Christmas Season 2015/2016 - Donna Summer

Tuesday, December 28, 2015

This one gets a listen every year. The album dates to 1994 and I remember listening to it with Dale in our first apartment together. One of my favorite holiday albums. All the selections are fantastic and  Christmas Medley  is especially powerful.

Christmas Season 2013/2014 - My Swedish Heritage and Disney Cartoons (Kalle Anke 2013)

What does my Swedish heritage have to do with Disney cartoons? On our recent (December 31) visit to the American Swedish Institute, Dale and I noticed that part of the Christmas displays included a showing of Disney cartoons (dubbed in Swedish) on a regular sized television set up in the old ballroom. Accompanying the showing was the following on a placard:

"A Swedish Christmas is a mix of many traditions, both old and new. While Carl Larsson may cringe, children no longer ask for fruit and nuts for Christmas, not when they can request the newest PlayStation or Xbox."

"The Christmas tree is traditionally brought inside just in time for Christmas Eve. Those in rural areas sometimes hack down their own trees with saw, ax, or whatever tools they have on hand... with varying levels of success."

"To outsiders, the most bizarre Swedish Christmas tradition is a ritual viewing of American cartoons. At 3:00 PM on Christmas Eve, all good Swedes tune in to the 1958 Walt Disney special, Kalle Anka och hans vanner onskar God Jul. ('Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas.') For reasons unknown, between 40 and 50% of the population watches the rebroadcast each year, bringing a touch of American nostalgia to Scandinavia."

Wow. Who knew?

Back in the late 1990s I used to show the kids an old VHS cassette titled Disney's Very Merry Christmas Sing Along Songs just before Christmas vacation. They loved it. I now have it on DVD. While it's not the same program as the one in Sweden, it is Disney and Christmas themed. So, just for fun, I watched it today as a tip-of- the-hat to my Swedish heritage.

Christmas Season 2013/2014 - A Christmas Story

Dale and I watched A Christmas Story this evening. Way back in 1983 during Christmas break, my brother Sam and I hiked over to the Boulevard Theater on Lyndale Avenue to go see A Christmas Story. The Boulevard was a second run theater and it only cost 99 cents to get in. I had seen a review for this movie on Siskal and Ebert and thought it looked intriguing. Sam and I roared with laughter through the movie but after this initial viewing I never heard about it again. During one Thanksgiving in the mid-90s ('94 or '95) Dale and I were visiting Brenda and Irv for Thanksgiving and I came across the movie on cable TV. Whatever channel was showing it was doing a 24 hour marathon. I called Dale's attention to it and he had never heard of it before. He fell in love with it so we purchased a copy and have been watching it every year since.

Holiday Season 2013 - Holidazzle Parade 4

It's been a number of years since Dale and I have been to the Holidazzle parade. This is the last year of the event so we decided we'd better squeeze in one last visit for old time's sake. Our friends Warren and Brandon accompanied us. I believe the parade began way back in 1993 as an attempt by the Downtown Council to draw shoppers away from the new and competing Mall of America in Bloomington. It worked. Back in the day the parade was 5 or 6 nights a week but in recent years it's only occurred on Friday and Saturdays. Next year there will supposedly be a new downtown event but there's no word on what it might look like. Dale and I went a couple of times when we first met each other. Mom, Sam, Becky, and the boys went with us in 2007 or 2008.

Graphic by design: jdl
Photo taken December 20, 2013

Holiday Season 2013 - Christmas Cocktails

Really need a mid-week martini. Listening to Patti LaBelle's album This Christmas from 1990. It's sounding somewhat dated in a fun late 80s/early 90s kind of way. I didn't buy the rerelease (from 2004) until a couple of years ago but just the sound of it is bringing back lots of memories of the time. I've seen this woman in concert a few times and the sound from her soul can go straight to your own. What a beautiful human being she is. This is all lots of fun and I'm realizing the house is starting to look quite Christmas-y.

Holiday Season 2013 - Nutcrackers

Dale seems to have a special affinity for these guys. They made their first appearance of the season tonight. Mom gave me the five in back over the course of the mid-90s/early 2000s. The two shorter ones in front I added myself.

Holiday Season 2013 - Christmas Cocktails

While making dinner last night Dale and I listened to Christmas Cocktails Parts 1 and 2. Both discs are part of the Ultra Lounge series. We've been listening to these two discs for a number of years and they're usually the first albums of Christmas music we listen just after Thanksgiving. Part 1 is notable for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo by Billy May, Christmas Kisses by Ray Anthony, and an old Toys for Tots radio spot  found at the end of the disc featuring a bunch of back-up vocalist elves (sounding exactly like Alvin and the Chipmunks) singing along with Peggy Lee and Nat 'King' Cole. Dale and I always get a big kick out of that one. Part 2 is notable for Dean Martin's Baby It's Cold Outside, Bob Atcher's Christmas Island, and Les Baxter's Santa Claus' Party. Part 1 dates to 1996 and Part 2 to 1997.

Irving Berlin's White Christmas

Dale and I finished watching White Christmas tonight. We started it last night but I fell asleep about two-thirds of the way through it (due to last nights martinis).  Dale and I have fond memories of seeing Rosemary Clooney doing a Christmas concert at Orchestra Hall in the late 1990s. She showed clips from the movie, sang songs from it and told funny stories about the making of it. 

Frosty the Snowman & Frosty Returns

The animated 1969 special Frosty the Snowman, which I haven't seen in years, was on network t.v. tonight. As a kid I remember looking forward to this being on and I loved the sappy but cute story. Frosty Returns was on tonight as well. It dates from 1992 but this is the first I've ever seen it. I was quite unimpressed.