{"id":584,"date":"2014-12-03T02:09:11","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T20:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=584"},"modified":"2021-06-18T19:46:03","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T13:46:03","slug":"some-christmas-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=584","title":{"rendered":"SOME CHRISTMAS MEMORIES"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, so I haven&#8217;t written a blahg since before Halloween.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/images\/scottparade.jpg\" alt=\"Scott Henderson November 2014\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" \/><\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">I have been busy people.\u00a0 You will notice however there is a new picture of me to the right that was taken by my friend Tom a couple of weeks ago at the nighttime Santa Claus Parade in Belleville, Ontario.\u00a0 It was cold and Tom was annoying with his camera.\u00a0 Not a bad picture though.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So now we move past Halloween and on to Christmas.\u00a0 Today is the second day of December and I&#8217;ve been thinking a lot about old Christmas memories.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">It really started with my daughter Abbie and I trying to come to an understanding about Christmas and her Birthday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/images\/abbieparade.jpg\" alt=\"Abbie at the Parade\" width=\"200\" height=\"400\" \/><\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">Her Birthday is December 16th and so she gets presents on her Birthday and nine days later on Christmas.\u00a0 This year she told us she didn&#8217;t want us buying anything for her for her Birthday or Christmas.\u00a0 She didn&#8217;t really have a good reason but when pressed I think she thought we were one step from the Poor House.\u00a0 That&#8217;s her on the left, walking for her school in the Belleville Parade (another picture courtesy of Tom).\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had some fine arguments about her stance on the no presents situation but finally I boiled it down to the giving versus getting philosophy.\u00a0 She&#8217;s the one that brought it up first and insisted it should be about the giving and not the getting.\u00a0 I agreed with her and stressed that it was about the giving for me.\u00a0 Every year I try to find something nice or rare that my children have mentioned over the year and that I&#8217;ve filed away in my brain.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a nice thing I enjoy doing and I didn&#8217;t want Abbie taking that away from me by saying she didn&#8217;t want anything.\u00a0 She understood my point and how important this was for me.\u00a0 Not a great memory getting to that agreement but it did remind me of other memories of Christmas past.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don&#8217;t recall what was my earliest memory of Christmas but I do recall a lot of snow filled winters.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">One of my favorite Christmas memories was one year when I was about ten years old.\u00a0 That Christmas, my older brothers Tim, Todd, and I all received new toboggans.\u00a0 They might have been Krazy Karpets for all I remember.\u00a0 You remember Krazy Karpets.\u00a0 I thin sheet of plastic between you and the ground that went at breakneck speed with no brakes for trees other children.\u00a0 Check out this video below for an original commercial from the 1970s for the Krazy Karpet:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hYhEsQekd9Q\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That was a fun digression <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">from the story.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">Getting back to the memory, we received some form of sled for Christmas and late in the day, after Christmas dinner, we took our sleds to Vinegar Hill.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">Now Vinegar Hill was a reputable toboggan hill in our neighbourhood. I don&#8217;t remember why it was called Vinegar Hill but some quick online research reveals that it is near where the Belleville Fruit and Vinegar Company operated in 19th Century.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\"> The toboggan run was actually a series of backyards on a hill.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">It was surrounded on four <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">sides by houses but the hill part was long and there were no trees.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">We tobogganed well into the evening and I remember the moon was out and it was snowing.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/images\/3sledding.jpg\" alt=\"3 Boys Sledding At Night\" width=\"338\" height=\"261\" \/><\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;d spent a better Christmas Night as a child.\u00a0 Years later, the houses at the bottom of the hill erected a fence along their back property lines and cut the hill in half.\u00a0 So much for Vinegar Hill.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jump ahead a few years and I&#8217;m 13 or 14.\u00a0 The Belleville Santa Claus Parade is looking for people to wear costumes and walk in the parade.\u00a0 My brother Todd and I stand in line outside of the old police station for over an hour to get a costume to wear in the parade.\u00a0 <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/images\/bigheads.jpg\" alt=\"Big Heads in a Parade\" width=\"362\" height=\"280\" \/>I don&#8217;t remember what Todd ended up with but when I finally go through the line, I was stuck with a giant Papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 clown head.\u00a0 My head bobbled loose inside and there was no red cape left to cover my winter coat.\u00a0 The picture at left gives you the idea of what size these heads were like.\u00a0 I have no actual pictures of that parade but it was exciting to walk the parade route and try to keep that head balanced on my head with one hand and wave with the other.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The following year, Todd and I were determined to get better costumes.\u00a0 This time we had to stand out front of the Belleville Armory in a crowd of other kids until one of the organizers pointed you out in the crowd and allowed you in to pick a costume.\u00a0 There seemed to be no organization and after not being chosen a few times, I located a loose brick from the Armory and removed it to stand on.\u00a0 I stood a half head taller than most of the other boys.\u00a0 It did the trick and Todd and I were the next ones chosen to enter the Armory.\u00a0 When we got inside we noticed a line of other young people, the previous chosen ones, lined up along one of the Armory walls.\u00a0 We didn&#8217;t know we were meant to join the end of the line so we just went to the head of the line and entered a roped off area where they kept the costumes.\u00a0 Nobody questioned us.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/images\/batman.jpg\" alt=\"Batman and Robin costumes\" width=\"415\" height=\"382\" \/><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">In the costume area we saw those Papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 heads but we were determined to avoid those.\u00a0 Luckily we immediately spotted Batman and Robin costumes.\u00a0 Score!\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t get to be Batman but I was just as happy with Robin.\u00a0 These were the classic 60s style Batman and Robin costumes to boot!\u00a0 We gave our names and address and walked away with the prize of our youth.\u00a0 On the day of the parade, we were lined up behind some float next to a young woman in a Catwoman costume.\u00a0 We jumped and tumbled along the parade route and were hugged and adored by all of the children.\u00a0 Batman and Robin trumps a big head any day.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don&#8217;t remember any more special memories from my teenage years but I&#8217;ll add a not so great memory from around that time I was ten years old.\u00a0 My Mom and Dad would always wrap a few presents ahead of time and place them under the Christmas tree to tempt us to be good.\u00a0 They didn&#8217;t always tell us which present belonged to a particular child of us six children.\u00a0 I remember that year there was a very large and heavy rectangular present under the tree that we all hoped would belong to each of us in turn.\u00a0 Before the Christmas holidays I got into a fight at school with some older boys.\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t start the fight nor did I end it.\u00a0 We were all playing king of the hill where you climb on top a big snow pile and try to stay on top and be crowned the King.\u00a0 I remember I was knocked down by Terry Moon who was the bane of my brother Todd&#8217;s existence.\u00a0 They hated each other and of course Terry Moon hated all of Todd&#8217;s siblings for no good reason other than being related.\u00a0 I wasn&#8217;t stupid enough to try and go after Moon when he knocked me down but he jumped down off the pile and started to pummel me regardless.\u00a0 Soon three of his buddies joined in and they lay down a good beating on me.\u00a0 I was covered in snow and snot was coming out of my nose profusely.\u00a0 I was crying quite a bit and no one came to my aid.\u00a0 The beating only stopped when the school bell rang for the end of recess.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After the beating was over, a young friend of mine helped me up and I went to the washroom to clean up.\u00a0 This friend must have told a teacher because I soon found myself whisked to the Principal&#8217;s office to tell what happened.\u00a0 Between sobs, I told my story and gave up Moon and his cronies.\u00a0 They were hauled down to the office where they all laid out a yarn about how I had attacked them and had fallen in the snow on my own.\u00a0 They all said they hadn&#8217;t laid a hand on me.\u00a0 Mr. Post, the idiot Principal, chose to believe them over me.\u00a0 I had no witnesses of my own in that office.\u00a0 To say I was shocked or indignant was to say the least.\u00a0 I couldn&#8217;t believe that idiot Principal.\u00a0 I let into him with a verbal tirade of swear words the like of which he had probably never heard before or since from a ten year old.\u00a0 I was suspended immediately for one day.\u00a0 That wouldn&#8217;t have been so bad but when I got home and told my mother about my berating of the Principal and of my suspension, she informed me the large present under the tree was mine and if I didn&#8217;t go back to school the next day and apologize to Mr. Post then it would be given to one of my siblings.\u00a0 I should have called her bluff but a big present to a ten year was powerful stuff.\u00a0 I returned to school the next day and made the apology.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t recall much about the apology but I can tell you I was secretly insincere.\u00a0 The big present turned out to be an aquarium.\u00a0 The aquarium is long gone but in my fantasy Mr. Post was fired in disgrace and Terry Moon and his cronies all ended up in jail later in life or are dead.\u00a0 Merry Christmas!\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What&#8217;s next?\u00a0 I have great memories of Christmas with my wife and children.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll write about those today.\u00a0 Maybe another time.\u00a0 Christmas memories always contain music in my recollection.\u00a0 I&#8217;m a sucker for great Christmas music and I begin listening to it early on in November.\u00a0 I remember one January, yes January, Bryan and I put together a radio show of all of the great Winter or Snow songs that cease to be played after Christmas.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Many of the songs like &#8220;Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow&#8221; &#8220;Winter Wonderland&#8221; and &#8220;Jingle Bells&#8221; don&#8217;t even mention Christmas.\u00a0 This was why Bryan and I put together that radio special.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s one of the songs that we included.\u00a0 It&#8217;s Bing Crosby singing Hoagy Carmichael&#8217;s &#8220;The White World of Winter&#8221;:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-584-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.falseducks.com\/theblahg\/audiofiles\/bingwinter.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.falseducks.com\/theblahg\/audiofiles\/bingwinter.mp3\">http:\/\/www.falseducks.com\/theblahg\/audiofiles\/bingwinter.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p><!-- Start Genius MP3 Player: BING CROSBY - THE WHITE WORLD OF WINTER--><\/p>\n<p><strong><!-- End Start Genius MP3 Player --><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">I think that&#8217;s it for today.\u00a0 I&#8217;m going to get busy over the next few weeks leading up to Christmas as we are going to be finally moving my parents into their new home around December 18th.\u00a0 I&#8217;m hoping to find some time to knock out another blahg before then and I&#8217;ll post pictures of my Christmas decorations and yard display and hopefully post a new short story I&#8217;m working on.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll leave you with another beautiful Winter song sung this time by Frank Sinatra.\u00a0 This one is his version of &#8220;Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow&#8221; from his Songs By Sinatra radio show of December 25th, 1946.\u00a0 A world and age ago for this version but it&#8217;s beautiful and it&#8217;s a sentiment I&#8217;m looking forward to.\u00a0 Let it snow.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<!-- Start Genius MP3 Player: FRANK SINATRA - LET IT SNOW--><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-584-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.falseducks.com\/theblahg\/audiofiles\/letitsnow.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.falseducks.com\/theblahg\/audiofiles\/letitsnow.mp3\">http:\/\/www.falseducks.com\/theblahg\/audiofiles\/letitsnow.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, so I haven&#8217;t written a blahg since before Halloween.\u00a0 I have been busy people.\u00a0 You will notice however there is a new picture of me to the right that was taken by my friend Tom a couple of weeks ago at the nighttime Santa Claus Parade in Belleville, Ontario.\u00a0 It was cold and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=584"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4831,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions\/4831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}