My sister got a guitar. It was a nice acoustic complete with needleworked shoulder strap. I remember my parents bright look of anticipation as my sister was unwrapping her largest gift, which was saved for last. I could tell they thought it was special. And my sister didn't disappoint...she just about broke into tears once it was revealed.
My parents were not rich and I now know that especially in those late '70's years, they were very much in debt having in just 3 years bought a house, furnished it with new furniture, remodeled the interior, in some cases taking out walls, installed a new back door (again, taking out walls), a new brick patio and first an above-ground pool and 2 years later replaced it with an inground pool. Oh, and new vinyl siding and roofing as well. All between 1975 and 1978.
We were all given very nice gifts each Christmas. My mother especially loved to go all out. I estimate they probably spent an average of $300 per kid. That's 3 kids. $900.
My father probably took home from his textile factory job about $300 a week then (actually pretty decent in 1978...yeah the powerful '70's unions!), my mother worked in a circuit-board manufacturing plant, don't know what income she made but it was piecework so if it meant rapidly soldering them capacitors in mass-quantities equaled more money for Christmas for her kids, my mom, no doubt, worked her fuckin' ass off.
We are primarily French-Canadian but, on my mother's side, are a bit Polish too so our Christmas traditions melded the two cultures perfectly. My mother would prepare days in advance for the Christams Eve dinner. Extended members of the family all came to our house because it was so popular. She and my father, and by '78 all us kids too, would help prepare the (phonetically spelled) Kapusta (pork, cabbage, sauerkraut and barley stew), Gowumpkies (rice and pork stuffed cabbage rolls), and especially labor intensive Pierogies (potato and cheese stuffed pasta turnovers). Regarding this dish, these were NOT the frozen things in the supermarket. They were pasta dough from scratch, filling from scratch, assembled, boiled and covered in sauteed onions from scratch. Hours of work, but the taste....totally worth it! For the French-Canadian portion, my father's mother, my Memere (there should be an accent above the last E in that French word for grandmother but I don't know what ALT-key combo produces it and don't care to try to find out, ;P) brought over the Pork Pies (cinnamon and clove spiced ground pork and potatoes in a pastry pie shell).
Like so many of the numerous parties my parents threw (they were party animals!), lots of beer and liquor would be quaffed by all the adult, and admittedly, some of the under-aged partiers. We kids, though not given free-reign to suck down as much as we could, were allowed at these occasions to have a "couple". That "couple" could all too easily be increased to "several" if we wanted, we each discovered.
Yes Christmas times in the late '70's were grand and I'll write more FLASHBACKs of X-Mas memories as this blog trods along in time, but for now, let me get back to that guitar.
The guitar brought about a new Cindy (my sister). She spent hours in her room studying instruction manuals on playing the guitar and tried to teach herself to play. It dominated her free time for the next several months. She did pick quite a bit from her self-tutoring, though she never became really well versed in it. With the skill of stroking out a chord here and there she then started turning her attention to song writing. Eventually her playing practice times waned as her her time devoted to writing songs increased. This shift occured progressively throughout the winter of '78/''79. By Spring of 1979 with the onset of pleasant weather, my sister pretty much abandoned her musical career aspirations in favor of outdoor activities.
But in those short months of my 13-year old sister's musically-creative burst, my sister did write and perform a few songs which, oddly enough, to this day so many years later are still remembered by me. She used a lot of gibberish words to compose her songs (perhaps she was saving the real words for another audience? More on those assumptions later). She liked folk-style songs and each of these tunes have a folk kinda' melody. I don't know music notation so I can't write down the melody but for each but think 19th century folk classics like "I've Been Working On The Railroad", mixed with John Denver and The Osmonds and that's the sound!
Song 1:
Colenegay Kalala Chum Chum Chum Chum,
Colenegay Kalala Chum Chum Chum Chum.
Song 2:
You and I,
We have been through much together,
and
although
You are Black and I am White...
Well Baby,
We!
We Can Make It Together!
We!
We Can Make It Together!
We-Can-Make-It-Together!
Like I Planned!
(And finally the ditty I was humming on the way to work this morning which inspired this post)
Song 3:
Saraspunda Saraspunda Saraspunda Ret-Set-Set,
Saraspunda Saraspunda Saraspunda Ret-Set-Set,
Adore-ay-oh,
Adore-ay-boom-day-oh,
Adore-boom-day-ret-set-set,
Awsay-Pawsay-Oh
My parents were not rich and I now know that especially in those late '70's years, they were very much in debt having in just 3 years bought a house, furnished it with new furniture, remodeled the interior, in some cases taking out walls, installed a new back door (again, taking out walls), a new brick patio and first an above-ground pool and 2 years later replaced it with an inground pool. Oh, and new vinyl siding and roofing as well. All between 1975 and 1978.
We were all given very nice gifts each Christmas. My mother especially loved to go all out. I estimate they probably spent an average of $300 per kid. That's 3 kids. $900.
My father probably took home from his textile factory job about $300 a week then (actually pretty decent in 1978...yeah the powerful '70's unions!), my mother worked in a circuit-board manufacturing plant, don't know what income she made but it was piecework so if it meant rapidly soldering them capacitors in mass-quantities equaled more money for Christmas for her kids, my mom, no doubt, worked her fuckin' ass off.
We are primarily French-Canadian but, on my mother's side, are a bit Polish too so our Christmas traditions melded the two cultures perfectly. My mother would prepare days in advance for the Christams Eve dinner. Extended members of the family all came to our house because it was so popular. She and my father, and by '78 all us kids too, would help prepare the (phonetically spelled) Kapusta (pork, cabbage, sauerkraut and barley stew), Gowumpkies (rice and pork stuffed cabbage rolls), and especially labor intensive Pierogies (potato and cheese stuffed pasta turnovers). Regarding this dish, these were NOT the frozen things in the supermarket. They were pasta dough from scratch, filling from scratch, assembled, boiled and covered in sauteed onions from scratch. Hours of work, but the taste....totally worth it! For the French-Canadian portion, my father's mother, my Memere (there should be an accent above the last E in that French word for grandmother but I don't know what ALT-key combo produces it and don't care to try to find out, ;P) brought over the Pork Pies (cinnamon and clove spiced ground pork and potatoes in a pastry pie shell).
Like so many of the numerous parties my parents threw (they were party animals!), lots of beer and liquor would be quaffed by all the adult, and admittedly, some of the under-aged partiers. We kids, though not given free-reign to suck down as much as we could, were allowed at these occasions to have a "couple". That "couple" could all too easily be increased to "several" if we wanted, we each discovered.
Yes Christmas times in the late '70's were grand and I'll write more FLASHBACKs of X-Mas memories as this blog trods along in time, but for now, let me get back to that guitar.
The guitar brought about a new Cindy (my sister). She spent hours in her room studying instruction manuals on playing the guitar and tried to teach herself to play. It dominated her free time for the next several months. She did pick quite a bit from her self-tutoring, though she never became really well versed in it. With the skill of stroking out a chord here and there she then started turning her attention to song writing. Eventually her playing practice times waned as her her time devoted to writing songs increased. This shift occured progressively throughout the winter of '78/''79. By Spring of 1979 with the onset of pleasant weather, my sister pretty much abandoned her musical career aspirations in favor of outdoor activities.
But in those short months of my 13-year old sister's musically-creative burst, my sister did write and perform a few songs which, oddly enough, to this day so many years later are still remembered by me. She used a lot of gibberish words to compose her songs (perhaps she was saving the real words for another audience? More on those assumptions later). She liked folk-style songs and each of these tunes have a folk kinda' melody. I don't know music notation so I can't write down the melody but for each but think 19th century folk classics like "I've Been Working On The Railroad", mixed with John Denver and The Osmonds and that's the sound!
Song 1:
Colenegay Kalala Chum Chum Chum Chum,
Colenegay Kalala Chum Chum Chum Chum.
Song 2:
You and I,
We have been through much together,
and
although
You are Black and I am White...
Well Baby,
We!
We Can Make It Together!
We!
We Can Make It Together!
We-Can-Make-It-Together!
Like I Planned!
(And finally the ditty I was humming on the way to work this morning which inspired this post)
Song 3:
Saraspunda Saraspunda Saraspunda Ret-Set-Set,
Saraspunda Saraspunda Saraspunda Ret-Set-Set,
Adore-ay-oh,
Adore-ay-boom-day-oh,
Adore-boom-day-ret-set-set,
Awsay-Pawsay-Oh