Merry Christmas, Darling

In 1970, I was a senior in high school full of romantic ideas, crazy about boys and one boy in particular. We had dated off and on for a year or so, but he was in college and understandably didn't want to settle down with a seventeen-year-old girl. That Christmas, as I was pining away for my true love, The Carpenters released a little number called "Merry Christmas, Darling" as a single. It fit my yearnings to a tee. I went to Kresge's and plunked down my hard-earned babysitting money for the record and put it on the console stereo. I don't think I removed it for two months...well past Christmas! Karen knew about my aching heart and sang about it in her clear, pure alto voice.

It wasn't until 1978 that The Carpenters came out with their "Christmas Portrait" album. By then I was happily married with a three-year-old and one on the way. There wasn't a lot of money to spare, but I had to have that album. So I saved a little here and a little there and bought it. I played that thing to death. I loved the way each song segued seamlessly into the next one. I sang along with Karen and knew every note and pause and breath. I loved that the very first thing you hear when it starts is Karen taking a breath. I loved that they included the little known first verses of several Christmas standards.

When the children (all three of them) were going to school, I would wake them every school day during the Christmas season by playing the album. It's one of Aimee's most loved memories of childhood...waking to "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear". 

When the CD came out, I retired the worn-out album (which I still have) and replaced it with the new technology. I still have the same one. I still play it to death every year. This year, I've uploaded the songs to my MP3-capable cell phone. It's the one Christmas album that I never get tired of.

Oh, you're probably wondering if I ever got together with that college boy. I did. And we've been married 37 years. You do the math.