Time to go put up the Christmas tree! (100 lights for every foot of tree...) Time to wind garland round the pillars on the porch and hang ribbons and wreaths and lights! Yippeee! I love Christmas. Time to wrap all these presents I've been collecting over the year and squirreling away ("oops, I didn't give that to him last year?")
Time for our annual "What do you do for Christmas to keep the music in it?" thread.
Time to drag out Christmas in Killarney, Christmas Eve, and Tony's tune, Christmas in Kinsale. Time to figure out how to squish various Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs into a set for a laugh. Time to laugh at our usual grumps who hate Christmas. *smirk*
Time to try and figure out a weekend in which enough of my player friends can make it to sit in the hot tub, drink spiked egg nog, and edge our way around the Christmas tree to play some tunes and sing a few Christmas carols.
Other than our Church and classical types who will be running around like chickens without the heads trying to play catch up, what do YOU do for the holiday season to play music? Any traditions, old and new? C'mon, I want to add some new ones to the list...
I do remember being at a hotel near the Shannon airport and some kids came through singing with a box and blue faces. We managed to bung a dollar in their box before the manager of the restaurant chased them off, I've never seen kids run so fast!
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Kevin Conneff sings it on "The Bells of Dublin" album. great Christmas music.
The kids singing in the hotel lend a new meaning to "sing till you're blue in the face"
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Oh god, I hate Christmas. What on earth do you buy as a present for someone you've lived with for 27 years? My mum is coming for Christmas Day. My son is seriously expecting a
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*smirk* Let's see, Mark. You could get her a skiing trip to Tignes. Heh. Last year I gave my husband a silver ring of knotwork and each Christmas am putting another stone in it to mark another year. It's a nice way to not have to think about his gift. ;) I've a friend who gives his wife another pearl each year for a strand of pearls for essentially the same reason. He says it's cheaper, too, than the gifts he used to stress about before he thought of that one. LOL
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Oh, she's already coming to Tigne, and what's worse, bass-boy is coming too, so they'll spend the week bickering.. (Only Joking). I wouldn't get away with the pearl scam, anyway, as she likes 'a surprise' - though not the sort I gave her last Birthday when I completely got the week wrong and didn't get her anything!
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Okay, then, if she likes jewelry, get thee to a custom jeweler and ask for a pendant design that slides onto a nice chain. Then next year get her the same pendant design with a different stone in it. Then the next year, the same pendant design with yet another stone in it. (If you do semi-precious, it won't be too dear.) There. A surprise every year. LOL
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We'll both give each other half a DVD player this year so we don't have to worry about presents. I'm more nervous about having to teach the schoolkids some new songs and get them to sing them properly in church on the last day before the holidays.
Now what I'd really enjoy would be to join the carol singing in some pubs near Sheffield. They've got this ancient tradition of singing their own carols in multi-part harmony and going by the radio programme that introduced me to it they have plenty of fun.
I was wondering if any of you had some Christmas side-jobs like playing carols in old peoples' homes or such. And didn't the traditional musicians often have several roles, playing for dancing and in church alike?
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Yeah, last year for the Christmas party, we played all Irish tunes for a cafeteria full of Navajos. It was a little weird, but they really liked us. This year we've lost our singer & bodhran player, & our backer will be back East, so it'll just be me & my fiddler. Dunno how that will shake out, but I'm going to go over another guitar player's house this afternoon to see if we can't work up the basics, probably more carols than anything, which is fine by me.
As for Christmas, no gifts this year! No buying, no giving, & I've told everyone else the same thing. Well maybe a few, like when a present jumps out at you, like it could belong to no other person on the planet. Otherwise, I am devoting my time & money to a massive Christmas card campaign, tracking down all sorts of ppl who have passed in & out of my life -- old teachers, old roommates, that type of thing. Besides, I work Christmas Eve, arrive in Baltimore Christmas night, then fly to Ireland the next evening out of New York. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas, personally. It will be especially poignant as my parents have bought a new house & they close on the 29th, so I'll actually have a chance to have one last Christmas in my childhood home!
As for decorating, no. Last year I put up lots of lights & a 5 foot wreath with lights on the side of my house. It was TOTALLY gorgeous, so much so that it didn't come down til May, b/c I am afraid of heights. Nope, give me some candles, some beautiful music, a fountain pen & some sealing wax. Maybe some cookies baking, but I tend to eat the dough before it even makes it into the oven.
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Kuec, speaking of a Christmas side job (more like a gig)--my husband and our friend Joey have a trio and for the second year now we will be playing at the Malvern Victorian Christmas celebration. Malvern is a little town not too far from us which has a historical "main street" with cute little shops. We get dressesed up in Victorian garb and play for about 20 minutes each in a few of the shops doing about 2/3 Irish tunes and 1/3 christmas stuff. I get to combine my love of the music with my love for historical costume.
Hey Emily--I'm with you on the minimal to no presents and lots of baking. But it's hard when you're married to someone from a huge Irish family and extended (step brothers, step-mom, etc.) Italian family. Maybe we can at least cut down on friends, presents this year...Sorry everyone, don't mean to sound like a Scrooge, it's just that the whole presents thing stresses me out. I love the season otherwise...
Which reminds me, I need to contact my relatives who play the music to make sure we can have tunes on Christmas night after I get picked up at the airport. Pipes, fiddle, guitar, flute at the bare minimum, out on the sunporch near the tree. My uncle also plays bagpipes, my aunt Chris (nee Mullaney) has a beautiful singing voice.... I've always associated the holidays with Irish music, maybe that's another reason I'm so partial to it. Thanks for this thread, Zina, you've lifted my spirits just thinking about home!
Andee, make a Christmas mix CD & burn a ton of copies. That's been my solution for a few years running as I have a huge family on both sides as well. (My favorite mix I called 'music you can wrap to...') Every year ppl call me to tell me how much they enjoy the handpicked music, plus it's fast, cheap & personal, & you can make cool cover art.
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My other half and I are going away for Xmas on a river cruise. What's even better is that our in-laws etc don't know about yet. )
I'll take an instrument with me (probably my mandolin) and have a few tunes on the deck. Actually, I'll probably have more tunes than usual. People ask you to bring an instrument when you visit but they're too busy or not really interested at the end of the day. I find that I get to play one or two tunes at the most when when I'm full of turkey and Xmas pudding and not really in the mood.
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We're having the family over for Christmas -- it'll be lovely! Haven't decided what to make yet. Lamb roast? Goose? Turkey? Ham? What the hell. Maybe we'll do a bit of all of it...
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Very bah humbuggy here.But if I can get past the glitz, I get two weeks off and I can practice non-stop except for the 3 Christmas (plural?) we celebrate .
My 20 year old announced last night that he wanted a fiddle for Christmas! Yes, because he knows I really would buy him one- but not the $800 dollar camera he wants!
And the 12 year old girl really wants drums. I'm looking for a set with headphones.
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Oh, I love sparklies, if not glitz. The tree in the living room is white, silver, and burgandy this year. Lots of crystal and glass and pearl. (I'm taking a break from hanging ornaments. It's at the point where now I start moving everything around to fill in holes.) The tree in the family room is going to be red and green and gold, carved wooden apples painted lacquer red and miniature brass instruments and homemade ornaments, bright and cheerful and friendly and homey...
Did I mention I love Christmas? This year's cookie is oatmeal walnut cranberry.
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Virgos, man... Virgos. *grin*
Just kidding, Zina, sounds absolutely beautiful, & after making all those dresses, you deserve to channel all your beautifying powers into your own new house. It'll be a spectacular first Christmas, & your families will all write letters to Martha Stuart & tell her they found her replacement once she ends up behind bars!
Hey are you interested in a 5 foot wreath? Seriously! Free to good home!
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ROFLLLL, hey we're both rats here, remember, I do have a small inkling of your proclivities!
OK well here's the catch. It's in a box in my garage, which by all estimates from the outdoor census, is probably packed with a black widow festival. They may have all dropped dead from the single digit temps lately, but I'm not going in there. Additionally, until Ireland, I only have 2 days off at a time, usually on 2, off 2, etc, no time for fun, long drives to Colorado. Keeps me off the streets, anyway. If there is ANY opening whatsoever, I promise to come up to see the house!!!!! But the weather also makes me a bit nervous, how's the snow been so far?
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Almost none. We had one snowfall, and it was, as usual, gone within the week. We really don't get much snow out here, especially down on the plains and foothills.
Maybe we could gas the box? If I end up coming out there after you get back from FKW?
You, though, are a Water Rat, which is the nicest of all the Rats. I am a Metal Rat, which is the most, um, ratty of all the Rats. So I win the "I'm Rattier than you" contest. *snort*
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Oh hullo Andee! You know, your being so admittedly shy about the music, that is to say playing in sessions, doesn't quite connect with both the fiery, headstrong signs of Aries & Dragon. You must have some hidden strengths & passions in there, or maybe astrology is just a load of dragon manure!
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Zina, I'm kinda glad you started this so I can remind myself that other people do get excited and warm and fuzzy about Christmas!!!
You said "aside from Church and classical types" so I won't tell you what mine's going to be like.
Seriously, it is really nice to read this - very best season's wishes to everyone in advance. (I'll think of you all somewhere between going to bed after Midnight Mass and crawling off to play for the special extra 7.30am Mass that they bunged on without consulting the music team first... hey... that soppy melodramatic violin music doesn't sound the same without vibrato 8>)
But maybe with a few days off I might be able to check out some of the sessions I can't normally get to - that'll be my reward.
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Oh, Emily--the black widow festival in your garage sounds absolutely frighteneing--that's what I would be having nightmares about right now, forget the roboticized rats!
Agreed on the rat/dragon friendship though. My brother is a Scorpio, damnedest creatures, but since he's a dragon too, helps ease the friction. A bit. Monkeys can be fun too!
Good call on the Crab influence, Andee. Myself, I'm loaded up with Aquarius & Sagittarius....
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Hey this is fun guys, it's practically a chat room for astrology/trad irish music. My husband's other band is practicing in the music room right now and I can't practice (our apartment is too small), so I get to hang out and chat with you guys. His other band is a rockabilly type band with a spiritual bent.
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Oh Andee, it was much worse in August & September when they were all hatching, or whatever they do. We won't even discuss it anymore. They're out there, & we're in here, & that's that!
Tish, I very much miss the church gigs, Easter with the Catholics being my favorite. Seriously. Have a great season with it, lightness & love!
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Thanks, Emily! Easter's far more work than Christmas, so I should look on the bright side. (I will think "lightness and love" on Christmas morning, promise!)
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Yes, there's nothing quite like that lovely, floating, euphoric feeling when the very very last note of the very very last hymn has died off into the distance and everyone has recessed their rear ends out of the nave, and you suddenly realize that you are now free, free...! Until New Year's and the huge parade for the Three Kings, anyway, which for me, since I was costumer, stage manager, and props mistress, was actually a much huger deal than Christmas, at which all I had to do was sing and play..
Tish, you must not be Episcopalian. We never got free until Christmas night, what with Lessons and Carols.
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No, not Episcopalian. (Think we call them Anglicans out here.)
Most of my church gigs are of the rockchopper/tyke/mick/insert local adjective here variety.
Normally I wouldn't be free till the evening either, but the one compensation for having 7.30am foisted on us was that they cancelled the Christmas evening service!
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"Yeah, last year for the Christmas party, we played all Irish tunes for a cafeteria full of Navajos. It was a little weird, but they really liked us."
Interesting you should mention that. This morning we played all Irish tunes and songs for a cafeteria full of black and Hispanic kids (public primary school in historically-underprivileged district in N Lubbock). Had a great time, and almost *all* of them knew what a button accordion was.
Shout-out for public school teachers. I couldn't hack it, but those who can are helping us hold onto the last shreds of "equal education to all."
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Libran, snake, virgo rising (plus only one day after the cross over from virgo to libran).....sound like me zina & Em?? (I think its snake - 77?)
I love christmas more than anything in the world - except trad obviously. When I was in Dublin there was this fabulous victorian shop just of grafton st and they sold these amazingly beautiful handcrafted victorian style baubles with coloured beads and gold and stuff and they came in light blue, green and a sort of pinky reddish (but victoriany) and I went crazy and brought about 150 pounds worth of decorations and had them all shipped back here. So basically I now use the same decorations every year - but its okay because I have *never* seen nicer ones than these. Actually when I was in galway (because those decorations were in sydney) I went crazy again and the decorations were all silver and dark purple - its really looked beautiful. I cried the day I had to give those decorations to my friend tho - there was no point in shipping them back here because they were all glass:( I'm such a wuss! I also love watching all those christmas movies. When I was in ireland it snowed both christmas (only for about 5 mins tho) I thought it was lovely that it was frosty and cold -it felt natural in a way - like all those christmas scenes on the cards. Where as here it can be anywhere from 23degs - 38degs celcius like it was a couple of years ago - depending on bushfires and that kind of thing! We still have a massive dinner with roast turkey, ham, cranberry sauce etc - can you imagine eating a hot dinner when its 38degs celcius out!????
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The Wren is not for Christmas - its for St Stephen's Day - Boxing Day to me and thee!
I sing in a cathedral choir so serious music will be in order up to Christmas Eve, straight to the pub at 1.45am then back to the pub for lunchtime after Christmas Day mass.
Boxing Day is for relaxation, so its off to the biggest session of the year at the Blue Bell, Gringley-on-the-Hill, nr Gainsborough, UK - see you there.
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I forgot - the band had a serious inquiry as to whether we'd be willing to play at a small-town christmas fair, outside of course. Looking at our instruments - guitars, banjo, harp, fiddle, accordion - and knowing that snow can reasonably be expected round here in December we decided to leave this sort of job to the brass bands.
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Just once I would like to enjoy a winter Christmas (complete with snow etc
Alternatively, I'd love to steal my husband away and hide out to new year... but unfortunately that just ain't going to happen.
Andee: Many years ago I installed brass lion's feet over the original wooden feet of my big (30 string) harp, to protect the harp when playing outdoors, and found this worked a treat. If you like I can send photos sometime in the future (My harp went off to a girlfriend last night, who is kindly restringing it for me, and as you can imagine, this will take some time. One string off, one string on...
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We only rarely have snow on Christmas up here in Denver, but it's almost always cold. What's best is when it snows on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day is all crisp and clean new-fallen snow with the mountains in crystal clear detail against the blue sky -- coming out of our new housing development you can see all the way down to Pike's Peak and up past Indian Peaks and Long's Peak, with the Flatirons right in front of you, and I love to watch the daily changes over the mountains...two days later, the Christmas snow is almost always gone and it's back to normal, but I love it when it happens!
Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Time to go put up the Christmas tree! (100 lights for every foot of tree...) Time to wind garland round the pillars on the porch and hang ribbons and wreaths and lights! Yippeee! I love Christmas. Time to wrap all these presents I've been collecting over the year and squirreling away ("oops, I didn't give that to him last year?")
Time for our annual "What do you do for Christmas to keep the music in it?" thread.
Time to drag out Christmas in Killarney, Christmas Eve, and Tony's tune, Christmas in Kinsale. Time to figure out how to squish various Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs into a set for a laugh. Time to laugh at our usual grumps who hate Christmas. *smirk*
Time to try and figure out a weekend in which enough of my player friends can make it to sit in the hot tub, drink spiked egg nog, and edge our way around the Christmas tree to play some tunes and sing a few Christmas carols.
Other than our Church and classical types who will be running around like chickens without the heads trying to play catch up, what do YOU do for the holiday season to play music? Any traditions, old and new? C'mon, I want to add some new ones to the list...
Zina
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
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Gotta sing "The Wren" Know it?
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Joe Quinn
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Nope -- that's one to learn, then, Joe. I have the music somewhere...
Oh, and I forgot -- it's also time for our annual commiseration for BigDave's incarceration in the Nutcracker pit...
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
I do remember being at a hotel near the Shannon airport and some kids came through singing with a box and blue faces. We managed to bung a dollar in their box before the manager of the restaurant chased them off, I've never seen kids run so fast!
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
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Kevin Conneff sings it on "The Bells of Dublin" album. great Christmas music.
The kids singing in the hotel lend a new meaning to "sing till you're blue in the face"
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Joe Quinn
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Oh god, I hate Christmas. What on earth do you buy as a present for someone you've lived with for 27 years? My mum is coming for Christmas Day. My son is seriously expecting a
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Ottery
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*smirk* Let's see, Mark. You could get her a skiing trip to Tignes. Heh. Last year I gave my husband a silver ring of knotwork and each Christmas am putting another stone in it to mark another year. It's a nice way to not have to think about his gift. ;) I've a friend who gives his wife another pearl each year for a strand of pearls for essentially the same reason. He says it's cheaper, too, than the gifts he used to stress about before he thought of that one. LOL
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
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Oh, she's already coming to Tigne, and what's worse, bass-boy is coming too, so they'll spend the week bickering.. (Only Joking). I wouldn't get away with the pearl scam, anyway, as she likes 'a surprise' - though not the sort I gave her last Birthday when I completely got the week wrong and didn't get her anything!
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Ottery
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Okay, then, if she likes jewelry, get thee to a custom jeweler and ask for a pendant design that slides onto a nice chain. Then next year get her the same pendant design with a different stone in it. Then the next year, the same pendant design with yet another stone in it. (If you do semi-precious, it won't be too dear.) There. A surprise every year. LOL
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
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We'll both give each other half a DVD player this year so we don't have to worry about presents. I'm more nervous about having to teach the schoolkids some new songs and get them to sing them properly in church on the last day before the holidays.
Now what I'd really enjoy would be to join the carol singing in some pubs near Sheffield. They've got this ancient tradition of singing their own carols in multi-part harmony and going by the radio programme that introduced me to it they have plenty of fun.
I was wondering if any of you had some Christmas side-jobs like playing carols in old peoples' homes or such. And didn't the traditional musicians often have several roles, playing for dancing and in church alike?
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by kuec
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Yeah, last year for the Christmas party, we played all Irish tunes for a cafeteria full of Navajos. It was a little weird, but they really liked us. This year we've lost our singer & bodhran player, & our backer will be back East, so it'll just be me & my fiddler. Dunno how that will shake out, but I'm going to go over another guitar player's house this afternoon to see if we can't work up the basics, probably more carols than anything, which is fine by me.
As for Christmas, no gifts this year! No buying, no giving, & I've told everyone else the same thing. Well maybe a few, like when a present jumps out at you, like it could belong to no other person on the planet. Otherwise, I am devoting my time & money to a massive Christmas card campaign, tracking down all sorts of ppl who have passed in & out of my life -- old teachers, old roommates, that type of thing. Besides, I work Christmas Eve, arrive in Baltimore Christmas night, then fly to Ireland the next evening out of New York. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas, personally. It will be especially poignant as my parents have bought a new house & they close on the 29th, so I'll actually have a chance to have one last Christmas in my childhood home!
As for decorating, no. Last year I put up lots of lights & a 5 foot wreath with lights on the side of my house. It was TOTALLY gorgeous, so much so that it didn't come down til May, b/c I am afraid of heights. Nope, give me some candles, some beautiful music, a fountain pen & some sealing wax. Maybe some cookies baking, but I tend to eat the dough before it even makes it into the oven.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by emily_bmore
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Kuec, speaking of a Christmas side job (more like a gig)--my husband and our friend Joey have a trio and for the second year now we will be playing at the Malvern Victorian Christmas celebration. Malvern is a little town not too far from us which has a historical "main street" with cute little shops. We get dressesed up in Victorian garb and play for about 20 minutes each in a few of the shops doing about 2/3 Irish tunes and 1/3 christmas stuff. I get to combine my love of the music with my love for historical costume.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Andee
Hey Emily--I'm with you on the minimal to no presents and lots of baking. But it's hard when you're married to someone from a huge Irish family and extended (step brothers, step-mom, etc.) Italian family. Maybe we can at least cut down on friends, presents this year...Sorry everyone, don't mean to sound like a Scrooge, it's just that the whole presents thing stresses me out. I love the season otherwise...
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Andee
Which reminds me, I need to contact my relatives who play the music to make sure we can have tunes on Christmas night after I get picked up at the airport. Pipes, fiddle, guitar, flute at the bare minimum, out on the sunporch near the tree. My uncle also plays bagpipes, my aunt Chris (nee Mullaney) has a beautiful singing voice.... I've always associated the holidays with Irish music, maybe that's another reason I'm so partial to it. Thanks for this thread, Zina, you've lifted my spirits just thinking about home!
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by emily_bmore
Andee, make a Christmas mix CD & burn a ton of copies. That's been my solution for a few years running as I have a huge family on both sides as well. (My favorite mix I called 'music you can wrap to...') Every year ppl call me to tell me how much they enjoy the handpicked music, plus it's fast, cheap & personal, & you can make cool cover art.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by emily_bmore
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Great idea Emily!
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Andee
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My other half and I are going away for Xmas on a river cruise. What's even better is that our in-laws etc don't know about yet.
)
I'll take an instrument with me (probably my mandolin) and have a few tunes on the deck. Actually, I'll probably have more tunes than usual. People ask you to bring an instrument when you visit but they're too busy or not really interested at the end of the day. I find that I get to play one or two tunes at the most when when I'm full of turkey and Xmas pudding and not really in the mood.
John
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Johnny Jay
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We're having the family over for Christmas -- it'll be lovely! Haven't decided what to make yet. Lamb roast? Goose? Turkey? Ham? What the hell. Maybe we'll do a bit of all of it...
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
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Very bah humbuggy here.But if I can get past the glitz, I get two weeks off and I can practice non-stop except for the 3 Christmas (plural?) we celebrate .
My 20 year old announced last night that he wanted a fiddle for Christmas! Yes, because he knows I really would buy him one- but not the $800 dollar camera he wants!
And the 12 year old girl really wants drums. I'm looking for a set with headphones.
Jennifer
.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Jenthur
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Oh, I love sparklies, if not glitz. The tree in the living room is white, silver, and burgandy this year. Lots of crystal and glass and pearl. (I'm taking a break from hanging ornaments. It's at the point where now I start moving everything around to fill in holes.) The tree in the family room is going to be red and green and gold, carved wooden apples painted lacquer red and miniature brass instruments and homemade ornaments, bright and cheerful and friendly and homey...
This year's cookie is oatmeal walnut cranberry.
Did I mention I love Christmas?
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
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Virgos, man... Virgos. *grin*
Just kidding, Zina, sounds absolutely beautiful, & after making all those dresses, you deserve to channel all your beautifying powers into your own new house. It'll be a spectacular first Christmas, & your families will all write letters to Martha Stuart & tell her they found her replacement once she ends up behind bars!
Hey are you interested in a 5 foot wreath? Seriously! Free to good home!
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by emily_bmore
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LOL -- Sure! Does that mean you'll drive it here so we can have a visit and some tunes?
Not just a Virgo. A RAT Virgo. Read it and tremble.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
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ROFLLLL, hey we're both rats here, remember, I do have a small inkling of your proclivities!
OK well here's the catch. It's in a box in my garage, which by all estimates from the outdoor census, is probably packed with a black widow festival. They may have all dropped dead from the single digit temps lately, but I'm not going in there. Additionally, until Ireland, I only have 2 days off at a time, usually on 2, off 2, etc, no time for fun, long drives to Colorado. Keeps me off the streets, anyway. If there is ANY opening whatsoever, I promise to come up to see the house!!!!! But the weather also makes me a bit nervous, how's the snow been so far?
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by emily_bmore
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I'm an Aries and a dragon. Is that good?
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Andee
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Almost none. We had one snowfall, and it was, as usual, gone within the week. We really don't get much snow out here, especially down on the plains and foothills.
Maybe we could gas the box? If I end up coming out there after you get back from FKW?
You, though, are a Water Rat, which is the nicest of all the Rats. I am a Metal Rat, which is the most, um, ratty of all the Rats. So I win the "I'm Rattier than you" contest. *snort*
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
LOL -- Andee -- you're never! And you seem so soft and fuzzy online!
Rats and Dragons are best friends. I knew I liked you.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
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Oh hullo Andee! You know, your being so admittedly shy about the music, that is to say playing in sessions, doesn't quite connect with both the fiery, headstrong signs of Aries & Dragon. You must have some hidden strengths & passions in there, or maybe astrology is just a load of dragon manure!
Hmmmm......
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by emily_bmore
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Aww shucks, Zina. My moon is in Cancer, and my rising sign, too--maye that's where the soft fuzzies come in.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Andee
Emily--I think once I can get over my shyness, the dragon can have free reign. That's what I hope, anyway...
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Andee
I'm having a flashback to some movie full of mechanized, robotic rats... help, what is it???
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by emily_bmore
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Zina, I'm kinda glad you started this so I can remind myself that other people do get excited and warm and fuzzy about Christmas!!!
You said "aside from Church and classical types" so I won't tell you what mine's going to be like.
Seriously, it is really nice to read this - very best season's wishes to everyone in advance. (I'll think of you all somewhere between going to bed after Midnight Mass and crawling off to play for the special extra 7.30am Mass that they bunged on without consulting the music team first... hey... that soppy melodramatic violin music doesn't sound the same without vibrato 8>)
But maybe with a few days off I might be able to check out some of the sessions I can't normally get to - that'll be my reward.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Tish
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Oh, Emily--the black widow festival in your garage sounds absolutely frighteneing--that's what I would be having nightmares about right now, forget the roboticized rats!
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Andee
Agreed on the rat/dragon friendship though. My brother is a Scorpio, damnedest creatures, but since he's a dragon too, helps ease the friction. A bit. Monkeys can be fun too!
Good call on the Crab influence, Andee. Myself, I'm loaded up with Aquarius & Sagittarius....
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by emily_bmore
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Hey this is fun guys, it's practically a chat room for astrology/trad irish music. My husband's other band is practicing in the music room right now and I can't practice (our apartment is too small), so I get to hang out and chat with you guys. His other band is a rockabilly type band with a spiritual bent.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Andee
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Oh Andee, it was much worse in August & September when they were all hatching, or whatever they do. We won't even discuss it anymore. They're out there, & we're in here, & that's that!
Tish, I very much miss the church gigs, Easter with the Catholics being my favorite. Seriously. Have a great season with it, lightness & love!
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by emily_bmore
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Thanks, Emily! Easter's far more work than Christmas, so I should look on the bright side. (I will think "lightness and love" on Christmas morning, promise!)
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Tish
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Yes, there's nothing quite like that lovely, floating, euphoric feeling when the very very last note of the very very last hymn has died off into the distance and everyone has recessed their rear ends out of the nave, and you suddenly realize that you are now free, free...! Until New Year's and the huge parade for the Three Kings, anyway, which for me, since I was costumer, stage manager, and props mistress, was actually a much huger deal than Christmas, at which all I had to do was sing and play..
Tish, you must not be Episcopalian. We never got free until Christmas night, what with Lessons and Carols.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
No, not Episcopalian. (Think we call them Anglicans out here.)
Most of my church gigs are of the rockchopper/tyke/mick/insert local adjective here variety.
Normally I wouldn't be free till the evening either, but the one compensation for having 7.30am foisted on us was that they cancelled the Christmas evening service!
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by Tish
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
"Yeah, last year for the Christmas party, we played all Irish tunes for a cafeteria full of Navajos. It was a little weird, but they really liked us."
Interesting you should mention that. This morning we played all Irish tunes and songs for a cafeteria full of black and Hispanic kids (public primary school in historically-underprivileged district in N Lubbock). Had a great time, and almost *all* of them knew what a button accordion was.
Shout-out for public school teachers. I couldn't hack it, but those who can are helping us hold onto the last shreds of "equal education to all."
chris smith
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by coyotebanjo
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Libran, snake, virgo rising (plus only one day after the cross over from virgo to libran).....sound like me zina & Em?? (I think its snake - 77?)
I love christmas more than anything in the world - except trad obviously. When I was in Dublin there was this fabulous victorian shop just of grafton st and they sold these amazingly beautiful handcrafted victorian style baubles with coloured beads and gold and stuff and they came in light blue, green and a sort of pinky reddish (but victoriany) and I went crazy and brought about 150 pounds worth of decorations and had them all shipped back here. So basically I now use the same decorations every year - but its okay because I have *never* seen nicer ones than these. Actually when I was in galway (because those decorations were in sydney) I went crazy again and the decorations were all silver and dark purple - its really looked beautiful. I cried the day I had to give those decorations to my friend tho - there was no point in shipping them back here because they were all glass:( I'm such a wuss! I also love watching all those christmas movies. When I was in ireland it snowed both christmas (only for about 5 mins tho) I thought it was lovely that it was frosty and cold -it felt natural in a way - like all those christmas scenes on the cards. Where as here it can be anywhere from 23degs - 38degs celcius like it was a couple of years ago - depending on bushfires and that kind of thing! We still have a massive dinner with roast turkey, ham, cranberry sauce etc - can you imagine eating a hot dinner when its 38degs celcius out!????
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by bb
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Chris
Bizarrely, in the UK private schools are called public schools, and schools provided for "equal education for all" are just called schools.
I always thought it odd too.
Dave
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by showaddydadito
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
The Wren is not for Christmas - its for St Stephen's Day - Boxing Day to me and thee!
I sing in a cathedral choir so serious music will be in order up to Christmas Eve, straight to the pub at 1.45am then back to the pub for lunchtime after Christmas Day mass.
Boxing Day is for relaxation, so its off to the biggest session of the year at the Blue Bell, Gringley-on-the-Hill, nr Gainsborough, UK - see you there.
# Posted on December 1st 2003 by geoffwright
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
I forgot - the band had a serious inquiry as to whether we'd be willing to play at a small-town christmas fair, outside of course. Looking at our instruments - guitars, banjo, harp, fiddle, accordion - and knowing that snow can reasonably be expected round here in December we decided to leave this sort of job to the brass bands.
# Posted on December 2nd 2003 by kuec
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
Just once I would like to enjoy a winter Christmas (complete with snow etc
Alternatively, I'd love to steal my husband away and hide out to new year... but unfortunately that just ain't going to happen.
Andee: Many years ago I installed brass lion's feet over the original wooden feet of my big (30 string) harp, to protect the harp when playing outdoors, and found this worked a treat. If you like I can send photos sometime in the future (My harp went off to a girlfriend last night, who is kindly restringing it for me, and as you can imagine, this will take some time. One string off, one string on...
Cheers
Morgana
# Posted on December 2nd 2003 by Ptollemy
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
We only rarely have snow on Christmas up here in Denver, but it's almost always cold. What's best is when it snows on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day is all crisp and clean new-fallen snow with the mountains in crystal clear detail against the blue sky -- coming out of our new housing development you can see all the way down to Pike's Peak and up past Indian Peaks and Long's Peak, with the Flatirons right in front of you, and I love to watch the daily changes over the mountains...two days later, the Christmas snow is almost always gone and it's back to normal, but I love it when it happens!
# Posted on December 3rd 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
How about you all come and visit me in Sweden? We'll probably have plenty of snow.
# Posted on December 3rd 2003 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Ohhhhhhhhh, Christmas tree O Christmas tree...
A kinder, gentler time. What a difference a year makes.
# Posted on December 3rd 2004 by grego