Posts Tagged ‘#Christmas’

Faith in Humanity: A Christmas Time Story

Posted: December 23, 2022 in Holiday, Opinions and Observations
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I wanted to share and experience I had earlier this week. As you know I am almost 70 years old. I regularly take my older sister to her dialysis appointments and to other doctor visits and hospital stays she has required for the last few years. She lives about an hour outside of town, but all of her doctors are near the city where I live. She does not drive and does not own a car, so when she has a medical appointment I drive about an hour to pick her up, drive an hour to the appointment which is close to my house and then drive her back home, stopping for medicine and usually lunch on the way. Then finally head back home. Lately she will get a ride to the appointment, and that way I only drive the round trip once.

She called hours before the appointment one morning because her scheduled driver did not show up. She scrambled and could get an appointment later the same day IF I could come and get her now. So I went to pick her up and take her to the appointment and then to pick up dialysis supplies she needs. We stopped for lunch around the mall area when we saw the Taste of Belgium was open as she had never been there before.

We ate our lunch and asked for the check as well as we needed to leave soon for the second appointment. Nothing special, there were a few other customers being served, we had a great meal and a good time. I was not upset or bummed that I had to drive both ways, and I have a great time visiting with my sister whenever I get a chance. Unfortunately, the appointment runs have become the only time we really see each other these days.

But as usual, I digress. When the waitress did not come back right away to get our check paid, I offered to go get the car so my sister didn’t have to walk across the parking lot. When I picked her up outside she told me she went to pay the check and the cashier said the two women that just left before us had already paid our bill! I was totally floored!

I can only guess why they decided to give us a very special gift. I would probably be wrong. Whatever the real reason, the effect was restoring my faith in humanity, at a time when it is desperately needed by so many.

I try to do similar things for others but I am inspired now, again.

Share and Enjoy!

Michael S Kennedy

MIDIMike

Holiday Tradition Past

Posted: December 11, 2020 in family, Holiday, Midi Series, My Tunes, projects
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Holidays are fun with creative people.

I often mention my talented wife and children sprinkled within posts over the years. When the girls were very young we made Christmas and the holidays a creative fest whenever possible. From pumpkin carving parties with over 200 pumpkins, costumes and haunted houses, we put our own flair into everything. We avoided the commercial and traditional.

Each year we would send our many friends a hand-made original Christmas ‘Card’. We would start two months before Christmas to imagine, design and create a unique holiday greeting from our entire family. Many are still hung up or placed on mantels to this day. It is hard to describe so you can get an idea of the projects. One time we made small cloth trees decorated in style with a hook on them so you could hang them as an ornament. Another year we took clear glass ornamental globes and other shaped bobbles and poured paint inside making them sparkle with bright colors and/or glitter on the inside of the glass.

As a musician I built up a small home recording studio over the years. In the lyrics we reference “7 tracks and SMPTE”. I had a digital recorder back then but advanced as it was at the time it only had eight tracks, and one of them you used to record a clock signal so it would sync with the MIDI instruments I had controlled by a hardware sequencer (RECORDING WAS A LOT HARDER IN THOSE DAYS!!!). Every few years I managed to work in a family musical project. Here are two audio recordings we sent as that year’s ‘card’.

This tradition really became a thing and people looked forward to getting their next card, knowing it would be unlike any other they would receive that year, or ever again.

Here is my family recording two Christmas carols for our annual card project. One is a traditional cover of a song you are familiar with. The other is our version of a classic. Even if you aren’t ‘all about Christmas’ and everything, I think you will find this cute and maybe hilarious at the same time.

I wish you all well and hope we can keep lost loved ones close to our hearts and friends and family in our thoughts.

MIDIMIKE

The Kennedy’s carol
The Kennedy’s Original 12 Days

12 Years of Christmas

Posted: December 23, 2015 in family, Holiday, My Tunes
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My wife and kids are quite creative.  The list of ideas and mediums they have worked with (mostly played with!) would take a few articles to cover them all.  One of the coolest things we used to do was to hand make small Christmas Cards that we would send or give to family friends and co-workers.  We made quite a few every year.  Sometimes we would make glass ornaments, sometimes fold-out decorated trees.  Scarfs and matching hats.  Each one unique.  They became collectors items in their own little way.  One of my favorites was an audio Christmas Card.  Everyone received a recorded cassette.

My studio has always been open to our kids.  They can play drums or percussion instruments, keyboards and if careful a guitar or two!  We would record often, starting when they learned their “A,B,C’s.  So we decided we would write, sing and record a song. The idea of doing the 12 years was brilliant as we had been doing this for twelve years and there is a popular song about the 12 Days of Christmas.  As you will hear we may have plagiarized a bit in this recording.

We had a great pet cat at the time and his full name was Tasmanian Devil,  but we called him TazMo and later Taz.  He loved to curl up in the cool bathroom sink and hang out. Some other lines will describe the type of card we sent or a piece of the original song, but I think you will get the idea.

Whatever your politics, Wherever you call home, Whomever you love, and Whenever you are able, take care of yourself and your family, have a safe holiday and a great New Year.