Sunday, March 15, 2009

A Major Award

Bryan with his leg lamp--Christmas 2006



Well, I have a TON of Christmas stories. If you knew my brother, you remember that Christmas was his favorite time of year. Up until a couple of years ago, he went all out--thousands of lights inside and outside his home, the largest noble fir tree he could find, gingerbread houses, huge stockings, extravagant gifts, every Christmas movie ever made, singing all the oldie's carols beginning in October, I could go on and on. And since I began this blog on New Year's, I did not post on Christmas stories at all. Besides, it would have been too painful since he was not there this year to do it up. So I am starting a series on Christmas this week. In March. I told you I was random.


My brother loved Christmas movies. He had dozens of them. He would being watching them after Thanksgiving and he didn't stop until he had re-viewed them all. I think his fascination with yuletide cinema began when we were children. My parents used to take us to the theater to see whatever family Christmas film was showing on Christmas Eve. It was a tradition we kept for more than ten years. I can not claim to know his absolute favorite (White Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life would be list-toppers) but I think one of his most treasured ones was: A Christmas Story. I can't go into the entire plot here. You will have to rent it for yourself. But it is a hysterical movie that really has little to do with Christmas (and it has a few naughty words and sassy kids). My brother had the lines memorized (yes, memorized) so he could edit it for my children's benefit. He would anticipate the bad words and skip ahead--the movie became uncleB-rated.
Anyway, the subplot of the movie is a father in the story winning a "Major Award". It turns out to be a fishnet stockinged, high-heeled lady's leg lamp. It is a bit farcical. I won't spoil it here. If you have seen the movie, you are chuckling with me right now. You know what mysteriously happens to the major award.
So when my parent's found a replica lamp that year, they jumped on the chance to purchase it as a gift for Bryan. You can see from the photo above that he was very appreciative. The last we saw of that lamp, it was in a place of honor at Hennessey's Tavern in Carlsbad. I think it should have a plaque on it : "In Memory of Bryan--the guy who loved the real Christmas Story and is finally enjoying his Major Award!".



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bryan came alive at Christmas time like no other person I've ever met. Now as your well aware if you've been reading this blog at all, the Klungreseter family and me in particular, have been accused of playing loosely with the facts, put this is a plain simple fact: Bryan flat out loved this time of the year. We had many spirited talks about which movie was the greatest ever, but know this, he knew them all and could roll out a quote from any of them at any time. I will cherish every memmory of all those times we hunkerd down and watch "our" holiday collection.

Pops

WARNING! Tissues Required-Video Slideshow of Bryan's Life-Sorry the music was muted!