Blue Christmas

I get so nostalgic around Christmas. I miss family, friends who are far away, and loved ones lost.

My tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving and I rock around it like Brenda Lee through mid-January! Some people collect magnets or shot glasses from vacations. I pick up ornaments to remind me of special times throughout the year, and on my pre-lit beauty they go!

I also can't get enough Christmas music right now, even though some songs make me all weepy! It's a good feeling, though, not a sad, woe-is-me sort of situation. My favorite is "The Christmas Song" (the Nat King Cole version, of course!). I can name that tune in about two notes, and when the strings come in, I'm a goner.

I also come apart at the seams when the children sing "Blue Christmas" in "The Year Without A Santa Claus".

The Peanuts gang ice skating to "Christmastime Is Here"?  I'm done.

Growing up in the south, Christmases were not snowy affairs. So during the five years I spent in Cleveland, all the songs and carols about "folks dressed up like Eskimos" and "doing alright with your Christmas of white" sort of came to life for me.

Swoon. I miss that. See?? There I go again!

I'm on a stay-cation right now, so this morning I left the house around 3:30 a.m. and went in search of Christmas lights to photograph. And speaking of blue Christmases, the first stop was Graceland! I always love seeing it lit up for the holidays. I think the security guards thought I was nuts for showing up at that hour with my camera! It was pretty foggy, but the mansion did not disappoint!

I've been inside Graceland only once, about ten years ago. I was working with a local TV station during Elvis Week in 2007, the 30th anniversary of his death. We were set up in the Jungle Room for interviews. It was at least 1,000 degrees outside, and the only relief I found was taking my shoes off. Which leads me to the only Elvis story I have, which is that I ran my toes through the shag carpet in the Jungle Room at Graceland.  Boom.

Anyway, I stood outside the Signature Wall under the watchful eyes of security guards, and got a few shots of the mansion, the giant nativity, and the blue lights leading up the driveway. Across the street, next to the Lisa Marie, the grounds were lit with musical instruments and other traditional holiday figures, all behind a white picket fence decorated with a string of blue lights. I loved the quiet street, being able to appreciate Graceland without the crowds.