Mitch Miller "12 Days Of Christmas"

We had these "Sing Along With Mitch!" Mitch Miller records when I was a kid, and my sisters and I would listen to them endlessly.  Hearing this song now, takes me right back to our living room and the Christmas tree and the stockings and the build up to the holiday that seemed to go on forever (not unlike this song).

I'm a Dad now, and I'm acutely aware that what I am doing now, today, the way the living room looks and the songs we are playing and the gifts we give each other and the special foods we eat, that these are the memories that my kids will leap back to, when they are in their mid-40s, thinking about what Christmas sounds like and smells like and feels like to them.

It's kind of a strange premise---to give the future a memorable past, you must live in the present.

But it's a good resolution for me, who spends a whole heckuva lotta time reflecting on the things that have gone by.  Live in the present.  Make today and every day memorable for the kids.

Not that every day has to be Christmas.  But can every day be visceral?  Can every day have sounds and smells and a feel?  Can I make every day something more than a rote recitation of a bunch of random, useless and frankly weird items you could by for your true love (not unlike this song)?

It's hard to make scrambled eggs, special.  But, though she's been gone for 20-plus years, I still remember what my Grandmother's eggs taste like.  Why?  They were just eggs and milk and salt and butter---no different than the way my mother made them or the way I make them now.  Why were they special?  Was it love?  Care?  Passion?  I don't know how they were different.  They just were.

I, like probably every parent in America, have spent a lot of time thinking about my relationship with my kids these past 10 days.  I guess that's why I'm wandering down this path now.

My wife and I have spent weeks thinking about what fun things we can do for the kids for Christmas.  But I don't know how much time I've spent thinking about making things memorable.

This is starting to feel like a New Year's resolution, more than a post for Christmas Day.

It also feels a little like a wandering post from a guy who is avoiding putting that train table together and is instead working on scheduling a blog post for Christmas Day.

Anyway . . .

I hope you have a happy, and memorable Christmas.  And that you only receive as many Leaping Lords as you feel comfortable with having.



Hear the song on Youtube.