childhood

For those living in the Northern Hemisphere and English speaking world, the holiday season is filled with at least a hundred classic movies. More are created each year, and the list grows, but we always return to the ones that bring us nostalgia and happiness of simpler times. Enter, Burl Ives and the epic puppet animation tv special of 1964: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

A reindeer is born a little different than the rest, and is joined by the squeaky voiced elf Hermey who aspires to be a dentist, and the gruff Yukon Cornelius who represents all the hopes and dreams of the gold rush. The sultry and unique voice of Burl Ives compliments the children’s drama with other songs like “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” A visit from the Abominable Snow Monster, which of course adds furhter conflict to he mix, is frankly terrifying for kids.

The journey takes us to the Island of Misfit toys, and eventually ends with acceptance and a happy ending. It’s a happy and simple message about discrimination and eventual acceptance. The song is nice, but the film is even better. Look for it on Youtube for a laugh and a window into the childhood classic of millions.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows

All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games

Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say
“Rudolph with your nose so bright,
Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight”

Then how the Reindeer loved hiim
As they shouted out with glee,
“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,
You’ll go down in history!”

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,
You’ll go down in History.

Continuing on our journey brings us to a Christmas favourite, rooted strongly in my childhood. Such journey includes a stop by Gayla Peevey. The idea of having a hippopotamus in the house is novel, but truth be told, I’d rather have an elephant or giraffe friend, though clearly not in the house as they wouldn’t fit.

A classic and often kitch choice, this song features a very strong and unforgettable bassoon part, clearly the epic strong and obscure sound of the lower double reed family. Long live the bassoon, as well as long live the hippo, which strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, makes a frequent appearance in my social media feeds. Whether it be to eat a watermelon or generally just swimming around, a smile is always brought to your face when the little ears of the hippo shake!

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
I don’t want a doll, no dinky Tinkertoy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don’t think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won’t have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door
That’s the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me too

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
A hippopotamus is all I want
Mom says the hippo would eat me up
But then teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
The kind I saw this summer at the zoo
There’s lots of room for him in our two car garage
I’d feed him there and wash him there
And give him his massage

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too

In the spirit of the season, or rather to get me into the spirit of the season, I introduce my Twelve Days of Christmas with musical selections from obscure places and my life. 

To start this, I present to you a childhood staple, Sharon, Lois, and Bram. I had the tapes and its how I learned English at home, though this selection is less English focused. Sometimes I wonder how or why I became a polyglot, and this might be one of those inciting incidents in my life.

Sung in a multilingual version, here it comes… It took awhile to figure out all the languages since I don’t have access to the inlay of the original cassette tape, but I have pretty good ears for languages. ✌️邏

The Twelve Days of Christmas
1. 🇨🇦 A Partrige in a Pear Tree
2. 🇪🇸 Dos palomas blancas
3. 🇫🇷 Trois poussins français
4. 🇯🇵 和の小鳥
5. 🇬🇧 Five Golden Rings
6. 🇮🇱 שש אווזות
7. 🇦🇲 յոթա կարապ լողում էն
8.🇮🇹 Otto ragazze
9. 🇮🇳 नौ ओर ते नाची
10. 🇬🇷 δέκα άνθρωποι πηδούν
11. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Eleven Pipers Piping
12. 🇹🇿 Wapiga ngoma

Happy Holidays!

It is true that I am a fully grown (or seemingly) adult, and the term does not really apply to me as I’m not a child, but I have effectively become an orphan of late. My father passed away when  I was 19 years old due to massive heart attack, and last week my mother succumbed to her  year and a half battle with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). She was diagnosed while I was living in China, in January 2016 and a week after her birthday she passed away in hospice care. I am the soul heir to the family name.

I am an only child and now I feel as thought a safety net has been taken away from me. I don’t have someone to call or ask for sage advice for things that the newer generation just know. I don’t have somewhere to go if everything goes to shit. I literally am driving solo from this point forward, and frankly it’s terrifying. It is sad what has happened, but I accepted it and processed it long before it happened as I know it was inevitable. When battling a disease with no cure and not much known about it, there is little that one can do other than advocate and try to make it better for the future.

I am not sure if many people know, because I’m living abroad right now but when I return to Canada in the summer and will host a memorial at the family house, which I have to sell since I am no longer living in Canada. It is going to be a huge job to purge 30 years of personal things, but I will have the support of my sister/cousin and others that I’m sure will come to my aid.

So back to what I was talking about; being an orphan. Sure it doesn’t apply to me but I can’t help feeling like I am. There was so much of my childhood that I did not experience as a result of growing up so fast, so I can’t help feeling like something is missing. Before I was afraid to mess up, and I never really did mess up, but now the pressure is all on me. If something doesn’t work out for me, I’m solely responsible and have to deal with the consequences. I am responsible, but I feel like maybe I’m not so prepared to take risks.

Bar that, finishing out the academic year and then planning on enjoying the summer despite the sad passing. Volleyball, maybe some tennis, and maybe getting fit, all on the horizon. Oh yeah, and getting a genetic test to see if my DNA has the ALS gene that was identified in my mother’s DNA. Hurrah. </sarcasm>