Newsletter – December 20, 2024
This year for Christmas, Debbie and I drove to the Millbrook Playhouse in Pennsylvania to see our daughter perform in The Christmas Story. She played the mother of Ralphie who desperately wants a BB gun for Christmas. You know the one: “An Official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.”
I think we heard that wish expressed rapid fire at least two dozen times throughout the play by the time the narrator—the grown up Ralphie—says it for the last time. That actor lingered over the words with such heart and nostalgia that it brought a lump to my throat. Oh, the things that mean so much to us at that tender age, even in the face of friends and family who repeatedly exclaim, “You’ll put your eye out!”
I remember when I bought a cassette player for my car, complete with AM/FM stereo, for the drive across country to start grad school at USC, my dad said “It’ll get stolen!” He was right, of course, but like our daughter’s performance of Mother in the play, he showed compassion and practicality when I phoned home to ask for help. Ralphie didn’t put his eye out, thankfully, but the kindness showed to the son who has to learn his own lesson felt very familiar.
The live play performance had a lot to recommend it over and above the movie. The comedic moments played out in Ralphie’s mind by the actors in the play were spot on, with heightened drama that bordered on the absurd and drew appreciative laughter from the audience.
Now I’m going to brag on my daughter. Indulge me, Her portrayal of Mother was honest, genuine, and, when needed, charmingly playful. She also showed us how entirely capable this woman was, and intelligent, and good-hearted. A few days later, when we took her and her fiancé back to New York we all went to see the Broadway musical Suffs, about the women who fought for the right to vote. I told my wife afterwards that women like the mother in A Christmas Story would do a much better job of running the country than The Old Man (Ralphie’s father) ever could.
I’ll tell you more about Suffs and my mother the mayor next week. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, I hope your holidays are jam-packed with wonderful experiences that you get to share with family and friends.
TTFN
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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles
Eric Margerum 