A couple of nights ago they were playing “The Sound of Music” on television, so I started rummaging through some old VHS tapes looking for our old copy of the movie so we could watch it commercial free…haven’t purchased a DVD of it yet.
While looking through the pile, I came across our copy of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” which, of course, brought back a flood of memories for both my husband and myself. For me, it was simply the fact that I enjoyed watching it when I was young, and we enjoyed watching it together with our children when they were young. For my husband, it is the stories his mother would tell about knowing the family of the person on which the character, Lucy, was based.
We talked about the movie when we were gathered with family for dinner this Christmas, and my brother-in-law asked “Did you ever notice that Linus puts down his security blanket when he says ‘fear not’ when he explains to Charlie Brown the true meaning of Christmas?” He’s right!
I am late posting Christmas wishes this year, but take a look at this little clip I found on YouTube of Linus sharing what Christmas is all about with Charlie Brown, and may I wish you the joy of the real meaning of Christmas not just one day of the year, but every day of the year!
Many of my memories take place right here in my home state of New Jersey, and around this time of year, when it is COLD and I’m busy stoking my wood stove up here in the hills of Northern New Jersey, a Jersey Shore beach vacation isn’t the first thing that pops into my mind…so it’s good to have a reminder to make summer plans ahead of time when the prices are GREAT. Now that our children are grown, we love to vacation at the jersey shore in September. Last year the Spring brought with it warm weather as early as April, so we were down at the shore for several days.
When you are vacationing with children, a fun place to enjoy a New Jersey vacation is in the Wildwood area of the Jersey Shore at Morey’s Piers. Not only are you in the vicinity of beautiful beaches as well as the natural beauty of preserved land, but there’s plenty of water park fun for the children!
There is a special going on right now, from December 1 through January 9, you can save close to 40% on a season pass to Morey’s Piers, and enjoy both of their water parks, and these days, with all of us counting our pennies, sales like this are just what we need. So visit the link above, and makes some plans to make some memories with your family this summer…come to think of it, this may be a great Christmas gift idea!
This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving, a fairly quiet 4 day weekend, we don’t shop on “Black Friday”, I handle most of that online. We had a break with tradition this year by having dinner at my brother’s home, 12 of us, each household bringing a dish or 2 to share.
But where does “Fiddler on the Roof” (click image for info on the collectors edition) come in? This weekend it was on television, so hubby and I watched it….again. We’ve seen it many times together in our 30 years of marriage, and I remember seeing it in the theaters when I was dating. Today I was reflecting on how my view of the movie has changed through the years. It goes something like this:
When I saw it 30 some years ago on a date, I related to the girls in the movie, with all the romantic notions of a girl or young woman who has not yet met “Mr. Right”, and the date I was with when I saw it wasn’t “Mr. Right” by the way :-).
When my husband and I watched it together as a newly married couple with no children, we had many hopes and dreams. No children, what would it be like to raise children? Would we have daughters or sons? Would my husband be a “rich man” or sing “if I were a rich man”? I’d say right about now he’s singing the latter…but we didn’t have any idea back then, viewed it through eyes of hopes, dreams, expectations.
Watching it with children, hubby and I would look at each other knowingly as we saw the daughters rebel to one degree or another in the movie.
When we watched it this year, with a married daughter, feeling like we still have hopes and dreams, but a lot more memories than we did when we first viewed the movie, we felt empathy with the change the parents were facing, and not always happy changes. We’ve walked through many challenges together as a married couple, and looked at one another and thought “Do I love him/her”, “does she/he love me?”and thankfully can say “Yes, I do”.
What is it that we love most about this movie? The constant dialogue the character Tevye, a role so perfectly suited to the actor, Topol, had with God. He talked to God about everything, from the silliest to the most serious things, no matter what condition he was in, he was not afraid to talk to his God. Oh that we all would feel so free to talk to God, our Father in Heaven. Thanks to what Jesus has done for us, we have that freedom available to us, the thing I’m most thankful for this year.
