Category Archives: Family

Christmas Morning ’12

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Christmas morning isn’t quite the land rush it used to be, but the girls still want to open their presents as they always have. Ann had some trouble going to sleep on Christmas Eve, but that was because she’d slept late that morning, rather than excess excitement for Christmas morning (though there was strong anticipation).

Gift cards, clothes, a little money, toys for Ann, a lot of sweets—it was all in the mix.

This year on Christmas and on the Sunday before, I managed to catch a few hours of a radio show devoted to Christmas music oddities hosted by two guys called Johnny & Andy on WDCB, the public radio station at the College of DuPage. I’d heard them years ago, maybe even these shows, since this year’s seemed to be rebroadcasts from earlier years.

So I got to hear “Solar System Simon, Santa’s Supersonic Son,” by one Francis Smith, which I haven’t heard in years. I’d forgotten how bluegrass-like it was. I’m also happy to report that when you Google that title, mid-2000s BTST entries turn up. Space Age Santa songs seemed to form a short-lived, and little remembered, subgenre of Christmas songs ca mid-1950s. Johnny & Andy even played a song of that exact name by I-forget-who-and-am-too-lazy-to-look-up (that guy records a lot of songs).

Other Christmas recordings played by Johnny & Andy included elf songs, Cajin-themed holiday tunes, Christmas polkas, and songs that tried to capitalize on the monster success of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” all in vain. One involved putting a light on Dasher’s tail, another had two reindeer named Percival and Chauncy becoming Donder and Blitzen, and one parody included the line, “Rudolph is lazy, tired, and has been fired.”

Even Gene Autry recorded other reindeer-themed songs, such as “32 Feet – 8 Little Tails,” and “Nine Little Reindeer,” which aren’t exactly forgotten, but hardly the hit Rudolph was. Then again, Autry recorded a lot of Christmas songs.

Gray December

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Today was intensely gray. One of the more overcast days we’ve had in a while, with cold drizzle most of the time. Various sources said that snow was on the way—something that hasn’t stuck to the ground since late February. As of about 10 pm, we’d gotten only a little snow, though some places not so far away reportedly have much more. Here, I can still see the grass poking through.

In fact, puddles of water are still visible on the driveway, lit up by the streetlight. That can only mean one thing tomorrow: sidewalk ice. Lilly might have to brave it walking to the corner to catch the bus, and Ann might have to deal with it on her walk to school, unless it gets called off. But that doesn’t look likely, considering the piddling amount of snow.

Lilly got around to having a birthday event earlier this month, a couple of weeks after her birthday according to the calendar. “Event” because I can’t call it a party. She doesn’t call it that any more. Just a gathering of friends who spent the evening with her, ate some food, watched a movie, and all slept on the living room floor overnight.

But we did have a cake, and she got some presents, mostly gift cards to shops best known to her and her friends.

Funeral

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I returned from Dallas yesterday after a visit with my brother and his family. Deb now reposes at Calvary Hill Cemetery in Dallas. Her obituary is here, but I’m also going to paste it in, since who knows how long obits remain accessible on newspaper web sites.

Stribling, Deborah Kathleen of Dallas, born 28 October 1954 in Peoria, Illinois, the only child of Harold and Eleanore Triplett, died 5 December 2012, of complications of colon cancer. She is survived by her mother, Eleanore June Triplett, of Dallas; her husband of thirty-three years, Jay V. Stribling; and her sons, Samuel C.S. Stribling, and wife, Emily, of Dallas; Dees A.J. Stribling, of Austin, Texas; and Robert A.C. Stribling, of Dallas. She was a musician, choir director and teacher. Most recently, prior to her illness, she was assistant organist and children’s choir director at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Dallas. Rosary will be at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 6306 Kenwood Avenue, Dallas, TX 75214. A funeral mass will be at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church on Thursday at 10:00 a.m., with a reception to follow at the church and interment at Calvary Hill Catholic Cemetery at 2:00 p.m.

A lot of people turned up for her funeral mass last Thursday—her old friends, former and present co-workers and many students, some very young. We should all be so fortunate to be remembered so fondly when our time comes.

In Memoriam

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Deborah Stribling, nee Triplett, wife of my brother Jay, mother of my nephews Sam, Dees and Robert, musician, teacher, and more, passed away this evening. Requiescat in pace, Deb.

I will post again after a period of mourning.

A Decade and a Half for Lilly

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Lilly turned 15 not long ago. If I didn’t have any pictures, I’d be hard-pressed to remember a lot of her early years. That’s odd, because taking care of a small child is an intense, time-consuming business, but then again memory is a gentleman.

These days, we’re in the market for driving lessons. A risky undertaking, maybe, but also a necessary rite of passage here in 21st-century North America.

What did she want for her birthday? Money. Also a Subway sandwich, which she’s unaccountably fond of.