"Is this one the storyteller?"

This will most likely be my last post of the year. I'm visiting my parents at the retirement community where they live. In the dining room, their neighbors ask, "Is this one the storyteller?"

I'm not doing a house concert here, but I have the last three times I visited. I set up my microphone (my voice is just the wrong pitch for people who are losing their hearing) and tell whatever seems right for this fairly literate bunch of elders. They don't necessarily remember the stories from time to time, but they remember being connected in a community of listeners. They remember the experience. Many have asked me in this visit if I'm going to tell stories. I promise I will next time.

On another note, I'd been looking forward to reading stories aloud on Christmas Eve. I was disappointed to learn that my parents no longer have the collection of stories we always used(TEH, do you have it?). As Mom puttered around, Dad and I tried to remember the lines to "'Twas the night before Christmas" and "Jest 'fore Christmas." We didn't get them all, and we didn't feel like going on the Internet to find them, but we managed tolerably well. I did tell my parents "Crisp new bills for Mr. Teagle." Dad asked if I remembered "Solange the Wolf Girl"--an old joke, as that was a terribly dreary story we only read aloud once.

In case you're wondering, here are sites of "'Twas the night before Christmas" and "Jest 'fore Christmas" (by Eugene Field):
http://www.night.net/christmas/Twas-night01.html
http://www.noblenet.org/year/jest.htm

Happy 2005!