Christmas Tunes and Stuff

It has been years since I commented on Christmas music.  I was thinking about Christmas music recently because I played in the Christmas band at work a couple weeks ago.  We went to 9 different locations and played for half an hour at each place to help spice up people's work day.  Overall, it was fun.  I got to play my trombone.  And several people thanked me the next Monday for helping to liven things up and get them in the Christmas spirit.  I think this year at work was pretty intense for most people, so they enjoyed some levity.

But what got me really thinking about music was the one stop we made at the retirement home.  We played the full set for them there because they always enjoy it so much.  I think it's fun to see the spark of the old people's personalities come through when we start playing music.  Many of them like to sing along and stuff.  Some of them like to come up and talk to you afterward.  One of the songs in our band's set is having the flute and clarinet player do a duet of "Silent Night".  It's almost good enough to give you chills.  Almost like this (but not quite).  It seemed especially good when we payed at the retirement home.

That got me to thinking about other powerful Christmas songs.  Mostly I think it's the melody that makes them powerful, and then it helps even more if they have good lyrics.  Here are a few that make the top of my powerful list (after Silent Night):

1. Belleau Wood - Garth Brooks did this one many years ago, but it never became popular.  I think it should have.  And, it seems appropriate to remember this on the 100 year anniversary.
2. Christmas Guest - As much as you do it to the least of these my brethren, you do it unto me....
3. Joy to the World - an old classic.  According to Wikipedia, it goes all the way back to 1719 and is based on Psalm 98.
4. Carol of the Bells - Nobody does it better than the Trans Siberian Orchestra (see final link in this post), but this rendition was decent as well.
5. Oh Come All Ye Faithful - nicely done by Celtic Woman.

Oh, and just for grins I went back several years to look again at my favorite silly Christmas songs and somewhat serious Christmas songs.  I think they're worth a look again if you have the time.

Here's a picture from the Christmas band this year.  It's mostly a bunch of engineers and technicians digging out their instruments once a year and having some fun playing some music.  We had quite a few fans at the customer service center this year.

Christmas band this year was similar to last year if you want more details.  Charlie still managed to make it, but he was looking more feeble than he did last year.

2014 Bushel Basket List, Weeks 47 & 48

Checked off the list:  #16 - Go to a concert.  I went to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra.  If you've never been to see them, it's worth the money at least once.  Be sure to bring your ear plugs though.  It was more guitars and less orchestra than I had expected.  The light show, fire, and fireworks were really cool as well.  I don't need to go see them every year, but once in a while would be OK.

Briefly

Sorry folks, I've been behind schedule here.  My "normal" computer for blogging is having issues, so I'm in the middle of getting all my data off that.  And the next post I wanted to do involved looking up some info on that computer.  And one shouldn't be posting stuff out of order, should one?  Plus, I had some special company last night, so that was keeping me busy.  But...I think maybe tomorrow I will have my act together.

Anteater, you might be interested to know that your "twin" was here for supper and the night last night.  Well, maybe not your twin.  Maybe more like your sister.  In more ways than one.

Plus, I've been trying to warm up my lips for the Xmas band on Friday.

Giving Thanks

I went back to ND/MN for the long Thanksgiving weekend.  It was fairly low key.  A few summary items, not necessarily in order of importance:

1. Saw my sister's in-laws.  Since I spend at least one holiday a year with them, they're almost like family I suppose.
2. What should you do Thanksgiving afternoon and evening?  Can some chicken and play some games like "Fact or Crap" and "Smart Donkey".
3. Saw Mom, Dad, BIL-Dan, Muggles, and Boopie.  I guess I'll call her Boopie for now.  I think maybe her nickname should be spaghetti sauce, but since that's two words that seems kind of awkward.
4. To stay on my exercise regimen, we did some of BIL-Dan's Shaun T T25 Focus videos.  Without BIL-Dan.
5. We used the hot tub, but unfortunately it wasn't so hot due to technical issues.  It was kind of like the church of Laodicea.
6. We saw Palt, Wearl, and Bethro over a late lunch on Friday.  It's always nice to see them.
7. Did some more digital scrapbooking to try to stay on track for completing a bucket list item.
8. Helped Dad design a ceramic tile installation pattern.
9. I was peer pressured into doing some shopping at Herberger's on Thursday night around 10:00 PM.  It was OK.  I bought some socks.  Having a suitcase limitation reduces your purchase options.  Not that I would have bought that much anyway.
10. Staying up until 2:30 AM reading a book.  It's not a real holiday/vacation without doing that at least once.
11. BIL-Dan's advertising campaign for Becky's Massage Parlor.  That totally cracked me up.  Vewy nice, vewy cwean.
12. Thankfulness tree.
13. Saw a live mouse running around the MSP airport once most of the people left the area where I was sitting.
14. Got home Sunday night / Monday morning at 2:00 AM.  I hadn't done that for a couple years.
15. Crisp temperatures a couple days while I was there.  Below zero at night is a little unusual in November even for ND/MN.  But that's what I saw.

And a few pictures are below.  I didn't get many pictures of my own family except for Boopie for some reason - mostly they are of my sister's in-laws.

Thankfulness tree - everyone wrote what they were thankful for on a leaf and hung it on the tree.  I think the #1 thing listed was family.

Four generations.  Sort of.

Canning chicken.  It's a bit tricky to get the pressure cooker to vent at just the right rate.  It made me think of Simona in Ukraine since she had wanted some rubber seals for her pressure cooker.

Bethro and Boopie

Boopie's typical state - she's very smiley in general.