Jean Shepherd - Shep's Christmas Memories 1971/12/24

[@Mi-yc3oy]

2:07 forerunner to the online yule logs of today 😆🥳

[@RakeeshJ4]

DG, thanks for continuing to share these:) It's greatly appreciated.

[@cmans79tr7]

I'm only 1:34 into this, and Shep's musings about the passage of time between "holidays" in his intro already has my mind relaxing, so I can now try to sleep. It's 2:39 AM and I just had to awaken my sleeping, screaming, wife who watches too many Spanish -Dope- , I mean Soap Operas.😢 This somnambulent sleep interruption is a frequent adjunct to my _own_ insomnia, plus being 'blessed' with an "early riser" dog who wants to start her day (and wants me too) at 5 AM. After a quick snack treat, she goes back to sleep, leaving me to groggily start my day🥱😡🤨😐😑🙄.... DG, thanks for posting this timely installment.👌

[@cmans79tr7]

Wow! (Spoiler alert! Dont read this further until you have listened to the end of this vid) I had correctly guessed🤔 the author of that "Treasure Island-esque" poem at the end 35:10 was written by Robert Lous Stevenson. The "frozen sheets cutting" and "cold as charity" and the twist at the end cemented it for me. No, Shep, I did not miss that one😮🧐🤓 (now 4:10 AM BTW🥱 edit: now it's 4:46 AM and I have listened to that fantastic 'Christmas at Sea' poem by R.L.S. four times. Thank you again DG if Shep hadn't had those extra seven minutes, and if you hadn't posted this, and i didn't have insomnia today, and my wife hadn't had a nightmare, I might never would have heard it.😝

[@rudolphguarnacci197]

Very poignant. Hits home. Miss Shep. Miss my parents. Merry Christmas everybody. Thanks Dapper Gent.

[@cmans79tr7]

Wow 30:23 Shep's reading of "The Boy who laughed at Santa Claus" just hit me like a lightning bolt. I paused this at the beginning, noting that the boy broke all the rules because there were no _repercussions_ (from 'Santa Claus'). Sounds like segments of Society. Let's see how the poem ends. Edit : commercial in the middle of the reading. Edit#2: TWO commercial breaks during the reading of this poem😢 Edit#3 : a commercial interrupted the last line of "Christmas at sea😢

[@andrewm4564]

The author of "The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus" also wrote, "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker." Also, I just learned that that author and I share the same birthday (August 19, not the same year).

[@nottawaygarage3683]

I should be in bed, but here I am now, listening to Shepherd instead.

[@cmans79tr7]

17:10 - DG I love revisiting these uploads because I often "hear" something that I hadn't heard the prior times because either I wasn't listening closely or had already fallen asleep. This segment hit a nerve because I did get a guitar one Christmas, that i had not wanted, asked for, or even given an indication that i wanted one, other than perhaps listening to Rock music on the radio🤔. My grandparents were decent piano players, and whenever my father (who couldn't play) would come near a piano, he would noodle the beginning of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." I practiced that guitar for hours with the book that came with it, and I didn't progress at all. I unembarrasedly called total defeat. And now I _do_ want a saxophone because I listen to a lot of "Dinner Jazz" because I want to make music like Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Yusef Latiffe, Gene Ammons, et al, and l'll bet If i ever purchase a Sax (I want a Tenor, because I like the lowrange) that the Sax will totally defeat me too...but ya never know 😂

[@andrewm4564]

My dad was a trombone player. He looked a lot like Glenn Miller. When I was in high school, he bought me a used trombone, and he tried to teach it to me. I learned the basics, but I preferred playing sports to playing the trombone. After a year or so, my dad sold the trombone. When I was in college, I bought a jaw harp (Jew's harp), and I learned to play that some. I had some fun with that.

[@cmans79tr7]

DG - I know that you haven't monetized this, but first time I listened, there was one commercial. Today, (12/23/23 6:39 AM) I am at 20 minutes and easily there were 10 minutes of commercials. Anyway am laughing at Shep's comment that he had never seen a derby (hat) except in cartoons😂😂😂. Also i think it funny that this humorist, who has lived and died before me... like me...had watched cartoons😅.

[@birdscats6834]

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[@cmans79tr7]

Now 3:16 AM but hearing Shep speak about his earliest Christmas memory I want to share mine. And i actually have two in succesive years, or it could have been the same year. Based upon where we lived at the time, I was no more than three years old, and "Santa" in full regalia came to visit while I was sleeping and my parents came to wake me and ask me if i wanted to meet him. Being the shy type, I viewed 'Santa' (nobody ever told me who that was, but later in life I deduced it was my gregarious uncle Mike) sitting in the living room, and I demurred, and neither my parents nor Santa took offence. Deep down even at that point I knew that costumed Santa was not really a person, but an archetype.🤔 My other memory, again either i was two or three based upon where we were living, will havevto wait as i really do need to get some sleep😴.