The Christmas spirit is starting to find its way into my heart . . . finally. I'm having a hard time grasping that the time is here again (where did the year go?!). To make matter worse, I'm nowhere near done with the shopping and all that. (Is it just me, or does having Thanksgiving so close to the end of November totally throw a wrench into things? I lost a week!)
We sat the kids down a few days ago and wrote down every Christmas-y thing we wanted to be sure to do this year. Then we plugged them all into the calendar. We have very few blank days; we'll be busy! I have a feeling we'll have a ball getting them all done.
The first item that made it onto the list is a family tradition inspired by my dad.
I grew up listening to Christmas carols on his old reel-to-reel player: Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra. You know, the classic goodies.
Because of those songs, I grew up with a simple belief: Christmas ain't Christmas without Bing.
Hubby discovered this early on in our marriage, so our first Christmas, he bought me a Bing Crosby Christmas CD. It was a day of much rejoicing in the land.
We generally listen to Bing as we decorate the tree, but he makes another annual appearance as well: We always, always watch White Christmas.
I feared for a while that my kids wouldn't enjoy the show. Like most classics, it lacks the action-packed excitement of today's offerings. But somehow they've been bit by the Bing bug. They each have their favorite parts (although one scene that makes everyone's list is the guys' version of "Sisters." Gets me every time.)
Another landmark of the season: We're finally getting our tree tomorrow. We've been putting it off for a very good reason. First off, it's our "real" tree year, and I don't want it dying too soon. (The real vs. fake saga a story in and of itself . . .)
Second, several packages have been making their way from Finland, bearing the one thing I wanted to bring home from our trip but couldn't very well find in September when we visited: traditional Finnish Christmas decorations.
Mom hunted down some of the most beautiful straw ornaments and shipped them over. I can't wait to get them on the tree now! We've even got a wreath, a window hanging, and three traditional Finnish straw goats. All handmade, all gorgeous.
If our tree has those ornaments on it and so looks like many of the trees I had growing up and I have Bing's voice wafting through the house, it'll really feel like Christmas!
Remember to enter the drawing here! I'll pick the winners Tuesday morning.
17 comments:
You know, I've never really listened to Bing. I do really like Sarah McLaclan's Christmas album. I'm pretty discriminating in my Christmas music. It's easy to become sick of it, rather quickly.
I agree, there has got to be some Bing at Christmas. My twin sister and I do a rocking imitation of the "Sisters" routine that we used to do on Christmas eve and other gatherings. We even did it for a young women talent show. Our older sister dressed up in her pinstiped suit (back when men's wear was haute couture for the gals--80's) and, linking an arm through each of ours, led us off of the stage. So, clearly I am missing something. You are a true blue Fin? I'm mostly Danish and Swedish, myself.
Oops, that didn't sound right. I seem to have missed all things Finish--I am kind of new to your blog.
My wife and I watched White Christmas this past week. There's always a different scene that I find I like every time we watch it.
I watch White Christmas every year too. My kids are trained to love old musicals. I'm still working on my husband.
Oh...you could celebrate thanksgiving with me at the beginning of October and then once Halloween is over you have 2 months to work on Christmas. :)
I love that movie too and the guys version of Sisters is one of my favorite scenes as well.
That was my dad's favorite Christmas movie, too. And I'm a total Bing girl.
Greg bought a CD that has half Bing and half Frank Christmas music. I love it.
Great idea to plan out your Christmas activities so you don't end up wondering where they time went and why you didn't get to do half the stuff you wanted to!
I love that movie so much. And I am a Binger girl too. You are really on top of things over there. Good for you all. :) Have fun.
Your verification word was:
ranted
I did not feel that coming from this post :)
Christmas isn't Christmas without White Christmas. And I grew uplistening to the oldies, too. Nat King Cole was one of my dad's favorite's, and now mine, too.
I can't wait to see your tree bedecked with Finnish ornaments!
This is a weird year for us, too. Perhaps I need to break out my own Bing Crosby CD, or go rent White Christmas. :)
Add me to the list of Bing Christmas lovers. My Mom always played those same artists this time of year.
And I didn't realize you were a REAL writer. So fun! My neighbor also writes LDS fiction- Geri Gillcrist- maybe you know her?
We had Bing sing to us as we decorated our tree on Saturday morning. Last night we watched Holiday Inn, and tonight we will be watching White Christmas.
Christmas is here.
Cynthia, I know Geri only by name--we have the same publisher. The writers I know best are the ones who have joined the LDStorymakers writers guild. Tell her to join! It rocks!
Sounds lovely! I can't wait to see pictures of your Finnish ornaments!
I grew up with Bing, and White Christmas is a standard for us every year!
I can't live without viewing White Christmas at least once every December. And it makes me cry *every* time.
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