Ramblings of a Thirty-Something

Can I be honest about something? I really don't like New Year's Eve. Not the actual date itself, I mean. Just really the expectations of New Year's Eve. Maybe one day I will feel differently, but for now, I'm not very fond of the holiday. Perhaps it has something to do with the idea that you're supposed to spend the last day of the year partying and then turn around and start working out/waking up earlier/eating healthier/whatever resolution you've made for yourself. Starting off the new year with a hangover also doesn't seem like the greatest idea, either. Again, maybe I'm just doing it wrong, and maybe one of you dear readers will be able to convince me otherwise someday. I much prefer to spend the day at home, with family or friends--more of the way I have spent my whole year, and the way I hope to continue the coming year. And maybe that is another part of it. To me, NYE should be spent reflecting on the past year, not just going out to party becau...

I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas Day! Here is a wonderful song that I listened to on my way to and from church this morning. Merry Christmas! ~Stay gold!

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone. I hope you are enjoying your time with friends or family, whether you're unwrapping gifts or watching football. Whatever your choice, Christmas Eve is a very special night. For little kids, it is spent in anticipation of Santa's arrival. For others, it is the storm before the calm, making sure everything is ready for Christmas morning. I hope you can take one moment, though, just to sit in the quiet and be still. Reflect on the year you've had, the blessings you've been given. One of my favorite moments of the Christmas season happens on Christmas Eve. During our evening worship service, the last song to be sung is always Silent Night . Candles are passed around, and the lights are turned off in the church, and we all sing this beautiful song in the dim light. The atmosphere is incredibly reverent, and every year it brings tears to my eyes. Our church decided last year to move our Christmas Eve service to 7:00 pm rather than 11:00, in ...

I will be perfectly honest...I hadn't even heard of this song until last year, but apparently it has been around for a while. And suddenly, it is everywhere. Don't you find that sometimes? When you learn about something or someone, suddenly you see or hear it everywhere? I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas  was first performed by 10-year-old Gayla Peevey in 1953 on The Ed Sullivan Show . A local radio show actually raised money from playing this song and gave little Gayla an actual hippo, which she donated to the local zoo! It's just a fun, silly Christmas song. And, as my friend Cheryl says, this little girl's voice "comes from her knees!" I honestly hadn't known what song I was going to post about today--I have tomorrow and Christmas Day already picked out, but my friend Meagan suggested I go with this one for today. And I think it's a fun song, so enjoy! ~Stay Gold!

I love Christmas. I love everything about it:  baking cookies, wrapping presents, decorating the house, listening to Christmas music {obviously}, watching Christmas specials. Even the things that are stressful like shopping and waiting in line! I have found that if you go into it with the right attitude, even the madness can be tolerable. Can't get a parking spot close? That's okay, the walk will do me good. Store is sold out of whatever it was I was looking for? I will just find something else {or see if I can find it on Amazon}. I love getting Christmas cards in the mail. I love singing Christmas carols. I love standing in the empty church just before the worshippers arrive on Christmas Eve and basking in the peacefulness of the place. I love driving around and looking at Christmas lights. I love wearing silly shirts with reindeer and candy cane earrings and snowmen socks. I love drinking my coffee out of a Christmasy mug {my favorite was a gift from my work BFF...seriously...

I am running out of days, and I have so many more songs to write about! Who'd have thunk it, right? So I've altered my original plan:  some of the songs I would like to post about are not strictly Christmas songs, like Sleigh Ride, Winter Wonderland, and Let it Snow.  I think that means I can post about them after Christmas since they are really just winter songs, right? Whew. That takes the pressure off. I mean, how do you pick, exactly? Today I want you to enjoy one of my favorite artists, Lindsey Stirling. Never, ever, ever will I be able to play the violin like she can, but ever since I started taking lessons two or three years ago, I have enjoyed listening to her music. She is phenomenal, no doubt about it. I especially love how she uses her whole body to perform, dancing and moving to the melody. This is her take on What Child is This , a hymn written in 1865 to the tune of the English folk song, Greensleeves.  Interestingly enough, What Child is This , ev...

Let's talk about one of the best things about Christmas:  Christmas trees. This song actually came as a request of sorts from a teacher friend of mine, Mallory. Thanks, Mallory! A couple of weeks ago, my mother and I were driving around Gilman, waiting for our pizza to be ready, and we were enjoying the very few  houses with Christmas lights. I'm not even talking about hoping to see decked out houses set to music. A simple lighted wreath on a door, some lights around the eaves, candles in the windows. I'm not picky, I just like Christmas lights. We were sorely disappointed, but what struck me most was that there were so many houses without Christmas trees in their windows, either! I love seeing people's trees through their windows. I love that each tree is inherently unique--that no two trees can actually be the same. Real or artificial, short and bunchy or tall and scrawny, colored lights or white lights, garland or tinsel, a star on top or nothing, matching orname...

So, I don't know any Christmas songs that go something like "the roads are like sheets of glass/so please stay indoors/seriously, if you live in the country/don't leave your house." Darn, right? How much more appropriate could a song be? However, I have decided on a classic:   Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas . The song was written for the 1944 musical Meet Me in St. Louis  starring Judy Garland. Frank Sinatra also recorded a version of it with slightly different lyrics. The video I have chosen is a scene from the movie The Monuments Mens.  Such an interesting war story, if you haven't seen it. In this scene, Bill Murray's character is overseas searching for artwork stolen by the Nazis, and his daughter sends him this record. He doesn't play it right away, but his roommate, Preston, plays it over the camp's loudspeaker. When this scene plays, I dare you not to tear up. It is a beautiful representation of Christmas for our boys overseas. V...

I must apologize for not posting yesterday {if you didn't notice, then just pretend you didn't see that part}. Yesterday was a very busy day for my family. Not only was it my sister's 26th birthday, but my brother also graduated from ISU, which made it a full day of travel and celebration. So I have decided to post one song for Saturday and one for Sunday. My Saturday choice is Silver Bells . And it is by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards. I have always loved this duet version--we listened to it all the time when I was a kid. This video is really pretty, too, but there is one notable error. It is not Rosemary Clooney singing but Carol Richards. Still, the pictures are neat. As for today, I thought I would post Do you Hear What I Hear?  Today was supposed to be our Sunday School Christmas program, which my kiddos have worked hard on, but church was cancelled due to poor road conditions {as it should have been--I don't think I saw anyone go by my house any faster than ...

This is going to be another short one…I do apologize. But life is rather busy at the moment, so the fact that I’m taking a few minutes to actually blog is a great step in my favor. This Pentatonix original Christmas song is absolutely gorgeous. We all have “those things” that really make it Christmas. Maybe it’s your grandma’s special cookies. Maybe it is watching a classic movie with your family and just the Christmas tree lights on. Maybe it is going to church on Christmas Eve or drinking hot chocolate while driving around looking at Christmas lights. Whatever it is, we all have something that makes us feel like our Christmas has finally arrived. This song puts that to music. And the melody is also just plain beautiful. I find myself singing this song all throughout the year, simply because it is such a pretty song. Enjoy! ~Stay gold!

Confession time:  who doesn't love singing Santa Baby?  In the shower or in the car, usually not around other people. It's just kind of a fun, vixeny song to sing, whether you're crooning with Eartha or twanging it up with Kellie Pickler. However, I absolutely love  the masculine twist Michael Buble brings to the song. A Rolex, Canucks tickets, '65 convertible in steel blue...plus, it's Buble, so you can't go wrong with that. I know today is short, but it was a long day without internet at school, and I'm still kind of angry at computers in general. So let's hope this posts without any problems :) ~Stay Gold!

O Come All ye Faithful is one of the most beautiful Christmas hymns, especially when you just look at the lyrics. It’s like a beacon to those who are ready to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas:  the birth of Christ. The writer is calling all the faithful to come and adore him. Adore him. I think that is so beautiful. Come, let us all marvel over this tiny little baby. Let us bow to him, let us adore him. “Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning. Jesus to thee be all glory given! Word of the Father now in flesh appearing, O come let us adore him!” What a beautiful sentiment. And I love this very modern version by Rush of Fools, especially the chanted part in the chorus. Enjoy their take, the clear excitement and awe in their voices. ~And stay gold!

Today I want to share an amazing version of a beautiful Christmas hymn. Angels We Have Heard on High is one of my favorites to actually sing, especially when you get to those “Gloria” runs. Gorgeous. But this version by the Piano Guys I find to be particularly beautiful, especially as a musician myself {amateur, of course}. The way they use the piano strings and the frame of the instrument to such a neat sound is very, very cool. I love it. So enjoy this piece played by 32 fingers and 8 thumbs :) ~Stay Gold!

Christmas is not always a happy time for everyone. Anyone who has lost a loved one or has a friend or family member far from home can find their Christmas spirit a bit lacking. I’ll be Home for Christmas is a song that always brings a tear to my eye. It reminds me of those I no longer get to spend Christmas. More than that, too, it reminds me of all those who are serving our nation in the armed forces overseas. This song was actually written from their perspective in 1943 by Kim Gannon, Walter Kent, and Buck Ram. Gannon had the song rejected originally but after singing it to Bing Crosby while playing golf, Bing decided to record it. The song was played often at USO shows and the like, and in fact was banned by the BBC because they were afraid it would dampen British troop morale. There are so many beautiful versions of this song, but I think we have to go with Bing for this one. Straight to the source. ~Stay gold.

The third Sunday of Advent. Two weeks exactly until Christmas. Can you believe it? Do you have your shopping done? I do--almost. Do you have those presents wrapped? I’m planning to--if I get my grading done. Have you baked your Christmas cookies/candies? I still have to do that for gifts and things--already did that for a Christmas party. Have you made your plan? I’m working on it--lots of schedules to sync up. My goal this Christmas season has been to not let it stress me out. There are enough stressors in my life--Christmas doesn’t need to be one of them. I’ve done a good job so far, but there is still quite a bit of time to go. We’ll see if it stays that way. My song for today is The First Noel . I know it seems like it has no meaning at this point since in every post I have said that the respective Christmas song is “one of my favorites.” But this song is very near the top of the chart. I absolutely love singing this song, too. Hitting that high Noel  in the final few ...

I’m feeling the need for a classic today, and as I look out my window, watching the snow drift to the ground, I’m thinking about the one day of the year on which everyone--and I mean everyone--wants snow. Everybody wants a White Christmas. Most people associate White Christmas   with the movie of the same name, but the song actually debuted in another Bing Crosby film, Holiday Inn {one of my all-time favorites}. Irving Berlin actually wrote the song for the movie after writing Easter Parade . He was approached to write a song for each holiday of the year, and Berlin thought that his Valentine’s Day song Be Careful, It’s my Heart   would be the most popular. Did you also know that the song White Christmas , which is full of nostalgia, was released 18 days after the attacks on Pearl Harbor? The version that made the song famous, recorded by Bing Crosby, wore out from overuse. That original version of the song, heard by our troops overseas during World War Two, no lo...

Every year, I make it my goal to not be a Grinch at the holiday season. I think being a Grinch is much worse than being a Scrooge, although that isn’t much better. Ebenezer Scrooge was rather grumpy and un-festive {now a word, thank you very much}, and yes, he began to ruin Christmas for the Cratchit family and for his nephew, but he was reformed before he could really do any damage. But the Grinch? Man oh man, he actually stole the presents and decorations! Not that it really bothered the Whos much, but still. That’s a much more visible step to ruining Christmas. We don’t really know why he hates Christmas so much, other than that he is just incredibly uncomfortable all the time, due to his too-tight shoes, poorly screwed head, and rather small heart. Which wouldn’t that just make him unpleasant to be around all through the year? Is it like summer comes and suddenly his head doesn’t bother him anymore? Anyway, I love the song the Whos sing at the end of the movie. It has such...

It snowed this morning. Not a lot, or really much to speak of at all, but it still snowed. A pretty, light snow--more of a flurry, really. Like sugar, floating through the air and drifting softly to the ground. Big, soft flakes of snow. Did it linger? No. But it was enough. This weekend, it snowed quite a lot. As we drove through it and then looked at it later, it occurred to us just how beautiful of a snow it was. The trees, heavy with layers of snow. Like marshmallows or frosting. Enjoy today’s song. It’s metaphoric lyrics really did fit for the past few days. ~Stay gold!

Today’s song is surrounded in controversy, which is partly why I have chosen this particular song and video. First of all, the video is absolutely adorable. Secondly, I love this song and do not see it the way so many people see it. Baby, It’s Cold Outside   was written by the husband and wife team of Frank Loesser and Lynn Garland in 1944 and was performed by the couple as a duet at many parties. Loesser sold the rights to the song to MGM for use in the film Neptune’s Daughter . The song was actually performed twice in that film, each time with the roles reversed. In today’s world, this song seems rather “rapey,” which I am sure might offend some people. However, when you look at the song in its context {written in 1944, remember that}, it takes on a different tone--not an innocent one, just a different one. In 1944, it was socially unacceptable for a woman to spend the night at the home of a boyfriend or fiancée. Therefore, the couple in the song is basically talking out...

It just wouldn’t be a Christmas music list {in my humble opinion} if Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters didn’t make an appearance. In all honesty, most of this countdown could consist of a combination of Bing, Deano, Frank, and Michael, and I would be just fine with that, but I am trying to share some different versions of the classics {and soon-to-be classics} to widen your musical horizons. But you’ve gotta go with the original for this one. I love the undertone of this song, as with any song in which we sing “Merry Christmas” in another language. Christmas is a worldwide celebration. Everyone celebrates it differently, and I think it is so neat to delve into the holiday traditions of other nations. Another great one to listen to is Sammy Davis, jr., singing It’s Christmastime All Over the World .  And sometimes, as much as I love snow, in the dead of winter, it would be great to celebrate Christmas on the beach, soaking up the sun, with a tropical drink in one hand a...