Sunday, December 13, 2015

There is Something About Golden Rings

Once upon a time, our Christmas traditions were different.  That's true for a variety of reasons; time, location and the people around us. For years, we gathered at my brother's on Christmas Eve.  Food, laughter and song made up the greatest part of the evening.

About 20 or 25 years ago, give or take, I was not feeling well.  I was getting over some variety of annoyance that took my voice away in a froggish manner. We were sitting around, singing Christmas carols and songs....   well, they were singing.  I couldn't speak, let alone sing.  It came to "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  Much urging for me to try to sing just a little bit.  The shortest verse.  Five Golden Rings.  My mother was a little upset; that was her verse.  But finally all agreed that I would try, and if nothing came out of my mouth, the others would jump in.  Well, yadda yadda blah blah, and the first four verses were complete; it was coming around to me. I opened my mouth and channelled a rich baritone - possibly Robert Merrill. I sang soprano at the time, so the contrast was funny. Funny means that everyone,shocked,laughed their socks off!  It was a riot, and I got to do it 6 more times!!  It was wonderful; I had never sung in the basement before.

Fast forward to last Friday night.  Ward (congregation) Christmas party.  We were going to sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  Each table was assigned a day and, coincidentally, my table was assigned Golden Rings. I smiled at the memory.  I now sing alto or tenor so I belted it out.  Someone else at the table said "Let's sing louder than anyone else."  So I put on my diva hat (it's always with me), switched back to soprano and pumped up the volume.  Even Ronald darling was belting it out and chuckling the whole time.

What a wonderful evening!