Wednesday, December 9, 2009

A Memory of My Dad

We played a lot of Christmas carols during the holidays when I was growing up. My parents had a sizable stack of LPs and 8-tracks (yes, I am a child of the '70's) that I loved to listen to. My dad was a lover of music - probably because he grew up in a musical family with my grandmother at the helm - a wonderful pianist/organist in her own right. I think he mostly enjoyed classical music (Bach, Beethoven, Mozart) but also had an affinity for the 'trendy' music of the times (read: Barry Manilow, John Denver, the Carpenters, etc..)

But Christmas carols always made an appearance in our house come December 1st. I remember sitting on the green shag carpet of our living room under the Christmas tree, with Dad in the "blue chair" listening to our favorite sounds of the season.

Dad was a silly one too - he'd find ways to turn lyrics of music around that would make my brother and I squeal with laughter. One such song is "Walking in a Winter Wonderland." You know the line "...later on, we'll conspire, as we dream, by the fire...?" He changed it to "later on, we'll perspire, as we dream, by the fire..."

I thought about that the other day when we were driving somewhere in the van - the song came on the radio - the kids were belting out their versions of it - which is also funny to hear the words they come up with that rhyme or sound somewhat similar to the actual lyrics. As I drove my caroling crowd through traffic, I was immediately reminded of those December nights around the family Christmas tree of my childhood.

Oh Daddy, I miss you so much - and wish you were here to share your funny lyrics with your grandchildren.

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