Gobble gobble gobble

It is cold and windy, and I am excited. The wailing wind outside my window is bringing winter, and the trees are waving a welcome. There is a bite and a kick to the air that was absent yesterday-- if we are lucky, the temperatures will continue to spiral and the Christmas trees all over campus will be less incongruous.

In keeping with my hopes for the weather, today I listened to a recording of a Christmas party of my family's from eleven years ago. No one knew the words to about three of the songs, so there are a few tracks of humming and laughter. And there was one of my parents singing "O Holy Night." They still got it.
There is something about hearing about fifty-odd Irish-Swedes of varying ages and musical ablilties singing Christmas carols (and Irish [drinking?] songs) together. The quality of the recording is sub-par, considering it was eleven years ago on a videocamera, but the spirit is there. Maybe it is only because I know and love all of those people, but the comfort and joy are almost palpable. Some of the singers are gone now, singing elsewhere, but their voices recorded remain. When we didn't know the words, we laughed until we found a line everyone remembered, and the voice of my (then) five year old brother brought back eerily clear, long-forgotten memories.

I am looking forward to when, in the future, I will come across something that will stop me in my tracks, remembering now. And I hope that I will still be able to call you and say, "Hey, guess what I saw today; remember when...?"


Thanksgiving gets overlooked sometimes in excitement for Christmas, so this one goes out the Pilgrims:
A turkey sat on a backyard fence and he sang this sad, sad tune:
"Thanksgiving Day is coming! Gobble gobble gobble gobble,
I will have to leave here soon!
Gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble
I will have to run away
Gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble
I don't like Thanksgiving Day!"
This was my favorite (only) Thanksgiving song. I learned it in first grade and have sung it every year since. If you ask me and I am within singing distance, I will sing it for you.
In case I don't post again before Dia de la Accion de Gracias, I thank God for each and every one of you.