“The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.”
Last night it started raining around ten. I heard the drops. Today is dismal. It is a dark, chilly morning. Everything is still damp from last night. A wind is blowing the last of the leaves to the ground. The dogs were out and back quickly.
Tonight is our uke Christmas party. It was a week ago when I fell coming out of uke practice. Tonight is my return to the fold.
I played my Christmas album the other day and thought about when we made it. I was in the sixth grade. Guy Lombardo came to my parish, St. Patrick’s, every year to play at a dance. He was a friend of one of the parish priests. When Guy Lombardo decided he would make a Christmas album with children’s voices, he chose us. The front of the album cover says, “Recorded Live at Town Hall, St. Patrick’s Parish, Stoneham, Massachusetts.” I remember the day we recorded it during April vacation. The band, the Royal Canadiens, Guy Lombardo and Kenny Gardner, the singer, were on the stage. Under the stage was where all the recording equipment was. We, my classmates and I, were standing together in front of the stage. We had song books with all the lyrics. First we’d practice each song then sing for the recording. Kenny Gardner would sing each song first then we’d join in. For some songs we had several takes. The recording took all day. At the end, Guy Lombardo thanked us and gave us all Hoodsies. Despite my talents, I haven’t recorded another album.
My sister in Colorado is the only one of us who still has her original stocking. We all had the same stockings, red with a white cuff around the top. On the fronts of the white cuffs our names were written in gold glitter. We hung them every Christmas on the small bannister at the bottom of the stairs. We never questioned the lack of a chimney, Santa’s traditional entry. We all accepted that Santa was magical, and he would find a way.
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December 5, 2023 at 5:54 pm
Hi Kat,
So you are a recording star with, a band like no other, than the great Guy Lombardo. I don’t think you ever shared that history with your coffee friends.
Today was sunny with a high temperature of 70°. Most of the leaves have turned and are falling off of the trees and into my swimming pool. 🙂
When we were kids we also hung up stockings on the mantle on Christmas Eve. Even though we are Jewish, there’s nothing in the New Testament about Santa.
One Christmas Eve we didn’t have traditional Stockings, so we hung up a pair of my father’s socks. The following year my mother bought us blue and white Chanukah Stockings with a Menorah embroidered on the side. 🙂 Because the Jewish Calendar is based on the lunar months, Chanukah moves around during the season from late November to late December. Sometimes, like this year, Chanukah comes early. Because our family came from Eastern Europe my father made potato latkes practically every night.
December 6, 2023 at 9:22 am
Bob,
I will be signing autographs later. I actually still have the original album which is the worse for wear!
We got a dusting of snow last night. It will continue to be cold today; we will even have snow showers. I have to go out to my uke lesson, but I wish I could stay home!
My mother sometimes made potato latkes on Friday nights when we couldn’t eat meat. I quite like them.
A Chanukah stocking!!