And It Begins

We have a rule in our house: no Christmas music before Thanksgiving.

Except it wasn’t really a rule. It was one of those sayings you say is a rule, but everyone knows it’s not. For many years my kids were in choirs. Choirs perform at Christmas time. They have to practice prior to Thanksgiving.

One year I was the church choir director. We had multiple practices before Thanksgiving. My kids teased me about it. . .every time.

This year, of course, there were no choirs. At least in Utah we are still permitted to sing in church. . .with masks, of course. In Washington, singing isn’t permitted at all. At least it wasn’t when I was there this summer.

My kids are mostly grown now. A few still live at home, two are finishing high school. One is performing a local service mission. One’s getting ready to go on a mission to Indiana. For the holiday my college students came home for Thanksgiving. They haven’t had any symptoms and we kept the size of the group at 10.

The kids helped preapre the Thanksgiving meal. I cooked the turkey and the potatoes. The kids made salads and vegetable trays and more. And they played music. And were their own rules enforcers.

Turn it off.

Why?

No Christmas music before Thanksgiving!

But, it is Thanksgiving.

No, you have to wait until tomorrow. AFTER Thanksgiving.

And today it’s after Thanksgiving. Christmas starts at our house today. We finished putting up Christmas lights outside. Tomorrow we will decorate inside the house. We’ll uncover the Christmas village that has permanent residence on top of the pantry. A white sheet keeps the dust off and keeps it out of site for most of the year. Tomorrow it will be back.

We’ll set up the tree. We have enough ornaments for a dozen Christmas trees. We’ll pick a selection to hang on this year’s tree.

We won’t have any grandkids over this year. COVID, you know. So, we’ll probably put the train up. It’s an old style big one with lots of track.

We’ll hand Santa pictures on the walls and put up the army of nutcrackers on the shelves in the living room.

Oh, and we’ll play music. . .Christmas music, because it’s a rule.

Stay safe

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.

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