Because I was sick and working too much just before the holidays, I didn’t get as much of a chance to check out the neighborhood’s Christmas displays as I would have liked. Today I went on a bit of a walkabout and got to see one of the local restaurant’s tree theme for the year:

Last year, Floriana had a Nancy Pelosi-themed tree, but this year they opted to celebrate Sesame Street‘s 50th birthday.

I hope those who celebrate had a lovely Christmas today. We certainly did, filled with togetherness, gifts, delicious food, and lots of laughter and reminiscing.

And tomorrow, Boxing Day, there will be more of the same, with a visit with a friend taking center stage for me.

I wish you relaxation if you need it, in whatever form you can get it.

Season’s greetings on this fine Christmas Eve. We have reached our final day of this year’s Virtual Advent Tour together and relatively unscathed.

Our final host this year is Alissa at headknits. She has a post (and a great poem!) about Christmas Eve in her Ohio neighborhood.

Let me take this opportunity to thank all of our Virtual Advent Tour hosts — raidergirl3, Bridget, kathy b, Jo Kay, Rudi, Karen, DOD, Constance, and Alissa. I love the breadth of everyone’s posts, and, frankly, I wouldn’t be able to run this event without your help.

Thank you. Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! And god bless us, every one.

Welcome to the penultimate day of the Virtual Advent Tour! You know what that means, right? It’s Christmas Eve Eve!

Bridget at The Ravell’d Sleave has offered to take on today’s post, rather at the last minute. She will have a post up this morning, but in the meantime you can check out my favorite of her Christmas decorations, Rudolph, who likes to hang out with her kitties.

One more day, folks. One day more! (Yes, there is…)

It’s the final day Sunday of Advent and the first full day of winter and the first night of Hanukah, a point in time where many ancient traditions collide.

My own ancient traditions include radio theater productions. I may have mentioned before that I was not a good sleeper, at least not at the hours that children were supposed to be in bed. My parents were dutiful child-rearers, though, and put me to bed promptly at 8. For much of the year, they’d put on the radio or a cassette of music and tell me that even if I couldn’t fall asleep, I should just lie there with my eyes closed and listen.

At holidays, though, though, my dad, who grew up pre-tv, would go to the library and get cassettes out of radio broadcasts, which he would play for my brother and me.

“Greetings from Hollywood,” the announcer would intone on Lux Radio Theatre, who would then introduce a radio adaptation of a recent movie. Often the adaptations, edited down to fit the hour-long show runtime, would star the original cast members, but sometimes an actor would be unavailable, and they would just get another actor to fill in. On Lux, the actress would be expected to tout how, after a long day in makeup on set, she enjoyed using Lux Toilet Soap to keep her skin silky smooth. On other broadcasts, they’d extol other sponsors — Campbell’s Soups or tobacco, for instance. But Lux is the brand I associate most closely with these holiday broadcasts, and Christmas had the best ones of all.

Josh was particularly fond of The Miracle of the Bells. It featured Fred MacMurray, (Alida) Valli, and Frank Sinatra in a Christmas tragedy:

I enjoyed It’s a Wonderful Life, which featured James Stewart and Donna Reed, but not Lionel Barrymore:

Dad is a big Dickens fan, so I know he picked up A Christmas Carol for us to listen to. My guess it would be the Lionel Barrymore-Orson Welles version, which appeared on Campbell Playhouse, because that’s the most famous version (Dad, if I’m wrong, let us know which version you remember):

I hope you enjoy listening as you wrap gifts, bake cookies, or travel. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Season’s Greetings! Today is the 21st of December and the Winter Solstice. Friends, our shortest day has arrived, and with each passing day we’ll be gaining a little more light back into our lives. May that be true for us all on a more spiritual level, as well as astronomical.

Today, I’m delighted to introduce a new participant in the Virtual Advent Tour: my dear friend at Blue-Footed Musings. Its author (whom I probably should have asked how she wanted to be referred to here) has shared the lovely story of two of her favorite Christmas things.

Revel in the darkest day, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow, for time it is fleeting.