Comments on: Happy Golden Days of Yore

By: Bobby

Bobby — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:52:25 +0000

Glad you clarified, Aly - for a minute I thought he was talking about Smith Hall.

By: aly hawkins

aly hawkins — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:19:02 +0000

I haven’t actually spoken with Ash about it, but I think this is the from-a-kid’s-POV version of waking up at his family cabin when he was 7 to the smell of bacon, the sound of his family’s voices and the sight of falling snow. His grandfather (who would die the next year), gave him a platoon of WWI army men and they made lots and lots of funtime war in the snow, which is pretty much as good as it gets when you’re a boy and you’re 7.

My family celebrates Advent pretty hardcore, and I have many memories smooshed together of glowing candles, singing around the tree (just the four of us… we were heavy into singing) and wonder. From an early age, I can remember feeling, just… blown away that God thought up the Incarnation, depending on and partnering with underage hicks who had an awful lot to lose either way it all turned out. That God would trust people that much… well, it’s crazy is what it is.

By: Cerise

Cerise — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:26:20 +0000

Yeah, June, and we even have the corner on avant garde, with Ash’s…offering. [Aly, don’t let the guy toke and blog anymore, ‘K?}

By: leoskeo

leoskeo — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:16:09 +0000

The first Christmas my kids got the giving thing was connected to god’s generosity. That is my favorite… It changed their view of Christmas and God.

By: June

June — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:58:08 +0000

Mash all of these stories together and you have yourself a homegrown film festival I tell ya!

By: Sharolyn's Husband

Sharolyn's Husband — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:42:48 +0000

I used to take some of my private trombone students trombone caroling throughout town. One year we ate at a pizza joint, and then I drove everyone to everyone’s neighborhood and we would play for their families and neighbors. They were mostly middle school students. They had trouble playing in tune in the best of circumstances (in a warm room, after warming up with a tuner in front of them.) On this night it was in the 30s, we were not warming up to play, and they had never rehearsed this music prior to this night. Despite these conditions, we actually sounded pretty horrible. I stopped by a court where I knew a lot of families and began playing with my kids. A dear woman at my church came out of her house weeping and saying that we made her Christmas that year. This was the result I was hoping for. The whole court came out to listen. As we were passing by a neighboring house owned by a former classmate of mine, one of my charges exclaimed, “God we suck!” loud enough for the neighboring courts to hear.

I explained the art of performance etiquette on our way to the next house. I loved that group of students, my dear friends reactions to our poorly articulated, horribly out of tune attempts at Silent Night, and the learning opportunities that came from the whole debacle.

By: michael lee

michael lee — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:38:06 +0000

You are … just … too … wow.

By: ash

ash — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:08:05 +0000

Here are the facts, in order, as best I remember them:

1. I am seven years old
2. I wake in a strange bed
3. I smell sizzling flesh
4. I can’t move
5. A harsh light shines in my dilating pupils
6. I am surrounded by white powder
7. My nose is running
8. An old man, holding a WW1 rifle in one hand and a canteen in the other, says “It’s time.”
9. A cacophony of voices, some shrill, some deep and resonant echo down a long corridor
10. I close my eyes
11. I open my eyes and my feet are hot
12. I scratch and claw through a morass of long dead trees and am suddenly holding a rifle and helmet of my own
13. I charge through a gigantic door and roll down a steep embankment
14. The old man laughs loudly and gives chase
15. I circle back to the door through which I exited
16. The old man scoops me up in his arms and tickles me until I laugh through my tears
17. We drink hot chocolate
18. I tell the old man I love him

By: June

June — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:13:17 +0000

Being only happy and excited when my Mom got out the Christmas decorations each year…up to about age eight for me. Ignorance (about life) is indeed bliss.

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 05:14:11 +0000

When I was little my mom would make my sister Heather and I matching Christmas dresses. It was the one gift we could open early, because we would wear them the night Dad would take us to see the Nutcracker. I can’t imagine we could have afforded to go each year, but in my memory we did, so we obviously went a few times. I loved watching the ballet, hearing the music, and seeing all of the children ballerinas tiptoe out from under Mother Gooses’ huge hoop skirt. I would dance all the way down the steps of the theatre as we left. I would love to relive that “taken care of” magical feeling.