December 25, 2007 [LINK / comment]

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas for the Clem family this year pleasant and low key. We've been listening to Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker as well as "White Christmas" and all the other Yuletide standards by Bing Crosby. Then there was the usual late-night salsa music, with hot chocolate and pannetone. (Hey, we're multicultural. ) Among the Christmas-season movies we saw on TV, we enjoyed the final scene or two of The Bells Of St. Mary's (1945), starring Bing Crosby (coincidentally) and Ingrid Bergman. A short film really struck an emotional chord with me: Star In The Night (1945), both on Turner Classic Movies. The latter is about a hard-hearted innkeeper in the California desert who gets a much-need attitude adjustment when the Nativity Story plays out in his own little inn. Would that all of us be blessed with such eye-opening life experiences to bring us closer to God, and closer to each other.

"Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men!"