150 percent less depressing story than the song, "Christmas Shoes" .. guaranteed!
Well, I made this one back early in December as I had the photo stored on my hard drive from a year or two back, and hadn't really come up with anything. Originally, I had a vague "Blue Christmas" from Elvis feel to the picture, but it had stumped me .. until I forced myself to at least put it in a caption setting. At the very least, I would put it out there as a DIY Challenge, and if inspired, I could whip something up as filler.
Yeah, then I started writing .. and it seemed to get more inspired. I wanted to create a "Christmas Shoes - Haven edition" but without sounding trite and cloying.
The first verse hits home for me, because I know a person (you might too) who has those thoughts, and its a shitty time of year for her .. thrown out of the house and homeless when she was 19 for the crime of wanting to be female. She lives a fairly normal life now but the scars run deep .. she 'lives' as a female, but still has certain parts she wishes would never have to see again .. and is at that age now where seeing children makes her smile but also makes her sad because she would love to be a mother. Its even worse when she hears about children being abused, and how its not fair that they have the ability to produce offspring and neglect their kids when she would have so much love but cannot.
The second paragraph deals with the Christmas Angels program that helps kids get toys for Christmas, toys that they actually WANT. We've done it every year since my daughter was born through age 13, and since then have alternated between children and senior citizens living in nursing homes. As adults, we can go without, but children should NEVER be denied at least some sort of fun distraction, and the Christmas Angels program has been very successful.
So I had something REAL that I could work with, and something that needed to be said. In my mind, I just HAD to create a happy ending in this caption, even if I couldn't solve my friends issue's nor the plight of the unfortunate children that live in poverty. I hope this caption isn't too hokey, as my intentions were to make something meaningful and inspiring, hopeful and spirited.
And to my dear friend, I do wish you'd have your own child some day. You'd be an awesome mother and I'd love to be the Godparent!
I think everyone knows how much I love the Monkees and I'm sure I posted this last year as well. It was done live in ONE take, a Capella, and is truly beautiful Spanish Villancico. Even they seem to recognize how special the performance is WHILE they are doing it (notice the smiles on Peter and Davy's face as they acknowledge Mickey's vocals.) Never given as much credit as they should as musicians, its another in a long line of reasons I think they should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The song is about the nativity scene, and if you want, you can find the translation on Wikipedia.
Dee, if I didn't lobe you before your love of the much maligned Monkees makes me love you now! Vastly underrated, hugely talented and their music has stood up to the test of time!!! I recently went to see Mike Nesmith performing solo and it was a joy...that voice brought me back to happier sillier times!
ReplyDeleteThanks for everything Dee! Really...thanks! And Merry Christmas!
God Bless Us, Every One!
Kaaren
Glad to see that we agree on the Monkees. I first saw them in syndication and my mom talked about how much she loved Davy Jones when she was a young girl, so apparently she was a lot like Marcia Brady!
DeleteDolenz has always been my favorite, and I follow Mike Nesmith on Facebook because he is always so insightful and I can always take something out of his message.
Merry Christmas to you and yours as well Kaaren!
A lovely caption. abit sloppy but thats ok for Christmas :)
ReplyDeleteThe Monkees sing this song like it comes from the heart. So much tenderness towards that song. I always love hearing it. I checked several other versions of this song on You Tube and all other versions I heard so far seem to miss something, even though some versions are quite good.
ReplyDeleteTo me it looks like you put the same heart and tenderness in your caption. so incredible heartwarming.
To be honest, I saw this post shortly after you posted it and wanted to comment on it. However your post and cap made me reflect on myself, wondering why it is I still enjoy Christmas and what happened to me to have very different feelings about this time of year, and while I was contemplating, I got a call for running late. Over an hour had passed by that time, and my computer already went to sleep due to inactivity. And while the reasons to at least dislike Christmas are numerous, and some of them weigh very heavy, I can still hope, I can still dream. I know that there are people who love me, and even need me. I am still able to count my blessings to find joy on the small things. So far that always tipped the scale for me.
And while I also miss having children, I know several girls who are young enough to be my daughter, and already became a mother. Realizing I could have had grandchildren by now makes that feeling even worse, but when I see the children of my sisters, and see that at least in some ways I was a positive influence for them it fills my heart with joy. Some of them have left their nest by now, some are about to. I hope I will remain a part of their lives, may it be as a weird old uncle or as a silly old aunt.