Holiday music has always been my guilty pleasure. Though many of the lyrics are cringeworthy, the tunes have a way of lifting my
spirit.
A number of the most popular holiday songs were not initially intended as Christmas songs. “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music is a good example. Another is the Depression-era love song “Winter Wonderland.” It didn’t become a Christmas standard until after World War II. Nowadays, many people associate “walking in a winter wonderland” with the sparkle of snow and ice as the epitome of the holiday
season. It’s the sort of scene that Bing Crosby pines for in White Christmas.
Growing up in southern California, my holidays were always green. As a result, I tend to think of a winter wonderland in warmer terms. My ideal Christmas would be a long hike on a warm day somewhere like Big Bend National Park in Texas. Appropriately, you can even visit the Christmas Mountains on the northwestern boundary of the park.
The Christmas Mountains property is a research station of the Texas State University System. They allow public access on a road to the summit and trails for hiking and horseback riding. According to a Texas State University biologist, “It’s a wild place” where
“you could spend an entire day wandering around the property and not see another human.” To me, that sounds like a perfect winter wonderland.
I hope you are able to find your perfect winter wonderland as we pass through the solstice and into a new year.
Songs of Saddleback Mountain: Revisiting an ancient
friend: Saddleback Mountain, on the eastern edge of Orange County, California, sings in registers unheard by human ears. Its harmonies are not meant to save humanity. The mountain has no need to change the world or destroy it. Without pity or judgment, it remains as it has always been: a quiet stillness in a tumultuous world.
Finding Don Mclean along the Roads We’ve Traveled: Recalling a nearly forgotten
album: A review of Don McLean’s nearly forgotten 1972 self-titled album. Popularity is not always the best measure of quality or artistry, and this record is still one of my favorites. Its songs explore alienation, separateness, and the agony of memory, the deeply painful dimension of nostalgia.
Featured Photo
Oranges (Photo by T.S. Bremer)
December is a time of treats for many traditions. As a child, our house had no shortage of holiday sweets. But one of my favorite winter treats was fresh citrus. Every year, we would
go to the packing house in Villa Park, California, to get boxes of oranges and tangerines from local orchards. It didn’t take long for our large family to snack our way through a case of fresh, sweet, juicy citrus.
A family farm goes organic: “You don’t farm to get rich. But going organic is working for us. It feels good. And, you know, I don’t think we would still be in
it if we went back to traditional farming. For us, organic is the way.” How a longtime family farm in Montana went organic - Imagine5
50 years
of Exponent II, the Mormon feminist magazine: "Exponent II has carved out a community where people can explore the ways in which Mormonism and feminism collide, and the friction created by those dueling identities." The passion of the Mormon feminist - High Country News
Racial reconciliation in the Deep South: "We've got to get to the point where we realize you're my sister. I'm your brother. You're my brother. Different colors, different backgrounds, different upbringings. But we've got to be able to move on." Gospel-focused racial reconciliation in the Deep South : NPR
Melissa Sevigny’s account of a 1938 expedition down the Green and Colorado Rivers has adventure, science, gender issues, and plenty of thrilling tension. Sevigny says of the book: “In the summer of 1938, botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off down the Colorado River, accompanied by an ambitious expedition leader and three amateur boatmen. With its churning rapids,
sheer cliffs, and boat-shattering boulders, the Colorado was famed as the most dangerous river in the world. But for Clover and Jotter, it held a tantalizing appeal: no one had surveyed the Grand Canyon’s plants, and they were determined to be the first.”
A Snowy Love Poem
May Sarton’slong and prolific literary career included novels, essays, and published journals in addition to her eighteen books of poetry. Her poem “The Snow Light” suggests a romantic encounter on a snowy night, when “My delight and your delight // Kept each other warm.” This poem is beautiful enough to be set to
music. Singer-songwriter Patty Larkin includes a musical version of it on her most recent album, Bird in a Cage, a collection of “poem songs” which you can enjoy on Bandcamp.
The Snow Light
In the snow light, In the swan light, In the white-on-white light Of a winter storm, My delight and your delight Kept each other warm.
The next afternoon And love gone so soon!— I met myself alone In a windless calm, Silenced at the bone After the white storm.
What more was to come? Out from the
cocoon, In the silent room, Pouring out white light, Amaryllis bloom Opened in the night.
The cool petals shone Like some winter moon Or shadow of a swan, Echoing the light After you were gone Of our white-on-white.
– May Sarton
[Source: Selected poems of May Sarton
(1978)]
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