Christmas | dual personalities

December 22, 2011

Guiding the pilgrims through the night

by chuckofish

Yesterday while driving to work, I was listening to Emmylou Harris’s Christmas album from 1992 Light of the the Stable, one of my favorites.

I had been listening to another favorite, the King’s College Choir album, On Christmas Night. Like our favorite movies, it is sometimes difficult to fit in all our favorite Christmas CDs. But I am so glad I switched from the wonderful boys’ choir over to Emmylou! I sang along enthusiastically with Oh Beautiful Star of Bethlehem. I could not find a Youtube video of Emmylou, but here are the Judds. And here are the words so you can sing along too.

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shining far through shadows dim
Giving the light for those who long have gone
Guiding the wise men on their way
Unto the place where Jesus lay
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star the hope of life
Guiding the pilgrims through the night
Over the mountains ’til the break of dawn
Into the land of perfect day
It will give out a lovely ray
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine upon us until the glory dawns
Give us a lamp to light the way
Unto the land of perfect day
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star the hope of grace
For the redeemed, the good and the blessed
Yonder in glory when the crown is won
Jesus is now the star divine
Brighter and brighter He will shine
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine upon us until the glory dawns
Give us a lamp to light the way
Unto the land of perfect day
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

6 Comments

December 21, 2011

God bless us, every one!

by chuckofish

We are closing in on December 25 and I have yet to blog about some of my very favorite Christmas movies! Isn’t that always the way? We haven’t had time to watch them either. Sigh. Well, I do want to mention our favorite version of the Charles Dickens classic, Scrooge (1951), directed by Brian Desmond Hurst. It is, in our humble opinion, by far the best interpretation and the most English.

Alistair Sim is pitch perfect as the old skinflint, Ebenezer Scrooge. He plays it so straight all the way through–never mugging or clowning his way–and then at the end, his over-the-top joy seems just right. He is wonderful and all the character parts are well-done too. We especially like Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber and Michale Hordern as Jacob Marley (scary!).

We must also note that we are terribly fond of The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) featuring Michael Caine as old Ebenezer.

Not Michael Caine

The Muppet version is admirably respectful of the original story and the Muppets are as always hard to resist. Kermit makes a pretty cute Bob Cratchit.

Somewhere in the 12 days of Christmas there must be time for: The Bishop’s Wife (1947), A Christmas Story (1983), Home Alone (1990), It’s A Wonderful Life (1946), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Miracle on 34th Street (1947)…So many movies, so little time! (Have I forgotten anything?)

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December 19, 2011

A pine tree properly festooned

by chuckofish

Here is a little dual personality circa 1959 trimming the tree. I’m sure my mother (the aforementioned perfectionist) re-distributed all the balls that I had put at my level on the lower branches of the tree after I went to bed, but that’s okay. I was oblivious.

Here we are trimming our tree today. Things haven’t changed much (even my hairdo!). Some of the decorations are even the same.

Here is daughter #2 with a handful of tinsel, flaunting the Bunker Cameron rule of one strand of tinsel per branch, which our mother stuck to religiously as well. We laughed about it, but still…

And here is the tree!

Beautiful! And I’m so glad it’s done!

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December 18, 2011

Westward leading, still proceeding

by chuckofish

The Star of Bethlehem by Edward Burne-Jones

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11 KJV)

I love that angel, don’t you?

4 Comments

December 16, 2011

God was man in Palestine

by chuckofish

Christmas
by John Betjeman

The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that the villagers can say
‘The church looks nice’ on Christmas Day.

Provincial Public Houses blaze,
Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze,
Where paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says ‘Merry Christmas to you all’.

And London shops on Christmas Eve
Are strung with silver bells and flowers
As hurrying clerks the City leave
To pigeon-haunted classic towers,
And marbled clouds go scudding by
The many-steepled London sky.

And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children’s hearts are glad.
And Christmas-morning bells say ‘Come!’
Even to shining ones who dwell
Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.

And is it true? And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,
A Baby in an ox’s stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?

And is it true ? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare –
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.

December 15, 2011

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store?

by chuckofish

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
– Dr. Seuss

The Grinch first appeared in the 1957 story How the Grinch Stole Christmas, written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss, published as both a Random House book and in an issue of Redbook magazine. My paternal grandmother, completely out of character, sent us the story from the magazine and that was the version we always had. It turned brown with age and was taped and stapled. We read it every year on Christmas Eve, along with other Christmas stories, poems and songs. When my children were little, we finally bought the book. I was never a fan of the 1966 TV version and never saw the Jim Carrey film version. It is best read aloud. And its message is still solid and timely.

5 Comments

December 14, 2011

How steadfast are your branches!

by chuckofish

THIS

PLUS

EQUALS

AWESOME!

On Sunday, when the boy will be home to put on the lights, it’s on to the big tree!

A bit of trivia: The first National Christmas Tree was lit on December 24, 1923, in the middle of the Ellipse outside the White House by President Calvin Coolidge. Paul Moody, president of Middlebury College in Vermont donated a 48-foot tall balsam fir as the first National Christmas Tree. Middlebury College alumni paid to have it shipped via express to Washington. I wonder if our mother, Middlebury College class of 1947, knew that?

Go, tell it on the mountain,
over the hills and everywhere;
go, tell it on the mountain,
that Jesus Christ is born.

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December 13, 2011

Hey, Bob… I just remembered what tomorrow is. Feliz Navidad.

by chuckofish

3 Godfathers (1948) directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and a cast of Ford stalwarts is one of my very favorite Christmas movies. I always watch it with the boy, because we are the two family members who really love it. Written by Laurance Stallings and Frank S. Nugent, it is the story of three outlaws on the run who discover a dying woman and help her deliver her baby. They swear to bring the infant to safety across the desert, even at the risk of their own lives.

Frank Nugent also collaborated with Ford on such classics as Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1948), The Quiet Man (1952), Mister Roberts (1955), The Searchers (1956), Two Rode Together (1961), and Donovan’s Reef (1963). So you know what you can expect: great dialogue, a light touch with some underlying darkness, memorable characters.

John Wayne was seldom better than in this movie. He is in top form. Handsome, manly, graceful, full of repressed feeling and submerged anger. We wonder throughout the movie what has made him turn to a life of lawlessness. Why has he lost his faith? He is clearly a well-brought-up “good guy”. He is more than ably supported by Harry Carey, Jr. and the Mexican film star Pedro Armendáriz as the other two godfathers. The three of them work so well together. There is genuine affection in their verbal wrangling. Mildred Natwick, a personal favorite of mine, has a great cameo part as the doomed mother.

Because it is a Ford movie, the cinematography (by Winton Hoch), especially the outside scenes, are wonderful. The scene when they are trudging across the parched desert and the Abilene Kid lies down to die should be shown to all film students. There is nothing sentimental in this scene. It is heart-breakingly real.

In this movie Ford never resorts to the broad down-homey humor he sometimes does in order to break up what he must have seen as too much tension in a film. Ward Bond is kept in check. Hank Worden too. Jane Darwell and Jack Pennick portray remarkably observed characters that stand out in a very full line-up of characters.

And you gotta love a movie where scripture is used successfully as a plot devise. At least I do.

And, yes, it is a Christmas movie. It is a story of redemption and of three wise men who follow a star and find a baby. FELIZ NAVIDAD.

10 Comments

December 11, 2011

O tannenbaum

by chuckofish

On Saturday we went to the Kirkwood Optimist’s tree lot to buy our big tree for the living room and a smaller one for the dining room. Mission accomplished! It was a beautiful day and, although cold, not prohibitively so. We found our tree with the help of a friendly Optimist in no time flat.

I remember many trips to buy a tree as a child when it was freezing cold, and since we usually went after church, we were not dressed for standing outside looking at trees. My mother was the kind of perfectionist who always wanted to find the perfect tree. That takes time and looking at a lot of trees. I have learned that all trees have flaws and the lights and ornaments more than make up for them.

You can see that our tree seems to have something of a waist (!), but I’m sure the branches will come down and fill that in…right? Oh well, as Linus once famously said, “I never thought it was such a bad little tree. All it needs is a little love.” I’ll keep you posted.

5 Comments