Reindeer

It seems that with growing up the magic of Christmas is compressed into a few hours over the course the 24th and 25th of December. When you were a child the entire season was filled with magic every day. Each day seemed to last eons while you waited for the longest night of the year to arrive where you would lie in bed twitching like a heroin addict in withdrawal waiting fort your parents consent for you to rush down the hall and behold the wonder the entire child calender sat upon.

When I was a child my family always went to the Elks Lodge Christmas Party; their Santa was the real Santa (he wore cowboy boots how could he not be the real Santa?), and the party was always fun. One year after the party the family was meeting up at either my Grandma's house or Dick's Cafe*. I was going to ride with my Uncle Russ. Uncle Russ had Toyota pick up and I took every opportunity afforded me to ride in a truck of any kind. While driving to meet up with the family I talked with my Uncle Russ about Santa and the reindeer. Uncle Russ told me that when Santa visited St George for the party he kept the reindeer at the Ence Feed Lot with the horses. My brain was wrinkled. I asked my Uncle Russ, with the most hope filled eyes of the 1980s, if we could go see them. He obliged.

*If you never ate at Dick's Cafe I weep for you, even though now I am working on archiving the mammoth environmental clean up effort that went in to fixing the property it was on.

When we got to the feed lot he parked the truck so that the headlights shown down the hill onto the hooves and legs of the horses giving the illusion of reindeer. Brain wrinkled a second time with the euphoria of true Santa zealot. This was my first brush with real celebrity. I had not only sat on THE Santa's lap, but now witnessed the physical evidence confirming real Santa status.

The magic of this story is not solely in what happened that night, but what happened for the next 20 years. Even during my most nihilistic teenage years I never stopped believing I had seen reindeer that night. When my belief in Santa waned you could still not convince me I had not seen reindeer that crisp, St George, December, evening. Family would try to tell me that all I had seen were "hooves and legs", but I was totally undeterred in my faith in my vision of Prancer and Blitzen.


The story became family legend, there had to be a meaning to it. We asked my Wise Uncle John** what he thought the moral of the story was and he said "It's simple you can see what you want to see in anything. You can choose to see magic and wonder or you can see horse crap and hooves." I think that is true, but I feel like this story represents the broader theme of holding on to the magic of our own youth. The time before we knew how hard and unfilled with wonder the world can be. Christmas is the time where for a few short hours we can recapture that sense of magic and wonder and believe the things we wish were true about society are true. That elves watch over our secret good deeds, that reindeer take flight with speed greater than a 747 and that miracles happen because the world is what we thought it would be when we were 5.

** John was never "officially" called Wise Uncle John, but it is fitting and I like the ring of it so I am calling him that from now on.

Where Everybody Knew My Name Part 1: Eden Music Paradise Lost

By Colt

There have been many places that influenced the person that I have become today. I think that we all have restaurants, bars, stores, and friends houses that felt like home. Places that not only brought out different parts of our personalities, but helped shape and mold them. I am doing something new with the blog and I am writing a series of posts based around those places. It will be ongoing and in specific timeline. I am going to start with a place that I can never go back because it is gone. It was killed by Target, Best Buy and Itunes. It was Eden Music.

Eden Music was first located in a shopping center on Bluff Street in St George, it later moved to Tabernacle before ultimately becoming another victim of the St George population's love all things corporate. The first album I bought there was a used copy of House of Pain's debut album. This was because I had heard the song a lot on the radio, and watched the video on MTV. This was the main reason behind most the music I bought. I didn't really care where I got, I cared that it was used and therefore cheaper. As I grew older and started to care more about what I listened to Eden became more important.

It was run by someone who became my friend, Adam Mast. Adam took the time to get to know what I liked. He knew I liked movies and would always recommend the best stuff that was being made by independent film makers. He took the time to get know my musical tastes, and over time got to where I would by anything he suggested without listening to it first. He recommended albums that have become my some of my standard rotations on my Ipod. The Magic Numbers, Wilco, Eels, Uncle Tupelo, Super Fury Animals, Blanche, The Shins, and The Vandals are some of my favorite bands that I would never have heard of had I done my shopping at Best Buy. It was at Eden that I bought my first two Elvis Costello records(North and When I Was Cruel). It was at Eden I first heard American Idiot and thus started my belief that Green Day was one of the very very few transcendent bands of my generation. With out Eden Music and Adam I would most likely still be listening to what ever was on the radio, and would never have developed my vast appreciation for all types of music.

Eden was not just a place to buy music though, it was a place to chill and meet new people. You didn't have to buy anything to just hang out and talk music or movies. Who ever was hanging around the counter that day were your new friends. If I had an hour or two to kill before my shift at the Pizza Factory began, I just stopped into Eden till it was time to go.

When I came back to St George from Washington DC one of the first places I went was Eden and that is when Adam told me the store was closing. There was just no longer any room for the small independent music store in the crowded market. He told me that since he had decided to close up shop all of his regulars and stopped in to hear the news. I got in my truck and put the copy of Don McLean's American Pie and listened to those sad lyrics that perfectly fit the soundtrack of my life at that moment:

I met a girl who sang the blues and I asked her for some happy news but she just smiled and turned away I went down to the sacred store where I'd heard the music years before but the man there said the music wouldn't play ...the day the music died.

I have tried to find another place that fits me, and knows what I like. None of them have worked. I can't go to Best Buy and get a recommendation for a new band. I worked corporate retail sales I knew I was going try and sell you a Kenmore the minute you walked into Sears's Appliance section. I don't want to be sold on Katy Perry the moment I set foot in your area just because its whats being promoted this week. There is something just a little to 2001:A Space Odyssey about a Mac computer using Itunes to track my play history and recent downloads and then reading my mind to decide who else I would like. As a result I have had to try hard to find stuff I like. Getting recommendations from friends(who I trust) and listening to KUER(local NPR music station). When Eden closed its doors for the final time was the day the my music died.

Fondue Festivus

Okay if you are not on my Faceboook account you may not have heard that Festivus is tonight! This has been an annual tradition for a long time. It will have Fondue, Feats of Strength, Airing of Grievances....and MORE!

The Party Begins at 5:30 and runs till when ever I get tired or 11ish which ever occurs first. The location is my Mom's house so call or comment if you need me to email you directions.

Family Isn't It About Distance?

Family Isn't It About Distance?

This past week I was very excited that my cousin Brady was coming home from his mission in North Carolina. I was going to try and go see him on his layover at the Salt Lake City Airport, but those plans fell through when the mission home would not let me talk(on his last day in the field...give me a break) to him arrange plans. This was still okay because Maggie and I were planning on heading south Saturday after I got out of class around five. We would be there in time for his homecoming Sunday.

I was extremely excited for his homecoming. Brady is the first of my cousins to serve a mission. I have known him his whole life and feel like he and his siblings are the closest things I will ever have to little brothers and sister. I have been really proud of him for the past two years, and enjoyed reliving my glory days in Oakland through his letters and emails.

Maggie picked me up after my scenario training at the academy. We then headed south to St George. The drive was long, but Maggie and I had a good conversation. We listened to a lot Jimmy Buffett, Grateful Dead, and a little AC/DC when I was getting sleepy (Back in Black always wakes me up). We went to see my cousin's now finished and open salon. We then went home and celebrated Judy's birthday. We also learned that somehow Sparky has learned how to work my mother as well as I do, and is now able to sleep inside as long as he stays on his bed. Which he does...most of the time.

Sunday morning Maggie got up and went for her run, while I got up and watched the NFL pre-game show on ESPN (ahhh cable...just hook it to my vein). I was nervous about the day to say the least. My cousin and her boyfriend were coming, and her boyfriend is far from welcome by her mother and other members of my extended family. I was nervous this would erupt in grand show of Sims Family melt down. Once ready Maggie and I left to pick up my cousin Ceira who recently moved home to St George. It was so good to see her again. She has become such a wonderful young woman and I know how proud her late father and grandmother would be of her. After I took us to the wrong church on Snow Canyon Parkway in Ivins (seriously can't we just build bigger churches instead of ones on every street corner?) we arrived at Brady's homecoming.

It was so good to see some of my family and friends I have not seen in long time. Uncle John's Family, Steve and Jill, the Madsens and Sprages. It was also great to see my cousins who I have not seen in several months. Of course it was great to see Brady home from to two years of service. I was just a little annoyed that he came home skinny however and I came home heavier even after getting sick. His talk was excellent he has really improved over the two years. His little brother was one of the youth speakers and he also did an excellent job. I still had a few notes for both them(mostly about eye contact or building the emotion...there are so few us who can wow a room like Obama), but I was overall very impressed.

*NOTE* AT THIS POINT DIRTY LAUNDRY MAY BE AIRED, EMOTIONS WILL BE WRITTEN AND I MAY SOUND LESS JOYFUL THAN NORMAL. THIS (AND BUBBLE WRAP) WILL BE MY THERAPY. IF THIS CONCERNS YOU DO NOT READ ON, BUT WHO ARE WE KIDDING WITH AN INTRO LIKE THAT HOW COULD YOU NOT?

I went to say hello to my great aunts and my Aunt Becky only to met with a somewhat icy reception. Becky refused to acknowledge my existence. Her husband was warm and still offered me his hand once again validating my belief that he was a "good guy." This hostility mostly stems from my mother's decision to to allow Sariann's (Becky's daughter) boyfriend Mike back into our lives after he has made several stupid choices. This following in the grand tradition of those who made bad choices in our family, but were still welcome at every holiday or family event with open arms Sariann's companion will not be afforded the same grace.

Once back at the Ences' home I was good. I hung out with my cousins and old family friends. The great aunts however decided to let it out on my mother, and tell her what a terrible daughter she was to my now departed grandmother. This after my mother was trying to get to the bottom of why this year they decided to not exchange gifts with the rest of the family. I was to say the least pissed at this. What really annoyed me however was the way they made Maggie feel. Maggie has totally stayed above the fray with all of my family drama, she stayed neutral and loving to everyone in the family. During the fights after grandma's death she would be the first to leave the room and comfort the crying daughter which ever one the other two were mad at. She only got see the remnants of how close my family once was, and this was the first time she felt pushed her aside and made to feel unwanted. This made me mad. I can handle someone being mad at me, and my mother is more able to cause ire in someone, but Maggie had done nothing wrong.

I am not sure where to go from here. I felt awful that the whole drive home, and I never thought that Salt Lake's freezing cold temperatures could feel warm compared to cold hearts in St George. I didn't feel clean until I was in smoggy air of Salt Lake. Its hard to feel this way about the Aunt who taught me to foxtrot, the one who gave me my first haircut, or shares my love for Sinatra and mob movies, but I do. These were the people who hugged my when my father died, and came to my school plays, and now family almost makes the Corleons look functional ("Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.") I recently read an article that was in The Daily Spectrum years ago written by Mary Phoenix and Clark Hafen that talked about the Pymm family and how close we were, and how we were always there to support one another, my how times have changed. It is truly a testament to how strong my grandmother really was to be able to reign in all of the insanity the boiled under the surface. I am about to enter a dangerous and dirty profession, and feel terrified that if the worst should happen, my family would not be there for my loved ones.

"Don't ever go against the family Fredo."

The only hope I see is that all of the cousins in my generation get along really well. To explain it in Star Wars we would be the Luke and Leia to the Anakin and emperor( I know they weren't really related, but there was family feel to it). We all love each other, we are proud of each other's accomplishments, and enjoy seeing each other, and I believe this will continue in spite of the ice formed between the previous generations.

Playing Catch-up...Again

We get behind on our blog so quickly! I still haven't loaded pictures from things that happened weeks ago! Well this will be a catch up post. I'm not going to worry about the dates just fun things that we did.

A couple of weeks ago we went hiking on Antelope Island. It is really cool out there. We saw herds of buffalo and antelope! They were so close to the car it was crazy. We did Frary's Peak. It is about 3.5 miles both ways. I figured since I can run 2 or 3 miles that walking/hiking would be no big deal. Then again we were walking up a mountain. We didn't bring enough water at all. It was a hot and sweaty day for the Smith's stuck on the mountain with no water. A nice fellow hiker filled us up. He was like "Oh yeah we won't even drink it" I was jealous of his apparently camel-like ability to horde water and not need it on hikes! The view was beautiful and almost made it worth the dehydration. Once we got off the mountain we drove straight to a gas station where we both got 2 or 3 drinks. We had planned on going to the jazz festival that night and opted for a take out and rented Hellboy. Which was not as bad as I thought it would be and even fun in parts.

Hot and tired from hiking

We were so close to the buffalo

We had a couple of really fun movie nights. Batman with Brad and Steph. Colt hadn't seen it yet. He was a big fan and I was glad to see it again before the new one came out. Ashley and Peter came over and we watched Heat (the boys loved it the girls well let's just say what I didn't sleep through bored me).

We finally reconnected with Liz and Robert who we haven't seen in months. They may be sick of us we have seen them 3 times in the last two weeks now. We had dinner at their place on a Friday night. Liz did a great job the food was super tasty. Then we introduced the boys to grilled chocolate sandwiches. Any of you who have not had the immense pleasure of trying them I pity you. They are exactly like grilled cheese except substitute the cheese for chocolate. We are also experimented and added peanut butter to a couple of them. YUMMY! Even Colt had to agree and recommended them to some other friends of ours recently. That Saturday we went to the drive in movies with Elisha and Jason. Liz and Robert and their kids came too. We saw Mama Mia and Kung-fu Panda. They were both fun. Colt and Robert hated Mama Mia! On the plus side Colt learned about "chacha" Apparently what you do is text chacha any question and you get a response in a few minutes. It is different than texting google. Chacha has real people who look up the answer online and text you back. Colt and Robert had a lot of fun coming up with questions to distract themselves from the movie.

At some point we saw Batman with Holly. It was AWESOME! We all really enjoyed it. Heath Ledger was great and Aaron Eckhart was amazing too.

Add a couple highly amusing Sunday night dinners with the Elton crew and you are all caught up!

Red Rocks, Blue Skies, White Legs?...4th in St George

For the Fourth of July Maggie and I made a trip to St George to see my mom, our dog, and some of our friends. We arrived around 10:00pm Thursday night. We were excited to see that both my mother and Sparky were still awake and playing in the backyard. I was also excited to learn that my mother had bought a hammock for herself for Father's Day. So after sitting around and talking Maggie and Mom went inside to go to bed I stayed out to lie in the hammock next to my dog and look at the stars. I find that being able to come home at night and just look up at the stars is one of the the things that I miss most about living in Salt Lake. So when the chance arose to do so in Dixie I took it.

The morning of the fourth Maggie, Sparky and I set off on a nice little 5 to 6 mile run. It felt really good to get up and get moving, but we were all pretty worn out. It is route I used to run a lot in school with Ben Penick, and it seems to have gotten longer somehow. Afterward we had breakfast where I announced "I have nothing red, white or blue to where." My mother deciding to show her patriotism took us to Kohl's to adorn in star spangled colors. I golf shirt with a large "Old Glory" style flag on it that I had to promise Maggie I would only where on Independence day, President's Day, Flag Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and other day where patriotism should be shown on a shirt. I also ended up with several pairs of new shorts, and a couple of new shirts. Maggie came home with a new skirt and cute shirts. After Kohl's we went home to swim and chill until our BBQ guests started showing up. That evening we had a lot of friends show up. We talked with everyone. I talked at length with Ben Lang about his time on the Highway Patrol and got some good advice for POST. Once it was time to go and watch the fireworks we loaded up with our friends Brian and Dani and went Vernon Worthen Park to watch the fireworks. The cool part about this was that Brian's dad works for dispatch with the St George Police Department so we had a spot saved for near the mobile command center, and we were able to sit and relax in the air conditioned command center till traffic died down and we could make a speedy retreat.

The Dial's watching fireworks

Saturday Maggie and I were supposed to go shooting with our friends Brian, Brady and Normandy. Brady ended up having to show a client some houses and could not go until later, so Maggie, Brian and I just went. I need some practice. I am pretty spot on with a 22.cal, but the 9mm is going to take some getting used to. Afterward My Mother, Maggie, and I went to Hurst's and got a painting of the St George Temple (again paper for Anniversary) my mother bought us framed. Afterwards I was craving Tom's Deli...it was closed as it usually is when you are craving it. So we went to TJ Max where Maggie despite my mother telling her "you are not getting a new wardrobe again" got a new wardrobe of skirts mostly. I got nothing, but there was nothing I really wanted there. We then went to Target where Maggie got shirts and something else. I got a swimming suite that was too small, and Coke. Saturday night we BBQ ed salmon on cedar planks and swam.

We also went to Costco where my mother stocked our freezer with Lean Cuisines. We also ended with a lot of other stuff I can't even remember. One of the original reasons we went to Costco was to purchase me a new pair of Ray-Bans. I earned these by staying in the pool 15 minutes longer than I wanted to. Costco did not have any Ray-Bans however. We went to Sunglasses Hut where my mother found four pairs of "Wayfarer" Ray-Bans she wanted. I got a 2 pairs of Ray-Ban aviators, one pair of "wayfarer" Ray-Bans, and one pair of Arnett running sunglasses. Maggie ended up with four pairs as well(their was a great deal for each $100 you spent yougot a free pair), one Ray-Ban, one Arnett, one Dolce & Gabana, and one Anne Klein shades. It was over a $1000 in sunglasses...we had to promise to earn them. We then went to Eddie Bauer where I expanded my wardrobe yet again I added about a dozen polo shirts, and several shorts. Maggie got pj's and shirt. All in all we made out like bandits.

Sunday we swam, ate rib eye steaks for dinner, played with our dog and napped.

Monday morning we got up took Sparky for a walk to see my mom at her office. Sparky was totally surprised to see her someplace other than the back yard. It was a great reaction on his expressive springer face. We ate lunch loaded the car and said our good byes. We had to drive fast to make back to SLC in time fro POST. I got to the academy with just minutes to spare. I did PT came home and fell fast asleep.