Music, Memories and the Gift of Giving
Happy Holidays from my kitchen to yours.
Sitting in my kitchen right now finding ways to avoid cleaning the mess I made earlier in the day. Sheesh. All I needed to do was make a holiday cheese board for a friend’s open house and put the finishing touches on my goodie box for Food52’s Holiday Gift Swap. My holiday “swapee” will receive homemade treats including Jule’s Granola, Spicy Pecans, Dorie’s Candied Cocktail Nuts, a beautiful ceramic bowl made by my friend Snook, and a hand-carved wooden spoon made by my Hubby. As part of the Holiday Swap, Action Against Hunger receives a donation from each participant. Looking forward to receiving my holiday swap gift.
Music Makes the World a More Beautiful Place
Back to writing this post to avoid cleaning. To motivate myself, I turned on my holiday playlist. I LOVE Christmas music. The rule in our house is as soon as the Thanksgiving leftovers are put away, I can play holiday tunes. To kick off the holiday season, we listen to A Christmas Carol by Dickens performed by Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard-Trekkies). Right after Tiny Tim says “God bless us, everyone”, the holiday music marathon begins. My iTunes Holiday list is 15 hours and 22 minutes long. Yep, love me some Christmas music.
As I was typing, a rendition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer started to play. It’s bittersweet, to say the least. It’s my kids, when they were little, playing the piano and singing with their piano teacher Chris. Chris was nothing short of amazing. He was talented, compassionate and so damn nice. Chris composed music and played multiple instruments. Additionally, he was a voracious reader, a fantastic photographer, and a gifted athlete. A true Renaissance man.
Life Can Be So Unfair
Sadly, a drunk driver killed Chris and his wife a few years ago. As I listened to the song I thought about the precious time my kids spent with him. Make no mistake there is not a concert pianist to be found among my kids but our lives are so much richer for having known him.
So take a listen, it brings a smile to my lips but tears to my eyes.
My Christmas To-Do List
Reach out to friends I haven’t talked to or seen in a while to let them know I am thinking of them. Set a date to get together, share a meal, go on a hike, meet for coffee, catch up, and enjoy each other’s company.
Thanks so much to all of you for following 3Jamigos. May your holidays be filled with love, joy, and lots of COOKIES.
