Christmas 1958

I was recently scanning a bunch of our family slides that I inherited from my Dad. I came across this photo of the Christmas tree at his parent's house on Christmas Eve 1958. I was barely 2 years old that Christmas. I don't recall them ever having a Putz Style Village like you can see under the tree. The two handsome babies in the photo to the right of the tree are my Older Brother and I. Jim sadly just passed away last month. I rememeber in later years playing with that orange road grader you can see at the bottom of the photo. I also rememeber that little drum and the teddy bear. I don't recall that fire engine though. All of these toys stayed there at my Grandparent's house so we would have them to play with when we came to visit later on.

The furthest back I can remember is around the time I was 5 years old which would have been December 1961. They didn't have the Village then so they must have gotten rid of it. One thing I do always remember being on their trees are the Spinner Ornaments you can see on this tree. I was fortunate enough to have been given those ornaments by my Grandmother around 1996. They can be found for sale quite often on ebay, but usually go for as much as $30.00 per ornament.



HERE'S A CLOSE UP OF THE SAME TREE THAT SHOWS THE SPINNER ORNAMENTS BETTER. I THINK WHY MY GRANDPARENTS MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN RID OF THE VILLAGE WAS AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER THEIR CHRISTMAS TREE WAS ALWAYS A SHORT ONE THAT THEY HAD ON A TABLE IN THEIR DINING ROOM. SO PERHAPS THERE WAS NO LONGER ROOM FOR THE VILLAGE. MY GRANDPARENTS AND BOTH OF MY PARENTS ARE GONE NOW SO I HAVE NO ONE TO ASK ABOUT WHERE THE VILLAGE WENT TO. MY OLDER BROTHER DIDN'T KNOW EITHER. I ALSO REMEMBER IN LATER YEARS THAT THEY ALWAYS HAD A STRING OF BUBBLE LIGHTS ON THEIR TREE EVERY YEAR. GREAT MEMORIES THAT I WISH MY DAD HAD TAKEN MORE PHOTOS OF. I HOPE THE PHOTO BRINGS BACK SOME FOND NOSTALGIC MEMORIES FOR YOU:




Here's a photo of how my Grandparent's table top Christmas tree would look in the corner of the dining room. Not sure what year they got the bubble lights, but they aren't on the tree in this photo. My Dad had it dated as 1960 which was the first year they moved their tree to this corner:

My Older Brother Passed Away

My older Brother JIm passed away this past Tuesday of heart failure. He had been ill for a long while with only 4% kidney function for around 2 years now. The past couple of months he had been so sick, and not able to keep food down that he missed several dialysis treatments. I think it was the last straw for his body to take. He was finally admitted to the hospital in Rochester, NY last weekend. His heart stopped around 5 AM EST on Tuesday, and they never were able to get it restarted.

Please keep his wife Luann in your thoughts and prayers as Jim's death was totally unexpected so soon. She is now left holding the bag trying to straighten out her life on her own from now on. Needless to say I haven't much been in the mood for any kind of music ripping lately. Jim was cremated yesterday, and his wife will take his ashes with her back to PA where she's from. Thanks all!

The Glory Of Christmas (Columbia Musical Treasury D2T 5358)

THIS RECORDING IS OOP AND PUBLIC DOMAIN, AND NO ONE HAS A RIGHT TO FILE A DMCA CLAIM FOR IT!!!

I recently discovered factory released Reel To Reel tapes, and that's what this recording comes from. It was still sealed as well. It only contained 36 of the original 3 LP set of 48 songs. However thanks to Der Bingle from the FaLaLaLaLa.com Forum I was able to include his mp3 files for the 12 missing songs. It's amazing how crystal clear reel to reel recordings are. Every bit as good as CD sound I feel.




Here's a list of the song that are missing from the reel to reel version I have:

I SAW THREE SHIPS
HERE WE COME A-CAROLING
WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS
PATAPAN
PETER AND THE WOLF (EXCERPT)
IN DULCI JUBLIO
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST
GESU BAMBINO
PRAYER FROM "HANSEL & GRETEL"
JOSEPH DEAREST, JOSEPH MINE
THE HOLY CITY
O COME, O COME EMMANUEL

You may come across an mp3 file now and then. That is because those 12 songs are missing from the R2R copy of this recording.  So I spliced in Der Bingle's mp3 files (from the FaLaLaLaLa.com Forum) for those 12 songs.  I hope that is ok Der Bingle?

Here is the link for the Zip Files of all 48 Songs:

LINK TEMPORARILY REMOVED UNTIL COUNTER CLAIM IS FILED The Glory Of Christmas Mostly Reel To Reel Rip 1411 Wav Files



Ok. All of the zip files for this recording are now uploaded to the MediaFire link that I provided earlier. Enjoy!

Next I will be working on the "Merry Christmas" Columbia Musical Treasuries Set. My R2R is short 6 songs, but I've found someone with the Cassette copy of the original recording which contains 36 songs. They are going to rip the missing 6 songs from their tape for me. It will be coming soon!!! Here's some scans of the LP that I found online: