Episode Seven - A Christmas Memory

Ezra gets off to a rough start in this episode, listing the things he doesn't like about the Christmas holiday.  But he manages to let that go, and moves on to a memory of himself as a happy, albeit confused, young Christmas caroler.

Transcript

Episode Seven:  A Christmas Memory

Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn —

Chorus:  Early on one Christmas morn
Jesus Christ the Son was born
Singing carols, Christmas songs 
Early on one Christmas morn

Early on one Christmas morn
Jesus Christ the Son was born
Singing carols, Christmas songs 
Jesus Christ the Son…


Ezra:  So, it’s Christmas time again…what a… holiday…[chuckles]…what a holiday. S’posed to be about, uh…oh, I don’t know, the, the birth of the savior, and uh, and joy to man and I, well, damn, I ain't seein’ or feelin’ any of that.  I don't know about you, maybe, maybe it's different with you, and your family, but, uh, with us, it just seems to get harder every year. I mean, we get, we’ll get through it, okay, of course, we got through Thanksgiving, okay…sort of…lots of you were askin’ about that, uhhh, but I’m not, I’m not just talkin’ about family stuff, I just find myself wonderin’…what the hell…[chuckle]…you know, you can’t find a parkin’ place at the mall.  People, they’re stampedin’ every direction.  Kids load up with junk, expensive junk.  The food is, uh…well, some of it, the food’s okay, I guess, some of it, but there’s, there’s candy everywhere you look, and, and punch, Christmas punch, I never did --- if I want to drink alcohol, I will drink alcohol. And fruitcake, what’s that, what’s that about? The music is…it’s sad…uh…oh, but I don't want, I don’t want, I don’t want this --- this is not my Christmas message, you know, so just, umm --- whoa, scratch all that, just --- no, let’s scratch all that. I want to share, instead, a, a Christmas memory with you all, today, so here we go. Let’s go.  When I was a boy, I was raised in the church, and, uh, Christmas was, it was fun back then, I, uh…I enjoyed Christmas…yeah…have to think about when that changed, but, uh, anyway, back then, Christmas was okay. And one of the things I, that I really enjoyed was, uh, uh, so one of the ladies there at the church would, uh, she’d get us, all the kids together --- and there were some grownups, too, actually, and we’d all --- well, you know, some of us lived in the country, so we'd come into town and join up with all these others, and we'd go around from house to house, and sing Christmas carols. And it was fun. You know, sometimes, sometimes it would be snowin’, and, and it was dark, so, you know, you'd be walkin’ through the streetlight and the snow’d be comin’ down, and, uh, yeah, you know, it was nice. And of course we always went back to, uh, to the church afterward and, uh, we had our hot chocolate and so it was good, uh, but there was [chuckle] for a long ti --- what seemed, uh, like a long time, I don't know how long this went on, but, um --- at a, at a certain age there I --- there was a thing that was, that was puzzlin’ me. The --- one of the Christmas carols, it's a big one, Silent Night, which I loved to sing, it was a beautiful song, nowadays I don't like to sing it because it's, it's just too damn sad…man, so I just check out when that song comes around now --- but at the time I liked singin’ it, I liked singin’ it, but there was, there was a line, there, in one of the verses, that I could never figure out. It, it sounded to me like, like we were all singin’ “roundyun virgin.” And, uh, I don't know, you know when how you are, how, how things go when you're a kid, and there, there are some things you don't, really understand but everybody else seems to think it's normal, what you're sayin’ or doin’ so that's, that’s just kinda the way you think about it, too, right, you think that, well, it's normal, so, okay, um…don't worry about it. Well, that's the way I handled, uh, “roundyun virgin.” I don't, I don't even think I knew what a virgin was there, at first. And I, I sure as hell didn't know what a “roundyun virgin” was…[chuckles]…um… “roundyun virgin, mother and  child,” what is that about, uh…and uh, I don’t know, I don’t know when the light, the lights came on, but…this…this, this, uh, this misunderstanding of mi --- well, it wasn't a misunderstanding, there was no understanding --- it went on for a while, and I just, I was an adult, when it, it finally hit me, what “roundyun virgin” meant. It --- well, the problem was, of course, part of the problem, anyway, the problem was that I learned the song by listenin’ to other people singin’ it, and it sounded to me like what other people were singin’ was “roundyun virgin.”   Uh, I don’t know why it never occurred to me to just, you know, check the hymnal, but I don’t, I don’t think that would o’ helped, anyway, because the real problem was the word “yon.” “Yon” was just beyond my comprehension. Turns out “yon” is a, it’s an old word for yonder. So, what we were singin’ about, I guess, was, uh --- well, I, the animals, I suppose, and maybe those wise men who showed up, and they're, they're, they’re all, they’re all gathered around the virgin mother.  “Round yon virgin.” Now I don't know, why the virgin had to be yonder. Why she had to be so far away. Uh, I suppose that was part of the problem for me, uh, or, or why I didn't get it, but, uh…[chuckle]…oh, my, so, if there's anyone else out there, who's, uh, strugglin’, with understanding that particular line, in Silent Night, I hope that this has helped, and, it will give you, uh…give you a little extra pleasure…when you sing that particular song…if you can bear it..so, uh…well, Merry Christmas…do your best.

Christ was Born One Christmas Morn ---

Chorus:  Early on one Christmas morn
Jesus Christ the Son was born
Singing carols, Christmas songs 
Early on one Christmas morn

Early on one Christmas morn
Jesus Christ the Son was born
Singing carols, Christmas songs 
Jesus Christ the Son was born