Sunday, December 25, 2016

Vinyl

Where is our old record player? Did it get lost in the shuffle of the move? Get taken to thrift store? Thrown or tossed?

A year or so ago I started searching, thinking it was stuck out in the shed or something. No such luck. I think I tossed the old speakers ages ago in a purge, thinking we would never have need for them, now that we listen to streaming digital music all the time.

Pretty much any type of music, any era, available with a wifi connection.

For some reason, we were drawn to get a record player for Christmas. Perhap it was walking through Urban Outfitters in Manhattan this summer? I think we were wishing for a record play for the last three years or so. UO just reminded us that it wasn't really that difficult to get one if we really wanted one.

I bought a Charlie Brown Christmas record, as it is my favorite music for the season. After our traditional breakfast, this year, cinnamon rolls made by Maggie, Woo! Woo! we opened our gifts, enjoying time with my parents. We set up the record player and realized that I bought one that needed speakers. Darn. We nearly panicked, until we discovered that Patrick's little cube speaker would attach and work just fine.

It felt wonderful to see the arm drop the needle onto the transparent red vinyl disc. The music welled in my living room and I was content.

We filled the day with gifting, lots of food preparation, cleaning up, more food preparation, more cleaning up, lots of family time. Not much sitting down relaxing time. Which is why I am sitting here at 11pm, diligent to fulfill my self challenge to write, every day, even if I just sit here and type nonsense...

After 7pm, I lit the candles, put on the record, sat down in our cozy, pretty, holiday home, and began to read a book. A friend came over with gifts of some more records for the kids. Happening Hits, John Denver, The Irish Rogues and the Beatles. Oh. My. Goodness! Quiet time ended, and all of a sudden, most of the family settled into the living room, laughing, singing, dancing, enjoying music. Together. I plan to find some old speakers somewhere. I imagine I could probably buy ours back from the thrift store! Even with the small speaker, it felt quite magical to have some time, faces on each other, not a screen, old nostalgic music, memories, all together.

Almost three hours, listening, laughing. I like our Christmas present. We have a record store in town. Ringtail Records. I bet we will have a good time digging through the stacks to find treasure. I want an Eva Cassidy. Some Emmylou Harris. Perhaps some old cowboy music for when Daddy comes over. We have classical in the shed. Tomorrow will be a good day to bring it back to life.

How in the world did someone invent the record? And isn't it amazing, that with all the technology available, our family can still find a delightful moment together, with a needle running along a groove in a vinyl disc? Pretty neat.

On another note, it certainly was special being spoiled by my kids today, as they presented me with gifts bought with very hard earned money. I loved seeing the things they picked for each other, and their grandparents. Very obvious they thought things through and took joy in the gifting ritual.

The day was warm, no snow, no white. Our first Christmas in Alpine was white. I don't mind, I will take the variety. Most of all, being around my kids, my parents, certainly is a gift to me. I cherish it. Maybe tomorrow will offer a bit more rest and quiet sitting time? We certainly have enough leftovers to enjoy easy meal prep for a few days!

Day five......

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