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December 23, 2019December 20, 2019 mckenziehousepublishing

My Top 3 Christmas Songs by Holiday Category

One of the fun conversation topics with friends during the Christmas season seems to be various “favorites” lists. You may be asked to list your favorite Christmas movies, your favorite Christmas food, your favorite stocking-stuffer gifts, or simply your favorite things about Christmas.

But even if never asked to share it, everyone has their personal list of favorite Christmas songs. They are the songs that you make sure to include on your Christmas playlist every year in order to guarantee for yourself “that Christmas feeling.” Everyone has their favorites, and yet a few seem to resonate well with everyone year after year. I recently saw a list online (Newsweek’s “The Top 20 Best-Selling Christmas Songs of All Time”) that got me to thinking about my own favorites. However, I wanted to give it a little different twist and consider my top three Christmas songs by five categories (the categories themselves being made up by me specifically just for these lists). Perhaps some of my choices below will also be on your list of favorites.

My Top 3 Christmas Songs by Holiday Category

Hymn: Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, Joy to the World

Indoor Holiday Theme: Deck the Halls, O Christmas Tree, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Outdoor Holiday Theme: White Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Jingle Bells

Santa: Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Here Comes Santa Claus

‘Tis the Season: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, The Christmas Song, A Time to Be Jolly

Whether your list would look similar to mine or not…I hope you enjoy the sounds of the season. Merry Christmas!

December 6, 2019 mckenziehousepublishing

RECORDS OF HISTORY HOLIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE

GIVE A BOOK FOR CHRISTMAS!

Looking for a book that will be a unique Christmas gift that is “just right” for that special someone? Check out these possibilities…!

A perfect stocking-stuffer gift for the one who enjoys puzzle books: Cowboy Heroes Puzzle and Activity Book has dozens of western-themed puzzles and activities, and is only $4.95 now on Amazon.com!

Cowboy heroes like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, and the Lone Ranger were known for their high moral standards in their shows and characters, but did you know that each of them also had a 10-point “code of the west” for their young fans to live by? Creeds, Codes and Cowboy Commandments: TV’s B-Western Heroes Rules to Live By reveals how the cowboy creeds and codes of these heroes translated into their on-screen actions and tie-in merchandising. Perfect gift for anyone who recalls when these cowboy heroes rode the TV range for law and order in the Old West!

The first four volumes of Matt’s Wild West Discovery Series are now available for purchase on Amazon. Each volume highlights a different aspect of the West and is packed with puzzle and activity pages, reprints of vintage comic book stories starring famous western heroes, a Paul Bunyan story, and more! Fun, colorful books for the young and the young at heart!

November 27, 2019 mckenziehousepublishing

Happy Thanksgiving!

If I had to choose my favorite holiday of the year, it might well be Thanksgiving. It is a wonderful convergence of fun, changing seasons, and anticipation, due to the food-centric family gatherings, the sense that autumn is about to yield to the onset of winter, and Christmas is just around the corner!

In my youthful days, Thanksgiving always meant our family would gather with available grandparents and other relatives to enjoy a family-reunion type of day filled with lots of turkey, homemade dishes, and pumpkin pies. After a brief recovery from stuffing ourselves, my brothers and cousins would usually drift outdoors to play a game of touch football. That was usually followed by watching NFL football on TV during the afternoon. Back then mid-week football on TV was an NFL novelty, as there was not yet any such thing as Thursday Night Football.

Its a Wonderful Life - lobby poster

More often than not, the day would conclude by sitting in front of the TV watching whatever channel was broadcasting the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. For our family, the broadcast of this classic movie seemed to signal the official beginning of the Christmas season. In September, I had the privilege to meet Karolyn Grimes, who played the little girl Zuzu in the movie. At the time the movie was being filmed, she was growing up in sunny, southern California, with no siblings and no personal experience with snow. In the course of filming It’s a Wonderful Life, she had a chance to sample life within a larger family, and snowy weather (even though the snow was fake). Regarding filming of the movie she later commented that, “Being from the land of sunshine, it was a tremendous fascination which gave me a whole different feeling about Christmas and families.” (“Zuzu’s Wonderful Life in the Movies”, Christopher Brunell) As many know, the film highlights the value of family and prompts us to consider what truly is important in our busy lives today.

Zuzu's Wonderful Life in the Movies

Often lost in all of the activity of Thanksgiving Day is the need to actually pause and be thankful for how one has been blessed. Even in years filled with setbacks, worries, and grief, there are things and people in our lives for which we can be grateful. It reminds me of a hymn I recall from my younger years – “Count Your Blessings.” Here are a couple of my favorite stanzas from that hymn:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

So amid the conflict, whether great or small,

Do not be discouraged, God is over all;

Count your many blessings, angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

On Thanksgiving Day, it’s good to remind myself there is more to be thankful for than just the turkey.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

August 11, 2019 mckenziehousepublishing

Roy Rogers Memories Live On in Portsmouth, Ohio

Fans attending the Roy Rogers Festival in Portsmouth, Ohio last week remember Roy Rogers and Dale Evans for many things, including their many western films and great music. The iconic couple is also remembered for their love of children and devotion to family. As a little girl, my wife, Amy, met Roy at his California museum in the early 1980s when he posed for a picture with her and her sister! While I never had the pleasure to personally meet Roy or Dale, I have experienced the joy of meeting some of their children and their spouses. Several years ago in Branson, Missouri, Amy and I had a chance to meet Dusty Rogers and snap a photo of him posing with our own children. Last week, we had the pleasure to again meet and speak with Roy and Dale’s daughter, Dodie, who was a guest at the Festival along with her husband, Jon. We also had the opportunity to meet Roy and Dale’s granddaughter, Julie Fox Pomilia, and her husband. In my experiences, Roy and Dale would certainly be able to be proud of the way their children now represent their family legacy.

RR Fest 2019 Dodie, Matt, Julie — With Dodie Rogers (left) and Julie Fox Pomilia (right).

In some respects, the entire Festival had a bit of a “family reunion” atmosphere. The special guests from Little House on the Prairie (Alison Arngrim and Rachel Lindsay Greenbush) seemed like old friends, even though we were meeting them for the first time. Paul Petersen (from The Donna Reed Show) was a familiar face who took time to converse with anyone who wanted to chat. Familiar faces in the dealer room – both among vendors and attendees – added to the feeling of a family gathering. (I especially enjoyed watching a two-year-old boy who for two straight days would swing by to stare lovingly and longingly at the western toys on the dealer table adjacent to my table.) The evenings were filled with casual gatherings for music, food, and relaxed fellowship with fellow fans of Roy and Dale, further adding to the extended-family-gathering atmosphere.

Amy and LHOP gals — My wife Amy, with Alison “Nellie Oleson” Arngrim (left) and Rachel “Carrie Ingalls”Lindsay Greenbush (right).

M RR Fest 2019

If the only legacy left by Roy and Dale was that of the emphasis on family and family values, it would be worthy of celebration. Roy’s legacy includes many aspects of his remarkable career, and his place in Portsmouth history is noted in various ways in Portsmouth. We are fortunate to have so very much of Roy and Dale’s work preserved in recorded music, films, and books, as well as countless merchandise items. But on a personal level, there is also that part of Roy’s legacy that lives in the hearts and minds of those attending each year, and the stories from those who met or knew him.

A legacy worth celebrating, stories worth remembering.

RoyR with Amy and Tracy, early 80s, in CA — Roy Rogers, with Amy and her sister Tracy, in the early 1980s, at Roy’s museum in California.

July 18, 2019 mckenziehousepublishing

Making Summertime Memories That Last Longer Than the Heat

My knowledge of how my parents and grandparents may have once enjoyed their summers is rather limited. Judging by the juvenile literature published in the early-to-mid 20^th Century, that generation’s summer activities included trips to the seashore, summer jobs on a farm, time spent at a youth camp or a dude ranch, and adventures around their home town. For my parents, it seems their summers were filled with picnics, tending vegetable gardens, fishing, summer jobs, and enjoying fresh fruit. They seemed to favor a lot of time spent outdoors, if for no other reason than the lack of air conditioning. However our parents and grandparents managed to spend their summers, they tended to recall those days with the same sentiments expressed by Nat King Cole’s song: “Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…”

Patriots Point — Even the rain did not dampen spirits on a visit to the World War Two aircraft carrier *Yorktown*, in Charleston, SC.

In my own childhood, summertime was defined by the school calendar as the period of several weeks between the last day of school in late Spring and the first day of school in late August. Summertime for me included a mix of chores and fun, but mostly fun, and best of all, no school or homework for months. It was an extended time of self-directed play, explorations of our neighborhood and town via bicycle, watching TV, playing board games, and plenty of backyard baseball. A regular highlight for my brothers and I was tuning in nightly to hear Jack Buck and Mike Shannon call Cardinals baseball games on the radio. By the time I was in high school, part-time jobs were also a regular part of my summer experience.

As a father, I enjoyed watching my own children spend their childhood summers in self-directed play and participation in outdoor activities. We also visited national parks, historic sites like Colonial Williamsburg, Silver Dollar City, Opryland, and more. In addition, every summer included long family trips to visit grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. My wife and I wanted our kids’ memories of summertime to echo the lyrics in the Diamond Rio song, Sweet Summer: “Those days were never too long / And never too hot / Even though I was out of school / I was learnin’ a lot.”

Opryland_Metropolis — My kids enjoying a stop at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN (left); Me and my younger son in in front of the 15-foot statue of Superman in Metropolis, IL, “Hometown of Superman” (right).

In my memory, signals of the end of summer always arrived too soon: the county fair, and back-to-school sales in the local stores. I expect summer will end all too soon for many students again this summer, as well. Many families find their calendar filled with swim lessons, band camps, sports camps, missions trips, yard work projects, visits to theme parks like Six Flags, and so on. However, I hope there will also be those opportunities to slow down a bit and enjoy something nearby, perhaps for the first time, perhaps in a new way – like I remember doing as a child. Again from Diamond Rio: “Sweet summer, yeah I remember that / Sweet summer, let me take you back …”

Wyndham in Greensboro — Hmmm…where to go next this summer? (Photo from an August Saturday spent with my older son at The Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, NC.)