`Tis THE Season

By Darcy Thiel

This time of year, I’m known as the Christmas Queen.

I hate the thought of Christmas presents, but I love the media stuff. I HAVE to do the following every year:

Read every Christmas book I have

Listen to every Christmas record I have

Watch every Christmas movie I own

Listen to every Christmas CD I have

Play every piece of Christmas piano music I have

My friend Darren knows this about me so last year he sent me an external drive with his Christmas collection. This year I got it open and let me tell you, he makes me look like a Christmas Scrooge. He sent audio books, dozens of movies, and about 4,000 Christmas songs!

You can see why I had to start at the beginning of November. There are several things that I enjoy, but wouldn’t particularly want to visit again every year. And I’m learning lots of things, probably only interesting to me.

When it comes to audio books, I prefer actual readings vs. additional voices and sounds to dress it up. Patrick Stewart’s reading of A Christmas Carol is awesome, which is of course followed up by watching the movie with him as Scrooge. The exception is The Grinch. Having those fun songs throughout the reading is a definite bonus.

“My friend Darren sent me an external drive with about 4,000 Christmas songs. He makes me look like Scrooge.”

I was surprised by a few TV programs. Curious George and The Smurfs actually have repetitive-worthy specials that I thought for sure were going to be on the one-time only list. Tim was particularly unhappy when he came home last week to my announcement that we needed to talk. I told him I still loved him dearly, but my heart has expanded, and I am in love with another man as well. ANDY WILLIAMS! My, what a heart-throb. He is so dang handsome and has the most beautiful eyes. (Well, so does Tim for that matter!) Tim pointed out that he is old as dirt and I pointed out he is still pretty damn handsome with his salt and pepper hair.

As for music, I found I am not quite as eclectic as I thought. Darren has brought my attention to all types of genres that I didn’t even know were out there. I found the B.B. King file and figured I would love him but discovered I didn’t care for his style at all. The big surprise was Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, whom I had never even heard of and would have thought would have been a big no. Turns out I loved them. Lou Rawls’ voice is as hot as they come. And my favorite find so far is Julie London, whom I also didn’t recognize. She does a song called “I’d Like You for Christmas” that is so sexy and sweet that I almost woke Tim up at 2 a.m. to dance with me. He said he appreciated my wisdom on not following through.

While you might think this a monumental waste of my time, I have found a way to make this useful. If Darren can put movies on a disk, then I can too. I can add to the drive and dispense of my DVDs, which is consistent with my desire to keep getting rid of “stuff” in any way possible. I can get rid of any audio books as well. See? It’s such a good use of my time!

This was an indulgent blog about my own quirks, but a non-depressing theme is OK once in a while, isn’t it?