Christmas At The Country Club, Again

There's a very funny song that a local band, The Trailer Park Troubadours, has recorded, called "It's Christmas At The Trailer Park Again" -- and we've had a good few of those, in the past! But now, with our second winter holiday season in the cottage coming to a close, we are cozy and happy, and not a bit sick, as we were last year at this time.

Our sincere little Douglas fir and its accompanying Advent Wreath with the Christ Candle (see above, taken Christmas Eve) were our main decorations in the parlor; and we needed no outside lights this year, thanks to the major lighting wars our two sets of neighboring houses were carrying on! (Peter's efforts you can see above; Ted & Teresa's display was so huge and covered so much territory in their front garden and on the house that we couldn't capture the whole light-show with our camera.) Suffice to say that NASA probably used our little block as a guide marker for the satellites.

But our front door was adorned with a lovely, fruit-decorated fresh evergreen wreath that Julie bought for us; and candles were lit in the parlor and the little kitchen. We had a festival of lights of our own sort.

Christmas Eve revels brought Julie, Bryan, DannyD and Stef – accompanied by her Highly Touted Jaque – to our door, for a leisurely afternoon of buffet-lunching on black bean soup and tomato-basil bisque, breads and cheeses, and a fabulous pumpkin cheesecake that Julie baked and brought along. Jaque won points in our book by bringing a big basket of meats and sausages for our freezer, a gift from his parents who own the best gourmet butcher shop in this area, the Corralitos Market near Watsonville.

We spent that evening by ourselves, with fire and candles all lit, listening to our CD of Christmas Eve vespers, "A Ceremony of Nine Lessons and Carols," from King's College/Cambridge. (We were too stuffed from the late lunch to eat any dinner!)

On Christmas Day in the morning we drove down to our church in Scotts Valley for Mass; and then we spent a quiet afternoon opening gifts traversed from afar, with a bit of tea and Dresdener Stollen (gift from Leenie) – and had a delicious baked ham dinner and music from our Munich Choir's great "Messiah" recordings.

The time has been quiet since then; we went to an afternoon movie with Julie yesterday ("It's Complicated") and will also have a peaceful and quiet New Year's weekend coming. Two old student friends of mine from UCSB days are driving up from San Jose tomorrow for a visit, but will leave before New Years' Eve skies darken. In the evening we'll share some simple hors d'oeuvres and champagne "a deux" – with our recording of "Die Fledermaus" – and go to bed when it's midnight (in the Rockies, most likely!)

I hope all have had as lovely a holiday season; if you care to share your experiences in the Comments segment below, we'd love to hear about it.

Happy New Year to all, and to all a good 2010! Much joy coming with our Reunion in midsummer, the highlight of our hopes for the next 365 days.

A Musical Education

I have to tell you all about a fantastic evening we had with Julie last night. Some of DannyD's friends are in a "School of Rock" band that started up in the Aptos area when D was still in grade school. Last night they had a gig at a local folk/rock and Mexican restaurant venue up here in Felton – Don Quixote's – as an opening act for their teachers' Irish band, "The Wild Rovers." Julie came up and got us and we drove down to the club, where several of Ju's girlfriends (whose kids all grew up together with Danny) gathered with us. The place was packed (this show has lots of area fans, apparently) – and we found out why!

Pitchers of margaritas and plates of nachos and fajitas were consumed; and as the show started we learned that a grade-school group would be the first of the two opening acts.

The teacher who is the leader of the Rovers and the instigator of all this fun at his school introduced the kids, and these pint-sized 5th and 6th graders (and I swear, some only in third or fourth grade) took the stage by storm. The noise was deafening (Julie had commandeered a big table for our group right down in front) and utterly amazing. The girl-singer, a cute little maid with nut-brown hair and glasses perched on the end of her nose, led the band with an infectious joy and a belting growl worthy of Janis; their bass player, a tiny Hawaiian kid with a peaked cap and a righteous attitude, twanged his pale blue axe mightily; and the audience was roaring approval before the first set barely got started!

Then on came the "older team" – led by Danny's long-time best friend/neighbor, 11-year-old Sean Collins (Irish indeed, he is) – they strode onstage, adjusted the mike heights up, and played another "bringing down the house" set. Young Collins knocked us all out; his father told us he's "had the moves" since he picked up a stick with grooves in it at the age of two and started playing rhythm air guitar along with his older brother's riffs. He's famous in this area and received all due respect and chuffs from his audience last night.

After that ripping start, the kids came down and scoffed up more chips and salsa and then gathered in groups on the floor in front of the stage, or squeezed in with us at our table, and attended a long and wonderful full set by their teachers – full of Gaelic standards amped up a-la-Pogues, with plenty of audience participation on the "Oh, nay, never" choruses, and the rapt attention of every kid in the place, as they gazed up in hero worship at their mentors. One cute young blond girl just couldn't sit still; she was up and doing Irish step-dancing with verve and vigor, over to the side of the room from time to time! Young Collins sat by me and watched every tiny move his guitar teacher made with obvious attention and glee – once in a while turning to me with a grin that said: "Isn't he great?!"

This is education for life, folks; I was just overwhelmed to see it in action. Dave Lambert will know what I am talking about: he's preaching the gospel mightily in his own village, bless him! Yes, musicians are a rowdy lot and can get into a lot of trouble; but in my opinion, their music is capable of saving the best of them, in the long run. Most of these kids will not go on to become the next Clapton or Hendrix (or, I pray, Joplin); but they're learning a lifetime joy that no one can take from them: it will bring happiness to them and to their friends who get to share the love of music with them, over the long years of adult struggle and achievement. They are a favored and happy few; Julie has been very lucky to have an environment such as this in which to bring up her children.

In fact, all of our dear kids grew up in a love of music of all kinds; I see that it has comforted and sustained them and brought them joy over the years. Even when you can't play, you can draw sustenance and great fun from those who do.

God bless all musicians, where ere they may shine; their songs are as sweet as the fruit of the vine!

Having Fun

Well, I must have been having fun: time flew. Actually, I've been having medical tests -- nobody can find nothin' -- to determine the meaning and essence of the arthritic? nerve? muscular? pain that has been plaguing me for a couple of months. We'll get to the bottom of this, some day, I hope.

Meanwhile, Christmas preparations are also gobbling up time – as is probably true for everyone this month. Why did I decide to make baked-gifts this year? Why, why? Oh, I remember: it was those many pleas for Mom's Cookies.

It's been verrry cold up here in the woodsy mountains; and while it's awfully cozy to gather around the woodstove in the evening, once the fire dies down we are most sincerely grateful for the great down-alternative comforter that was our housewarming gift last year. We've had no snow yet, despite threats of same; but the way the winter storms move in one after another, we'll no doubt be graced with white-frosted pines soon.

We pray that everyone is staying warm and well as the cookies get baked, the packages posted, and the house decked with boughs of whatever you've got.