!

the tree blessing was a very special, quiet moment in the midst of the holiday hubbub and folderol, and i am touched that Sr V invited me to participate in a tradition that obviously holds a lot of meaning for her. that's why she's the good Catholic and i'm the lapsed Catholic ;)

next up with V: the drinking of some of my new special holiday tea from Harney and Sons. date and time to be announced. invitations will be in the mail soon. if you don't receive one, blame the Post Office, or maybe Santa's elves. those little guys are always up to some kind of mischief!

tidings of comfort and joy

i LOVE Christmas music! there, i've said it. now it's written in stone and i can never go back on it.

the other day i was bragging to my Irish brother about my extensive collection of Christmas music. but when i went to find some of my cd's so i could actually play some festive holiday music, none were to be found. i searched high and low to no avail, so i gave up and moved on to other projects. projects? ok, ok, frittering away time on the computer.

but then as i sat in my computer chair, i thought to myself: "where would i be if i were a Christmas cd?"

lo and behold, as i glanced at the box of Irish travel books to my left, i realized there was a small carton under that box. i pulled it out, and voila, there was the label "Christmas music" ... huzzah!

so for the last few days i've been playing a great selection of music while frittering away my time, er-r, working on Christmas projects. i love the old, traditional music like you find on "Croon and Swoon" and "Croon and Swoon II" ... who doesn't remember Gene Autry's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Bing Crosby's It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas, Rosemary Clooney's White Christmas, Mel Torme's Christmas Song, Eartha Kitt's Santa Baby, Johnny Mathis's Winter Wonderland. This is the music I grew up with, and they're all sentimental favorites. Included in the mix, of course, are quite a few classical cd's, like the Three Tenors, Mannheim Steamroller, and a mix or two of opera stars singing the holiday classics. Really lovely music.

Every year I add 1 or 2, or 3, new cd's to my holiday collection. The last few days I've listened to James Taylor, Loreena McKennitt, Emily Lou Harris, Celine Dion, Yo-Yo Ma and Friends, Sting. Coming up soon will be Josh Groben, Linda Ronstadt, Bette Midler's Cool Yule, Asleep at the Wheel's Santa Loves to Boogie, and my new ones for this year, Annie Lennox and the Puppini Sisters.

i love to play my Christmas cd's while i'm working around my apartment, whether it's the mundane activity of washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen, or holiday activities like wrapping gifts or making spiced walnuts and rum balls (yes, i've actually done that in past years, imagine that!), or fun activities like working in my holiday journal.

how about you? do you listen to holiday music? if so, what are your favorites? who knows, i might find a new favorite from YOUR list. feel free to share, no one will know, there's nobody here but just us chickens, having a private yuletide chat, slurping, er-r, sipping our Harney & Sons Holiday Tea. ain't life grand?!

memoirs: fiction or non-fiction

this is a good piece by Michael Larson about writing memoirs. i love the concept of writing your own history with some fiction thrown in for good measure. at my age, i certainly can't remember "exactly" what happened and when, i can only estimate some of the events based on the context of approximate periods in my life. aside from specific events that had a big impact on me, like November 22, 1963 and September 11, 2001, most life events tend to blur together. about 3-4 years ago, i was writing a story about our family Christmas morning tradition for an OASIS writing class. my description of the events was a conglomeration of many Christmases rolled into one, with some fictionalized descriptive passages thrown in for good measure. you know, the kind of verbiage that gives you a better sense of the surroundings. early, early in the morning on Christmas day, when the air is still frigid and it's still dark, how does snow sound when you're trudging thru it to get to the car to go to Christmas mass? what does your breath look like in the frosty air? are your nostrils frozen together yet?

there, do you feel cold yet? go have a cup of tea to warm up. Earl Grey. Hot.