Firstly, I want to wish everyone a Merry 2013 Christmas.  This Christmas posting comes a little late since most of Ontario was plagued with an ice storm on December 21 this year and thusly, our power, TV and Internet went down. Fortunately our power came back about 8 hours later but Internet service remains out at the time of this writing on Christmas Day.

Okay so getting to the point, which as you may have recognized takes some time for me, I wanted to reminisce a little this Christmas about my Best Christmas Album Ever. Long before Kelly Clarkson came out with Wrapped in Red, before she was even born in fact, and before N Sync’s Christmas album, before there was such a thing as a Trans Siberian Orchestra, even before Boney M came out with their very cool Christmas album in 1978, the Beatles released their White Album in November of 1968. 

This past fall, marked the 45^th anniversary of that release and it got me to thinking that this has to be my best Christmas album ever. Of course all of you are probably saying that the White Album is not a Christmas album but for me it was.

I happened to find a picture of that very Christmas in “Book I” of the 3 volume set of Brian Albums that my Mom lovingly prepared for me some time back, compiled out of our thousands of family pictures. 

In this shot, you see me showing Al (we used to call him Allan back then :-) just how cool my 4x4 Mighty Might Jeep was; Al is obviously deeply interested in this.

That same year I also got Billy Blast-Off who still holds an extremely respectable place in my office right beside my Model A ford, hand made for me by my favorite toy maker, Louis DiFlorio.

Also in the Christmas picture, you can see another classic of the day “Tip It” which was pretty cool alternative to the family board game at the time.

What you can’t see in that 1968 Christmas picture is that my brother Darryl’s girlfriend Jane, or Janie at the time, had bought him the newly released White Album, and at that moment, or within a few more moments, the Beatles White Album would play for the first time on our RCA Stereophonic console record player which you can also see in the photo.

For those of you who never experienced the White album, here it is in its new CD format released as a 30^th Anniversary Release 15 years ago.  Included, in the original release, were 8x10s of John, Paul, George and Ringo, all way too cool in their long hair styles of the late 60s (in the CD release, they've been reduced to 3 x 4.5"). While I have many favorite Beatles albums, the White Album is definitely my most with songs like Back in the USSR, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Dear Prudence, it is a fantastic piece of work.

But more importantly for me, the White Album brings back memories of a happy Christmas morning, unwrapping surprises with my family all around in our warm and cozy living room in Chapleau, Northern Ontario with a real black spruce tree that we would have all gone into the “bush” to get a few weeks earlier. Truly beautiful times of which we have had many, and of which Loreen and I have now had many with our own family.

Last night while sitting around with the kids, I asked them which Christmas they could remember most or which was their most special.  They struggled to remember a particular one but Christmastime remains the most enjoyable few days every year for all of us. For me, I was lucky enough to have the Beatles crystalize one special Christmas in my mind with their White Album; all were great but the White Album Christmas was definitely the most memorable. It has allowed me to encapsulate everything that Christmas is, family, love, generosity, joy, happiness, into one special little compartment in by otherwise cluttered brain.

So during this Christmas Season of 2013, I want to wish you and your families a healthy, safe and happy holiday season and best wishes for a great 2014. I hope that some gift, music or smell allows you to crystallize a moment during this holiday so that you can recall it clearly for all time. Remember to love the ones you’re with and live every moment and to take the time to think of and help others who aren’t so fortunate.  Merry Christmas everyone!!!   

P.S. One final point on Christmas albums, Boney M’s was probably my second favorite ;-)