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| Christmas Market in Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Source) |
Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, even before I understood the meaning of the day. The tree, the ornaments, the sparkling lights on the trees and in so many windows. As a kid we always had colored lights, when we were in Germany The Missus Herself took a liking to the German display of white lights. Which do look very nice on a cold winter's night.
No matter where we were, we tried to make Christmas special.
I will never forget our first Christmas as husband and wife, as you might imagine, Christmas isn't as big a deal in Korea as it is in the US. Well, it is from a religious point of view, but you don't see the bright lights and almost no one had a Christmas tree in those days. You might be able to imagine my surprise when I came home from a long, cold day working on aircraft to find that our little apartment had been decorated by The Missus Herself.
My oldest brother-in-law had even found a tree, a small pine in a pot, which the love of my life had decorated as well. The place looked incredible, everything sparkled and twinkled in the soft lights of the little tree.
While these days we limit ourselves to candles in the windows, we don't put up a tree unless one or more of the kids are in town, for years The Missus Herself went wild decorating for the holiday. It was a lot of work which is probably why we don't really do that anymore.
Yes, I miss it but we're usually elsewhere at Christmas. At my Mom's or at one of the kids' homes and they always have a tree.
As the years roll by, I don't know where Christmas will find us from year to year, but find us it will. I hope the joy and peace of the holidays will find you this year, wherever you are.
Now, a Chant Christmas tradition!
Happy December!
Christmas decorations going up since Friday, in between the snow moving. Remember when I was younger we went tree shopping, the excitement of picking THAT tree out and hauling it home, putting it up and decorating it, then taking it down on New Year's day and vacuuming the carpet of the dead needles.....good times. A festive vid selection Sarge!
ReplyDeleteGood memories.
DeleteMerry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
ReplyDeleteTo you as well young Skywarrior!
DeleteChristmas evokes so much emotion for times past, love shared, events that changed the world rippling over and around us some years. I find myself counting the empty chairs at the table sometimes and toasting (outside) by pouring half the beverage to the ground and giving the French Foreign Legion toast, "To our friends beneath the sand!" And yet, it's one of those times, both temporal and spiritual, that renews itself with family and friends. The miracle of Christmas, perhaps? Now, as the grandpa at Christmas, I take the place of others who held that post. And it's strange because I never thought that I'd have lived through some of the scrapes that I've been in. Never thought that I'd be saying grace over the Christmas table, surrounded by children, grandchildren and friends.
ReplyDeleteAnd the world and your family are all better for you making it through the smoke and fire. Not to mention the bloggosphere, well, that part that isn't leftist lunatic rantings and ramblings that is.
DeleteThough, if you want to go out in fire and flame, can I suggest you show up for a spot on "The View" and tell those whackjobs how you really feel, just so we can see proof of spontaneous combustion from those same whackjobs?
Though I want to see them the day after the 2020 election (assuming it goes the way it should) and the Trumpening continues...
LL - Enjoy it, you've earned it. I like that Legion custom.
DeleteBeans - LL on The View? Yeah, I'd pay to see that!
DeleteTis the Season for Christmas music. Fortunately Mrs. Andrew has been downloading lots of old time music and carols, and got a lot of really nice instrumentals. So we are not listening to the carp on the tv-radio.
ReplyDeleteSo, since I really love old type Christmas music and carols, I am a happy man.
Though I think I'll wait until she's in a really good mood to introduce her to the Dropkick Murphys as that video is what her family used to be like when they were all close and we actually went to see them. Except without the good music, good food, the priest or the cop. She jokingly used to ask me if I left all of my weapons home, and stopped asking when I wouldn't even respond with a joking, "No.... maybe."
Now that her family is scattered to the winds and doesn't know where we are, we are both much happier, especially since I never really want to spend the holiday season in jail... No.... Well, maybe...
Yes, old-timey Christmas music, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and I have a CD of Highland Christmas music my nephew gave me some few Christmases in the past, can't find it on YouTube, otherwise I'd share.
DeleteFor the first time in a while I got to hear and sing (sort of) O Come Emmanuel at church. My favorite for the first Sunday in Advent. Left me a bit teary-eyed it did. (As it always does.)
https://youtu.be/EKkzbbLYPuI here have a pretty nonstandard version of my fave non-native carol...
ReplyDeleteit seems to captivate the mystery of snow-covered landscape...
also, the post has reminded me of this fascinating meeting in ww2:
https://owlcation.com/humanities/About-World-War-2-A-Small-Christmas-Truce
Beautiful rendition of Carol of the Bells. Great story of that little truce, I went through Monschau on the 17th of December 1998. Weather was much different than 1944, sunny and brisk but not that cold. Monschau is a very pretty little town.
DeleteBig mashup of Christmas memories now that I'm really old. Good kid memories, good navy memories, some grim memories. Making new memories all the time. For instance, I'd have never added Dropkick Murphys to my favorite carols list had I never stuck my nose in here! All part of the Big Christmas Adventure.
ReplyDeleteIt is a catchy tune, one of my favorites for a couple of years now.
DeleteHey Old AFSarge;
ReplyDeleteI do miss the "GlueWein" and the KrisKindel Marts. I went to the markets in Stuttgart, FrankFurt and Berlin. And of course all the small towns had their own markets. I do miss all of that.
Good times!
DeleteYou've made it quite the tradition to see that video now! It's not Christmas until I do. My missus and I really want to take another Rhine River Cruise and visit the Christmas Markets. Mulled wine, Glühwein (of which I have a bottle in my cabinet), the decorated villages, and German pastries, all add to the magic of the season I expect we'll experience there.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds awesome!
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