As I mentioned before, I was just laying around doing nothing. It is rare that I do this. I'm not super industrious or anything, but I rarely do nothing. As I sat on the floor and stared at the tree it felt very familiar. I think I did this a lot as a kid. Remember, 24-hour children's programming is a fairly new concept. There was a reason we got up early on Saturday for cartoons--they weren't on any other time. And while I remember--fondly--watching plenty of TV both day and night, there were long lapses when there simply wasn't anything on. I loved to look at the tree in the dark and I remember almost all of the ornaments and decorations we had around the house.
One thing I remember was a very thick "candle" made out of red shag carpet. It sat on a piece of cardboard covered with tin foil and it had real wax drippings on it. That carpet candle seems so strange to me now but at the time is was a harbinger of Christmas, like our red and white cardboard fireplace which was neither kitchy nor ironic to me.

Listening to Elvis also brought back the vague notion I had as a child that he was my father. The way I saw it, it could have been him or Neil Diamond. They still seem very paternal to me even though I have since been dispossessed of that misconception.
11 days 'til Christmas!
I feel the same way when we sing O Come All Ye Faithful in church. It's like, where are the background singers? The dramatic pauses? The drumrolls? It's sort of lame when it isn't sung by Elvis, isn't it? I totally remember that candle, but never knew it was made of carpet. I will never forget how it smelled, though. And that cardboard fireplace rocked my world. Remember when I enacted the nativity all by myself? I miss our days together.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how time went so sloowwllyy waiting for Christmas as a kid, but as a mom it absolutely flies by. It's the 14th already? What? I still have way too much to do.
ReplyDeleteI am fascinated by that candle. I simply cannot picture it.
ReplyDeleteFirst the firestarters and now a shag carpet candle? What is it with you and weird wax oddities?
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to sing Jingle Bells like Barbra Streisand. Occasionally I would try, but people just gave me weird stares.
I'm a total stranger who found you via your LRS blog. . . and just have to applaud your genius play on words. I wonder if your mother laments your “misconception?” Neil Diamond or Elvis huh? Never saw either as father figures. Your sense of humor/irony is delightful.
ReplyDeleteYour Elvis is my Johnny Mathis.
ReplyDeleteMisconception?? Now it can be told,your low voice = nature not nurture.
ReplyDeleteI have a thing for Elvis too, especially his Christmas stuff.
ReplyDeleteI remember laying under the tree and looking up at the lights when I was a kid too. And I remember all of our old Christmas decorations. I guess that's why I can't get rid of any of ours, because I want the boys to remember the same ones, year after year...even if they're kind of ugly.
ReplyDelete