A Very Vintage Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This year, in the month of December, Think Classic will be doing what will hopefully become a tradition entitled A Very Vintage Christmas.

I don't usually do a post like this one, but since blogs will be posted left and right throughout the month of December, I wanted to give a tentative layout/schedule.

Since A Very Vintage Christmas officially starts tomorrow, December 1st, of course I have to post something then. But I'll also be posting things at least two other days of the week, EVERY week.

That's right.At least 3 posts a week, all about Christmas, and all for your holiday pleasure.

So, here's what'll be going on throughout December:

Every Thursday I will do a post about a classic Christmas song/album.To help you put together your vintage holiday playlist.

Every Saturday AND Sunday I will do a post on a classic Christmas movie.Sometimes they might be movies being played that day on TCM, but most of the time, they will just be my pick.

Then, of course, I have at least one random post I want to do for fun about Christmas at some point in time.

SO, I hope you're ready for A Very Vintage Christmas, starting tomorrow, December 1st!

You can always view my past posts on my blog's home page: www.classicvintagelove.blogspot.com

You can follow Think Classic on Twitter here:

https://twitter.com/#!/Think_Classic

And don't forget you can always comment on a post!

Merry Christmas!

(Yes,that is my Christmas tree.Don't diss.)

"Gratitude is the heart's memory."

"Some days we forget to look around us.

Some days we can't see the joy that surrounds us.

We're so caught up inside ourselves, we take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for what know can be.

And on this day we hope for what we still can't see.

It's up to us to be the change, and even though we all can still do more,

There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves, there's so much sorrow.

It's way too late to say 'I'll cry tomorrow.'

Each of us much find our truth, it's so long overdue.

So for tonight we pray for what we know can be.

And everyday we hope for what we still can't see.

It's up to us to be the change, and even though we all can still do more,

There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences, there is a place we're all connected.

Each of us can find eachother's light.

So for tonight we pray for what we know can be.

And on this day we hope for what we still can't see.

It's up to us to be the change,

And even though this world needs so much more,

There's so much to me thankful for."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSKIVf0hSn0

"For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be Truly Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

Smile

The last two weeks have been some of the hardest I've faced in the last few years.Things have just been pretty stressful,from getting work done,to personal relationships, to being able to attest to the fact that holidays are really hard for people who have lost loved ones.

But I witnessed something yesterday that got me really smiling for the first time in the last week or so.This song popped into my head, and it hasn't left since.

So, I'm sharing it with you, because everyone has hard days, but if you smile, you'll get by..

"Smile, though your heart is aching.

Smile, even though it's breaking.

When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by.

If you smile through your pain and sorrow,

Smile and maybe tomorrow you'll see the sun

Come shining through for you.

Light up your face with gladness.

Hide every trace of sadness.

Although a tear may be ever so near,

That's the time you must keep on trying.

Smile, what's the use of crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile."

And, being Think Classic, I can't post that without saying something about it's origin.

That song was originally just an instrumental piece from a Charlie Chaplin movie, entitled Modern Times (1936).It was composed by Chaplin,himself.

Later on, John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons added the lyrics, and Nat King Cole was the first to sing them in 1954.It's been sung by many, many people since then, including Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, even the cast of Glee, and so many more.

To see the clip with the instrumental music from Modern Times, go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps6ck1ejoAw

Here's Nat King Cole singing it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3bZU0CMdkE&feature=related

Judy Garland singing it in the late 50s/early 60s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAQfwpEDdOw&feature=related

Barbra Streisand:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMhD7JT0iok&feature=related

Michael Jackson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvJKPSxCUZg&feature=related

Stevie Wonder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMCXfxZrOC8

Glee Cast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJFiMPYjnmw

"Life is a gift,given in trust-like a child."-Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Thanksgiving is a holiday all about...what's that word again?Oh yeah, thankfulness.

But if you're anything like me, sometimes with everything else going on (family gatherings,multitudes of good food,Christmas just around the corner), it's hard to "count my blessings," as they say.

It's not that I'm not thankful for a lot of things, but I just don't have that true spirit of thankfulness-of gratitude.

That's why, this year, starting today, I'm challenging you (and myself) to what I'm calling "The Gift Project."

A couple years ago, I was given a copy of this book (see below), which I really enjoyed anyways, but it dawned on me this last week that it's the perfect thing to read just prior to Thanksgiving, in order to get in touch with my inner spirit of gratitude.

There are just so, SO many things that it brings to light that I am blessed to have, but certainly don't need for my survival, and therfore should be thankful for.

Gift from the Sea

1955 book

by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Gift from the Sea was written by a very famous lady whom we (hopefully) have all heard of, by the name of Anne Morrow Lindbergh:

And even if you haven't heard of her, you probably actually have, but just didn't realize it was actually her. Ever heard of Charles Lindbergh, the aviator?She was married to him.She was actually a famous aviator herself. She was inducted into 4 different halls of fame, and wrote numerous other books throughout her life.

Gift from the Sea was written by Morrow Lindbergh while she was on a solitary vacation on Captiva Island, in Florida. While she was on vacation, she did a lot of reflection on her life, as well as the life of Americans, as a whole. For her writings, she collected shells from the beach and examined them, linking their appearances to the structures of different areas of our daily lives. She reflects and comments on love, marriage, age, solitude, contentment, etc.

The Challenge:

There are eight small chapters in this book. There are also eight days til Thanksgiving (starting today). Seeing a connection yet?

I challenge you, and myself, to read a chapter a day up to Thanksgiving and spend a little time reflecting on who you are as a person, and all the things you've been given in your life that you've taken advantage of, or don't really need at all. Take some time to reflect on your life, and aim to find a little peace and contentment, just like Anne did.

You can find/price/purchase Gift from the Sea at Barnes and Noble online, or go to your local Barnes and Noble store.

You can also price/purchase books like this one on Amazon, so don't forget about that.

If you want to learn more about Anne Morrow Lindbergh, you can go here:

http://www.charleslindbergh.com/anne

"When our perils are past,shall our gratitude sleep?"

So, it all began in the early 1900s...

Meet the world:

The world was unhappy.Particularly this part of it:

aka the entire Eastern Hemisphere

There had been trouble brewing between these unhappy countries for quite a while over various different things ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Oh, wait, wrong time period in history.How about, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." No?Whatever.) but the huge swirling vortex of unhappiness combined with powerful leaders that leads to war happened in 1914. On June 28, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated while taking a pleasant tour of Bosnia.

Truth be told, Franz Ferdinand wasn't particularly liked by the people of his own country, let alone other countries, so nobody was really too grief stricken.However, Austria-Hungary didn't like Serbia to begin with, and they wanted to kick Serbian influence out of Bosnia for good, so they played the "You killed our Archduke!" card to their advantage and deliberately picked a fight.

From there,everything kind of escalated, as these things have a tendency to do.Everybody chose sides and formed alliances and countries all over the world became involved because of said alliances.Thus World War I began.

The United States was trying its best to go with the "I am Switzerland.I am neutral" policy, but after some of our merchants were blown up at sea by German war ships, Lady Liberty got a little ticked.Congress officially approved the declaration of war on Germany in April of 1917.It took a little while to get started, though.After declaring war on Germany, the United States realized they kind of didn't have enough people serving in their military to do much good.That's when we perfected the art of drafting people.Eventually we ended up putting so many men in the military that we were shipping out 10,000 ship-shape soldiers to Europe a day.

Anyways,as anybody who has taken basic American history (or any world history,to be honest, since this was a World war) knows, World War I lasted until 1919, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany.Never mind the fact that said treaty mortified,embarrassed,picked on and stripped naked the country of Germany,even though there were other countries involved.Never mind the fact that treating the Germans like dogs has a tendency to infuriate patriotic Austrian boys with anger issues and strongly rooted hatred for Jews.That's easy to overlook,right?

Ummm...Sure?You can overlook that for approximately the next 14 years.Then you're screwed.

Anywho,enough of that.My point is that on November 11, all those years ago, Armistice Day was proclaimed a national holiday for the United States of America.And we still celebrate that same holiday today, only it's now called Veterans Day due to a man in Kansas who thought to rename it,and attracted enough attention from government to make it happen.

And so, today, we celebrate all veterans.If you ask me, that's definitely something worth celebrating.

I've grown up in the good old US of A and therefore been surrounded by things like Independence Day and Veterans Day my entire life.Sure,I've always been able to see that they're important.I mean, why else would they be national holidays?

It's only over the last few years that I have been so blessed to be able to truly see how important these days really are.I have gained an entirely new appreciation of all those who currently serve and those who have served in the past, because of my friends.To date, I personally know people in the Army,the Navy, the National Guard, and the Air Force.

Nothing makes me more proud to be an American that to finally have a full appreciation and understanding of the people who are willing to go out, fight for, and defend my freedom.

Happy Veterans Day, and God bless!

Be sure to stay tuned in with Turner Classic Movies today, in honor of Veterans Day.