Christmas Memory | Notes Tied On The Sagebrush

The best thing about the holidays for me is getting together with my kids. I do not get into a lot of shopping, decorating, sending out holiday cards, knitting, baking or making eggnogs. My husband sometimes will make the eggnog. I try not to drink more than one serving because it is a bit fattening but very tasty. I did have a pint of eggnog ice cream in the freezer and now somehow it is gone.

I appreciate all the yummy things Trader Joes has on sale this time of year like Honey Walnut Fig Cream Cheese. Another great invention of theirs is Slicing Brie which is a little log of brie that you can slice for crackers. Great for entertaining or snacking. Guaranteed to add several more inches and pounds.

I do contact friends and family at least by email or Facebook to wish them happy which ever holiday they are celebrating. I give money to the Santa ringing the bell in front of the Salvation Army kettle. I like to buy a toy for Toys for Tots.

There is something else I like about the holidays. It is listening to the Christmas music on the radio. At least at the beginning of the season. They start playing it right after Thanksgiving. By the time Christmas rolls around I have had enough.

Many of the songs or carols take me back to when I was in Catholic school. They still raise my spirits when I first hear them. Like Come All Ye Faithful, The First Noel, Little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World, Silent Night and Angels We Have Heard on High. We used to sing some of them in Latin. Angels We Have Heard on High has the phrase ” Gloria, in excelsis Deo” ( Glory to God in the Highest) and O Come all Ye Faithful in Latin is Adeste Fideles and here in part:

Adeste Fideles laeti triumphantes,
Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte, Regem Angelorum;

Refrain:

Venite adoremus,
venite adoremus,
venite adoremus
Dominum!

I have a memory of singing that carol in a choir with my classmates. I don’t think we sounded like this via You Tube by Julio Fernanadez:

Others I like are Hark the Herald Angels Sing, We Three Kings of Orient Are, and Deck the Halls. There are others that I have learned later in life The Holly and the Ivy and O Come Emmanuel. I think O Come Emmanuel is beautiful. I first heard The Holly and the Ivy in an old British film of the same title.

Of course we all sang Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Do you have any favorite holiday songs?

The City of Paris in San Francisco was a beautiful department store that was founded in the years of the California Gold Rush. I remember it in its final location on Geary and Stockton. The store had an open rotunda which was a large open circular space that went all the way to the beautiful stained glass dome ceiling.

During the Christmas season the City of Paris filled their rotunda with a giant Christmas tree. The store fell on hard times and Neiman Marcus wanted to buy the property and tear down the building. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and many San Franciscans fought against it. Neiman Marcus won and they tore down the original building.

One happy note about this story is that they preserved the rotunda with the stained glass dome in the new store. Part of the stained glass image contains the motto “Fluctuat nec Mergitur,” which means It floats but never sinks.