(Today's blog was written while listening to the song link attached at the bottom of this blog - Noel: Christmas Eve 1913)
My kids asked me to find a song that they heard on the radio that was sung by the Muppet characters - Kermit the Frog and Fozzi Bear. "Wow" I thought, "the Muppets. I grew up with that show as a kid" and a smile found its way to my face. Now I don't know why, but suddenly I remember a skit that was done on the Muppet Show that appeared back in the late 70's. John Denver was a guest on the holiday show and he sang a song with the Muppets called the "Peace Carol". Something about the song was very heartfelt and moving to me even through I so young.
Most of my life as a child revolved around music and television. There are times when I hear a song or smell a smell and it takes me right to the very moment when I first experienced it. I can recall great detail about the moment and that if I closed my eyes, sometimes I can convince myself I am there. I can remember vividly what I was wearing and doing when I first saw and heard the "Peace Carol" song. I had a huge over sized white bean bag chair I was sitting in and was wearing an extra long flannel nightgown. I must have been about 11 years old. I had a huge bowl of popcorn that my mother had shaken in a pot on the stove and my dad had brought home for my brother, a birch beer soda, and for myself, a strawberry soda, from Dax's variety general store that used to be on Union Avenue in Laconia N.H.
Our Christmas tree stood proudly and sparkled with a wonder and peaceful glow in the front window of our living room, as the cat was trying to eat the tinsel that dangled close to the floor. I can still smell my mother cooking up one of her delicious confection wonders as it mingled with the fresh sent of our spruce tree. Our living room was adorned with only the light from our Christmas tree, the television, the rays from the adjacent kitchen light, and the flicker of the fire from underneath the solid wood stove door. Outside a great wind howled as the snow was coming down in blankets. To me, Christmas couldn't get any better than that very moment. Little did I know that so much more awaited me in my life and now I get to share the joy of Christmas with my own kids and husband and our families. Even through my husband plows snow for the state, I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, that will have us stuck at home and he won't have to work.
Below I have written out the words to the song "Peace Carol" and I have also attached a couple of links that have put me back into a Festive spirit for the 2011 Holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to One and All.
The Peace Carol
The garment of life be it tattered and torn
The cloak of the soldier is weathered and worn
But what child is this that was poverty born?
The Peace of Christmas Day.
The branch that bears the bright holly
The dove that rests in yonder tree
The light that shines for all to see
The Peace of Christmas Day
The hope that has slumbered for two thousand years
A promise that silenced a thousand fears
A faith that can hobble an ocean of tears
The Peace of Christmas Day
The branch that bears the bright holly
The dove that rests in yonder tree
The light that shines for all to see
The Peace of Christmas Day
Add all the grief that people may bear
total the strife and the trouble and care
Put them in columns and leave them right there
The Peace of Christmas Day
The branch that bears the bright holly
The dove that rests in yonder tree
The light that shines for all to see
