Sleigh Ride

What excitement "Joy to the World, the Lord has Come!" What joy. I'm listening to The Boston Pops Orchestra, conducted by: Keith Lockhart. This Cd will put you in a festive mood. It is majestic to say the least. On a day when the temperature is 2o degrees, and the wind is howling outside, it makes me happy to have such a sound home.

One in this day and age, can only imagine the thrill of going down hill and dale in a horse-drawn carriage. Snow lightly falling and the evening air crisp and star-lit. It brings me back to one evening when I was in high school. We went ice skating on a pond in Sturbridge and it was thirty something below with the wind chill factor worked in. We were not cold somehow, and of course, there was a wonderful fireplace roaring inside of the cabin along with hot chocolate and goodies. It was the type of weather that one would have been encouraged to stay indoors, but we in New England were build tough. Beside, it was a church sponsored event, and maybe a chance to meet someone nice.

I spent many hours on the outdoor pond, Carpenter's Pond, where we would circle the pond, sometimes holding hands with friends, to music which was piped from inside the shack. Those were very happy days. Looking back I was a good skater and learned to skate backward and do some simple tricks.

One day, while skating backwards, I hit a crack in the ice, down I went and in falling down, I hit the back of my head. I suppose I knocked myself out, and remember a friend putting some ice/snow on my face to revive me.

Having fun virtually costs very little. Dad even let me go at night on occasion, as long as I was home by the deadline. This is where I came to know my first husband. I didn't know that then, but I'd see him with the person who they called the queen of Southbridge, who was a beautiful blond, and she could ice skate like one in the ice capades. He was a cousin of my cousins Mike and Jeff. Since I was eight and one-half years younger, he didn't notice me then. All the girls liked him, a very popular guy, a radio personality. I guess you could say he was handsome. At that young age, I felt a slight hint of jealousy, a feeling I didn't quite understand, as I hardly knew him.

He was into music, a D.J. who provided music at dances held at the old YMCA, downtown. That much we had that much in common. Years later, after his tour in Viet Nam, we would meet up again, and he was determined to make me his wife. He has been gone for a while now, having died from cancer. It's funny though, I can still see his mark in little Nathan, when he passes his fingers through the tag of his blankets, in a style that Bob invented. And then, it's Ah Come On! In only a way Bob could say it.

At those times, we look at each other, all thinking the same thing. He's still with us. Those are the inherited traits.

Now there playing, "Baby it's cold outside." Boy, they've got that right. I can understand how difficult the holiday's are for all those who's loved ones have gone before them.

I remember my dad singing, I'm dreaming of a White Christmas. He'd cry every time, thinking about his parents. It will be a blue Christmas for many, who understand what I'm talking about.

Yes, we go through the motions, know fully well the true meaning of Christmas, as we participate in the festivities, Church service, and holiday treats, cause "there's no place like home for the holiday's." Deep down, there is a sense of reality...and that is:
I'll have a blue Christmas without you,
I'll be so blue thinking about you,
You'll be doing all right with your Christmas of white,
But I'll have a blue, blue Christmas.