| As a pre-teenager, Christmas Eve was always THEE night of the year and abounded with naive wonderment and magic that can only be experienced by the innocent. I was an only child who was over indulged by essentially TWO sets of parents, my actual mom and dad plus my mother's sister Alice and her husband Bruno, who had no children and were my designated Godparents. Living in Chicago, my Aunt Alice would take me downtown every year via bus and 'The L' to have my picture taken with Santa at Marshall Fields AND Carson Pirie Scott. Looking back, I'm sure this was mostly a chance for my mom to get a day off from looking after me, but I looked forward to those trips with Alice for years. I was spoiled rotten by those four adults. Every year I couldn't wait for Bruno and Alice to get to the house. When we moved to Madison, they made the trip every Xmas Eve. When we moved back to the 'burbs, they drove out from the city. After dinner, Bruno, my dad, and I would go riding around in Bruno's latest Super Car (I loved that '57 Chevy with the fins on the back) looking at Christmas light decorations while Alice and my mom stayed behind and "did the dishes". And I'll be damned, EVERY TIME we returned, Santa had been there just 10 minutes before and we "just missed him" and countless presents, 90% of them for me, were under the "long needled" tree. (my mother, the neat freak, hated trying to vacuum up the "short needled" trees) My Christmas wish for you and me is to somehow, once again, be able to experience the wide eyed joy and innocence of being a child at Christmas... There are still tickets and room packages available for the New Year's Eve Happy Blue Year celebration. I am told that the usually reliable music source, The Juice magazine in Des Moines has printed the wrong band line up. Somehow they printed last year's info. Damn. We've got such a great lineup this year! So please help us spread the word about the show, with THIS year's lineup! Tickets/reservations/band line up/photos from last year/minute by minute schedule plus a link/phone number to the hotel can be found at http://www.theblueband.com/newyear.htm See ya a week from tonight. Carolyn and I are bringing the anniversary CAKE!... Tonight will be the 37th of the last 39th Christmas Eves that I've spent with my radio family. I look forward to this, just like I looked forward to seeing Aunt Alice and Uncle Bruno on earlier Christmas Eves. The sense of family, for me, (the only child of an only child) is joyous. Some people, who have moved away from the Iowa Public Radio broadcast signals, tune in from around the world at www.iowapublicradio.org because they've established a family tradition of having this Rockin' Christmas Eve show on while they celebrate with friends and family. It's all styles of holiday music from all eras, much of it picked out by request. (I've searched and searched and searched for a Johnny Mathis Christmas song that I could stand, so I could fill my brother-in-law's annual request, but I've not been successful. YIKES! Maybe his punk rock/ska loving son, who'll be home from Oregon, will get him to phone in a request for The Raver's, It's Gonna Be A Punk Rock Christmas This Year or Root Boy Slim's, Xmas At K-Mart) I DO, however, stand prepared for the annual request for Jingle Bells by The Barking Dogs) I hope you can tune in, the show runs from 7-10pm, feel free to use the toll free number at 800-772-2440, ext. 5 for suggestions, requests, or just to say Ho Ho Ho! WARNING: this will be a NO fruitCAKE zone... Many of the people on this list have encouraged me to bite the bullet and get a snowblower. Now, even my chiropractor is encouraging me to get a snowblower. Looking out the window, it looks like we've gotten another 3" since 9 o'clock tonight, with another 3" possible. I think I should get a snowblower. Maybe I'll try and find a cheap one in the spring... If you're traveling on The Blue (Xmas) Highway, WATCH OUT FOR THE OTHER GUY slip slidin' away and be careful for reindeer in the headlights because the snowflies are swarmin'. Rub yer washboard tie to the tune of Santa Claus Is Comin' Town (isn't it kind of disturbing that he knows when you've been sleeping and he knows when you're awake) (THE FAT MAN IS A STALKER!) And may you experience the innocent joy that this holiday season can bring. Give smiles and your love for Christmas. You've already got ours. Bob Dorr & The Blue Band |
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