I called Dad today - he's busy decorating for the holidays and something he brought up inspired me to write about it here, spread some merry-time juju!

He spoke of this bell - it's been a xmas decoration imperative for years. It's something uber groovy, and it deserves to be written about. His parents, aka my Mamaw and Papaw, came up from TX to VA and spent Christmas with Mom, Dad, and my big sister - an infant at the time - in 1983. They gave Mom & Dad a red bell-shaped plastic apparatus... It has a soft, thick red yarn to hang it by. We never hung it - Anyway you flick a switch on the bottom and it electronically plays some Christmas carol at random. Just the tones - 1983, remember? Cassettes were just getting on their feet! - and to the rhythm, a bulb comes on and goes off and on again inside the bell, illuminating it.

This was 1983, and now it's practically 2012 and that battery-operated bell still works just fine. I notice with every passing Christmas, Dad mentions how that bell still works like it's a miracle ... and it sorta is, the thing is so old and only annually dusted off.
See, Papaw died on the ides of March in 1984. He spent his last Christmas in VA with my parents and sister, and that bell was a gift he gave that year. And from all I've been told about him, I know he loved to sing.
A light-up singing bell.
I sure know I'm illuminated by music!

Cheers, Internet world. Here's to appreciation and to mystery.