My 12 Memories of Christmas, #11

Food. It will be a reoccurring topic in this recollection of Christmas memories. As a true southerner, food is not just a part of your life, but it is an integral part of the holidays, and Christmas is no exception. I will warn you, however, this entry doesn't detail anything Grandma made, or my Mom made. This entry will revisit food we ate at the holidays we bought ready to eat.

Little Debbie's Christmas Tree Cakes. I am not sure how long they have been in existence, but I remember them from my childhood. They may just be the most  perfectly manufactured, individually sealed Christmas treat ever marketed. First, they are a moist delicious white cake. Second, they have a nice, sweet hardened frosting -- but wait, there is also a softer white filling inside as well. The two compliment each other like pine tar compliments George Brett's bats (ok - I will admit, that was bad, but each of these entries needs a true Montyism). The kicker is the green sparkle. It adds just the right bit of texture. The final plus, it is the perfect size. Just right for an after dinner indulgence, or even a midnight snack.n Simply unwrap and enjoy.

I am stretching my knowledge here, but I remember an ice cream treat my dad used to buy us at Christmas. I remember they were individually wrapped, and for some reason I want to say there were two different shaped treats. One was a Christmas tree and I believe the other was a Santa face. If I recall correctly, they were on a stick. One of them may have had a peppermint taste, but regardless, they were good. I would love to know who marketed them, and it would be a most joyous holiday surpirse if I were to stumble across one of these frozen goodies to share with Samuel. I think he'd like it too (as well as Harrison, if he could get over the coldness).

The Russel Stover hollow milk chocolate Santa Claus. Clint and I got one of these every year for Christmas, and we always received it on Christmas Eve at my grandparents house (my dad's parents, Pop and Grandma). It almost always stuck out of the top of our stocking. We knew Santa hadn't come yet, and that Grandma probably filled the stockings, but we always looked forward to seeing Santa's head sticking out of the stocking as if to say, "come on and bite my chocolaty good head right off!." I remember as I ate it, small crumbs would fall into the base of the Santa, and as I approached the bottom, I would ceremoniously "drink" the broken chocolate remnants before finishing off Santa's boots. (I also always received Hershey kisses at Christmas, but these would only qualify as a Christmas treat due to the fact they added green and red foiled kisses to the bag.) I would be remiss if I didn't include a shout-out (or a Ho!Ho!Ho!) to the Russell Stover Mini Santas as well. I used to love popping them out of the plastic tray and eating them whole. I even remember the metallic taste of the wrapper if I wasn't careful and didn't unwrap it completely.

 

Sweet and Sassy sugar cookies. They were red and green. They weren't fancy. There was no icing or sprinkles normally. They were just good. Again, we received these from Pop and Grandma Wilson, and I fondly recall my dad enjoyed these as well. In fact, just last month on my 40th birthday, my dad bought me a bad of sugar cookies from Sweet and Sassy (these were colored for Thanksgiving, naturally). The recipe hasn't changed in over 30 years, and that suits me just fine.

The Life Saver Christmas Book. While I am not a huge fan of these candies today, I see they are still marketed, so somebody likes them. Every time I see these on the shelf at the grocery, I remember receiving these on Christmas Day in my stocking. Clint and I would often open these up and trade for the rolls we preferred. At the time, I don't think either of us ever wanted the "brown" roll, but if I had to choose some to eat today, those might be my first choice.

King Leo peppermint sticks. I associate these with my father as well (until now, I never noticed how much of these memories involved him). I believe he would either buy these or would receive them as a gift from either students or a coworker from Goodpasture. They came in a large, blue tin, and the sticks stood on end. I remember that as I ate them, I always tried to model the stick of candy so that it resembled a fat, sharpened crayon. As the candy began to sharpen down, parts of it would hollow out which kept me from ever creating a sharp, pointed candy cane "crayon."

Sorry to end this so abruptly, but I must confess, after all of the writing about Christmas treats, I think I should go treat myself to something sweet right now.

My 12 Memories of Chrsitmas

My original intent was to briefly blog about one special Christmas memory for 25 days. However, it is December 4th. So instead of backtracking, I am doing what any great teacher would do, and that is modify my assignment (I do have a 504 by the way, so accomodations are allowed). I suspect this site will not be of interest to anyone, nor will it be visited. But I would like a record of this so that my sons might see this and know what Christmas meant to me as a child.

Memory one - was our family Christmas tree. All trees are different, which is what makes them great. The ornaments, the lighting, the tree topper, they are simply the characters, descriptive words, and symbolism of your tree's (or family's) story, and all play an important role from the decorator's viewpoint (author) and the viewer's (reader's) eyes. Boys, I had to throw on my "teacher" hat for a moment to let you know that literature has also been an important part of my life.

We never had the opportunity to have a real Christmas tree, and that was my fault. I think it saddened my dad to a degree, because he often had one growing up. Due to my allergies, this wasn't an option for our household. To this day I can't have one, so I have to settle for plastic needles instead of the smell of pine.

While clear lights are the rage today, we always had color lights. Reds, greens, blues, and yellows illuminated our tree. These weren't the stars of our tree though. The true excitement occurred minutes after the tree had been turned on once the bubble lights had warmed up and the liquid began to dance like a science experiment. My dad grew up with bubble lights, and I am lucky enough to have put a string on my tree every year as an adult as well. They remind me of an earlier age, a happy time. I remember sitting and just watching them, amazed at the brightness and activity.

I never had a themed tree. We had an eclectic mix of ornaments, most with some type of sentimental value. To me, this is what a Christmas tree should be. We had ornaments we "baked" in the oven using little crystals and a metal frame (I remember a Santa face and a candle in  particular). We had Sesame Street characters (Big Bird and Cookie Monster) and a Muppet ornament that was a large ball. We had handmade wooden ornaments from Mrs. Potts, one of the dearest women I have ever known. She personalized an ornament every year for me (and Clint). These were almost always  sports themed (baseball glove and football helmet ornaments stand out in my mind). She gave them to us every Halloween when we visited her. I remember we had our own special bag of candy and we always visited and played fetch with their dog's favorite tennis ball. I cannot forget my favorite ornament. It is a large, somewhat tacky Santa in his pink striped pajamas. He is standing on a scale, and he doesn't look happy. I don't know why this ornament resonated with me, but it did. I always put it on the tree, and it was always placed on a low branch (naturally) on the left side of the tree. You can see it in pictures, and you can see it on my tree today. It has to be over 30, or even 40 years old. Over time, Star Wars, Alabama, and George Brett ornaments made their way to our tree as I got older. Luckily Bethany allows me to keep these on our tree, or my tree, which is located upstairs. We have the luxury of two large trees, the beautifully decorated one in our living area by the fireplace and the Monty's "He Won't Let-It-Die" tree in the bonus room (thank you, B, for allowing me to continue to live vicariously through Samuel). By the way, that last Santa pic above is a cross between a killer clown and the current (fad) Elf on the Shelf. I think he might try to harm me, but he has been around a LONG time, so I don't dare hide him.

Our tree was also decorated with gold garland. I think it looks tacky now, but it was part of our tree, and at the time, it had to be included. It did match our tree topper, which was a gold star with yellow and orange lights illuminating it. I have no idea what happened to our star. It may have met the same fate as Ralphie's special leg lamp, although for different reasons.

I loved Christmas, and I couldn't wait for Thanksgiving and my birthday to end so my dad could assemble our plastic festive tree and line the tree with a mix of colored mini bulbs and large bubble lights. Once his work was done, Mom allowed Clint and I to put our marks on the tree, which made it "ours."

If by chance anyone reads this, I would love to hear your comments about your childhood tree. What resonated with you? What made your tree better than anyone elses?

I hope to find a then pic and compare with my now pic and see just how close me memory is.

I love you boys. Love you a lot.

Best Concerts I Have Attended

For whatever reason, I had a "fancy" to blog about music. Well, I realize it is only fair to list the best concerts I have seen. Before I write this, I hope to keep it a simple top five list ... But I am curious if I can stick to that or not.

First I have a huge disclaimer, and I am not writing this to solely embarrass my wife. We had the opportunity to see one of my favorite artists, Beck, on a Friday night (the end of a school week). She literally fell asleep about halfway through the concert and I had to take her home to bed. Since I didn't see the whole show, I am excluding this from my top five, although I believe it would have been high on my list. He was awesome.

5. Alanis Morissette (1995) - Prior to reaching international fame for her Jagged Little Pill, I had the pleasure of seeing Alanis perform at a club concert on a first date in Nashville (I cannot remember the name of the now defunct menu). I may not know much about music, but I knew she was a force to be reckoned with (I did not know, however, that she would play God in two Kevin Smith films).

4. Eric Clapton (1992) - Slowhand. Memphis. Sunshine of Your Love/Layla/Crossroads. Enough said.

3. Living Color (1991) - I saw them play at Memorial gym of all places, and although they only had one true hit, they had one helluva show. I still crank up Cult of Personality whenever I hear it. I wish I could remember the band that opened for them, but my memory isn't that good.

2. Fiona Apple (2006) - I witnessed the most raw, emotional, truthful concert ever at The Ryman. My wife and I were just a few rows from the front of the stage. Her voice sounded better than it does on any album she has recorded, and at times I wondered if she would emotionally be able to make it throu the set. simply amazing.

1. Ben Folds (2005) - My favorite all time artist, at my favorite all time venue (The Ryman). The Fray opened for him (this was prior to Grey's Anatomy launching them to super stardom, which isn't deserved in my opinion), but the show belonged to Ben. I have seen him play with Wheezer, the Nashville Symphony, and solo, but this is the one concert that truly stands out more than any other. I am not sure anything will ever top this.

Honorable Mentions: Beck, Better than Ezra, The Raconteurs, Arcade Fire, The Rolling Stones, George Strait.

For a Good Laugh ... Artists I am embarrassed that I ever saw perform: Nelson, Experience Unlimited, and Travis

Artist I paid to see, but only saw his bus ... MC Hammer (yes, this is a long story ...).

Bands I Wish I Could Have Seen in Concert

I don't claim to be a music guru, but I think I have pretty good taste for someone who cannot carry a note and is embarrassed to sing at church. The other day I started thinking about great bands I never had the opportunity of hearing play live (due to my age and the fact I didn't attend my first concert until 1990). So, here are the bands I wish I would have seen perform live.

5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - One of the greatest guitarist of all time, and although I cannot comprehend just how good he was, I know that I like it.

4. Cream - I had the pleasure of seeing Clapton in the spring of 1992 and it was incredible (and coincidentally my brother's first ever concert). While he sang several classic Cream songs, I would have preferred to hear the band in their prime.

3. Led Zeppelin - In middle school I was told in my music appreciation class they were as close to satanic music as you could get. By the time I graduated high school, I realized this was hogwash and they were a great band who scared a lot of people. C'mon people, they sing more about Tolkein than the devil.

2. The Doors - My senior year of high school, I was Jim Morrison in an air band competition. I think he was a genius, and has one of the greatest baritone rock voices of all time (close second to Chris Cornell). I also dig the organ solos.

1. The Beatles - Greatest. Band. Ever. Enough said.

Looking at my list, I realize I must enjoy British music more than I maybe realized.

Honorable Mention: Guns N Roses (90s tour only), The White Stripes (I have seen Jack White, and I can always hope there is a reunion tour), Soundgarden (see #2), Beastie Boys (still hoping), and Ben Folds Five (with a new album, I am hoping this will happen).

Best Films of 2011

I actually almost forgot I had a blog. Apparently having a second child not only leaves you with almost zero free time, but it causes blog memory loss. Anyway, I was googling doppelgänger and found this cool blog name, and realized it was mine, so I decided to post about something I enjoy, the cinema. As previously mentioned, free time has become close to non-existent, so I haven't seen as many films as I would have liked. I have yet to see Tree of Life, Undefeated, The Artist, Take Shelter, Contagion, or The Ides of March.

After trying to compile my top ten, I came up with only 14 films I had the "pleasure" of seeing this year. Needless to say, several won't make my list (Captain America, Beginners, Thor, Crazy, Stupid Love, and The Lincoln Lawyer).

10. Young Adult - Diablo Cody and Ivan Reitman (both of Juno fame),created a dark, disturbing film with masterful performances by Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt.

9. The Help - Being one of a half dozen people who have yet to read the book, I can highly recommend this film for the ensemble acting alone. Octavia Spencer won a well deserved Oscar and Viola Davis was robbed.

8. Super 8 - Yes, it may be The Goonies meets ET, but any film with Kyle Chandler playing a dad gets a thumbs up by me (although he will always be Coach Taylor). Seriously, this film was fun and I felt 8 years old watching it.

7. Drive - Shockingly a tad more violent than I expected, but Gosling delivered. Film noir for the millennial generation with an amazing soundtrack. Definitely worth seeing, but not for the faint of heart.

6. Bridesmaids - My introduction to Kristen Wiig was funnier than I anticipated. For those thinking this is a female version of The Hangover, think again ... It is funnier.

5. The Descendants - Payne doesn't disappoint. My man crush on Clooney still exists. And the funniest two scenes possibly in a film all year. Plus, Shailene Woodley will be a star. Book it.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - True, I knew how it would end, but I could care less. The magic cinematic voyage of our favorite wizard is over, and it couldn't have been any better, unless it had been nominated for a best picture.

3. Midnight in Paris - Seeing Hemingway in this film more than makes up for having to watch one of my least favorite actors, Owen of my own last name (who actually was well cast for this role). Woody's best film since Match Point deserves a larger audience. Do yourself a favor and watch this film.

2. Hugo - Scorsese at the helm of a children's picture about the love of cinema. Need I say more? If you didn't see it in 3D, it is your loss.

1. Moneyball - I will admit, I had doubts about how such a great book about stats in baseball could ever be translated for the big screen. I was wrong. Very wrong. This film was outstanding. Brad Pitt is at the top of his game and the script co-adapted by Sorkin sparkles. Once again, Hollywood hits a grand slam making a baseball pic.

Well, that's it ... Agree, disagree, but whatever you do, be sure to see my top 3.