Years ago, as I looked forward to my mature age, I never really thought I'd still be here to see 2005. The Lord has been gracious. If it were not for the miracle treatment for prostate cancer in 1999, I wouldn't be here anticipating a prosperous and exciting 2005.

Wow, "time" in our present dimension really does vaporize and is gone as quickly as a passing cloud. Isn't it great that events, experiences, thoughts and ideas stay in our mind so we can mull them over in our heart? God's gift of memory is something we must never take for granted. It's essential to coping with the rapid passing of time and such a gift it is.

But memory is not God's greatest gift -- his grace, love and forgiveness is the great triumverate that has its focus on and in the Cross. That's God's greatest gift. Have you taken that gift and opened it?

This is my first New Year as a married man after two years as a widower. During the last months of my precious Nancy's battle with the bastard invader, she encouraged me to get to renew my acquaintance with Mary Osgood, with whom I went to school from 1947 to 1953. It's a great story and I have it linked below if you'd like to read it. What a great gift my wife of 44 years and friend for 49 years gave me. Any doubt about what kind of person she was?

What better way to observe (celebrate for many) the passing and arrival of years, than to be aware of the culture that we have lived through -- bringing us to this point in life. Guy Lombardo was part of that culture and we want to use his contribution to honor those "who were there when it happened" and to educate all those who missed it.

Norm's Ramblins and all of us connected with Peachtree Media pray for you a prosperous 2005, one that you will take advantage to know God better than you know him today. That's called spiritual growth. May we all have our purpose for life clear in mind and follow that path faithfully. -- Norm Plunkett

Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians, "Big Band" long associated with New York’s Roosevelt and Waldorf Astoria Hotels, and the tune Auld Lang Syne; remote broadcasts frequently heard over various radio networks from 1927 – 1956.

There’s no more fitting time than New Year’s Eve to feature tunes from Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians. To this day Guy’s band and Auld Lang Syne, the Scottish tune they popularized, are now synonymous with the tolling in of each New Year. If you haven't done so already, click the Sounds of the Past button on the left and hear a seven minute sample of Lombardo's band as you read about him.

But the sum of the Royal Canadian's influence wasn’t merely restricted to New Year’s celebrations, for in their day They were one of the most popular bands at large. Between 1929 and 1952 a year did not pass without at least one Lombardo disc charting on the hit parade. The band produced an astounding number of hit tunes, 21 of which would peak at number one, and with an estimated sales somewhere between 100 and 300 million albums, they’re still the top-selling dance band of all time.

Guy was born Gaetano Albert Lombardo, the son of Italian immigrants in London, Ontario June 19, 1902. The eldest of five sons and two daughters, Guy and his siblings were encouraged from an early age to take music lessons, with five of the seven Lombardo children pursuing musical careers. Guy’s instrument of choice was the violin. An incident occurred in these early years involving his first violin; Guy’s father, a stickler for having music played just as it was written, flew into a rage when he caught his son “jazzing up” a classical melody. The elder Lombardo seized the violin and smashed it over his son’s head! Years later Papa Lombardo would comment, “Of course it was a small violin.”

The Lombardo parents, eager to have their children assimilate accent-free into Canadian culture, forbade the speaking of Italian in their home. Guy would later view his parents’ policy as a mixed blessing, and once wrote, “I often regret…as I travel around and meet so many people with the same ethnic background, who will greet me with an Italian phrase or expression, and find to their dismay that I don’t understand what they're talking about.”

The “Guy Lombardo Orchestra” had its humble beginnings in 1914, as a childhood duet with Guy on violin and his brother Carmen on flute. The group included a third brother, Lebert, and Freddie Kreitzer, the band’s long-serving pianist, by the time they played their first professional engagement in June of 1919. Performing before audiences so greatly appealed to the three brothers that within months they dropped out of school to pursue full-time careers in music. The Lombardo band grew to ten members by the time they left Ontario in 1923, to test their fortunes in the United States. The band moved to Cleveland and within a couple years had developed their patent sound, which was founded on simple arrangements of easily sung melodies and brother Carmen’s unique tones on the saxophone.

It was in Cleveland that the band, on the recommendation of their manager, reluctantly dressed in red uniforms and took the moniker of “the Royal Canadians.” In 1927 the band moved to Chicago to work out of the Granada Playhouse. It was this year that the band began attracting national attention with radio broadcasts and hit recordings. By 1930 the band moved to New York to begin a 33-year-long association with the Roosevelt Hotel.

The postal card at the top of this article is a valued part of my dad's large radio memoribilia collection. It's a card announcing the opening of Guy Lombardo's band at the Roosevelt Hotel. Quite an amazing piece of history and a valuable artefact.

Throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s “The Royal Canadians” toured extensively, by this time a fourth brother, Vincent, and sister Rose Marie had joined the band as well. From 1928 up into the 1950’s Guy and the band also held various weekly radio broadcasts. It was on the Robert Burns Cigar sponsored Guy Lombardo Hour in 1932 that comedians George Burns and Gracie Allen began their first regular radio appearances. Guy Lombardo and his band also expanded into Hollywood at this time, with appearances in such films as Many Happy Returns (1934), Stage Door Canteen(1943), and No Leave, No Love (1946).

Due to the simplicity of their arrangements and lack of improvisation, Lombardo’s band generally drew poor reviews with critics. Sousa and his band had bad reviews and the critics hated his work but the American populus loved him and make him what he became. In the same way, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians were immensely popular with the public at large, and known for playing “the sweetest music this side of heaven.”

Much to the chagrin of critics and those who didn't like the music, jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald were among Lombardo’s biggest fans. Guy and “the Royal Canadians” would produce over 250 hit tunes in their long career together, including such titles as: Boo-Hoo, Charmaine, By the River Saint-Marie, Red Sails In The Sunset, The Band Played On, and Young at Heart.

It was while making an appearance before a largely Scottish crowd in Glencoe, Ontario that the band first arranged and performed the tune Auld Lang Syne. Lombardo’s rendition gained appeal with wider audiences, and this Scottish tradition was adapted into their New Year’s Eve performances in New York.

In addition to his great love for music, Lombardo held a passion for boat racing. He actively competed in and won many tournaments, including a national championship in the late 1940’s.

In 1954 Guy took over the operation of the Marine Theater at Jones Beach in New York, and continued to host and produce seasonal musical performances there with “The Royal Canadians” until shortly before his death in 1977. Lombardo once joked with friends that he would take New Year’s Eve with him when he died -and in some respects he’s probably right! On the day of his death the CBS switchboard received more phone inquiries than during the recent passings of Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley.

At the moment of being 'CARE-FILLED' (full of care), we find ourselves 'CARED-FOR.' We're blessed when we get our inside world put right -- our mind and heart. Only then can we begin to see God at work in the outside world.

Matt. 5:7-8 (Adapted from The Message, by Nav Press, Glenn Eyrie Castle, Colorado Springs, CO -- with some of the pronouns changed.

Comment: My dad used to tell us, in his wisdom, never buy a car or other major product that was assembled on a Monday. We would always check the mfg ID number before buying our used cars. We all recognize Monday as difficult because of having to reenter "the Grind." Mondays are really difficult at times. But since there will be another one in seven days – or should be -- we just need to deal with it. Do our best today and forget that there is a full week of work and stress ahead. There will be a little less tomorrow.

In the meantime, no matter what day is its, we are to occupy – keep busy and in a “ready mode” -- until He returns. Since our purpose in life, as a believer in Creator God and follower of Jesus Christ, is to glorify God with our life -- let's be very conscious of our purpose during our day.

We glorify God with what we create, produce, correct, improve, and set into motion with our minds and hearts. And we glorify God in our leisure -- the same way as work -- when we rest, enjoy entertainment, fellowship with friends, and listen to music, jog, or read. There are many more activities that build us up emotionally, socially, physically and spiritually. But we must choose the ones that do just that.

So no matter what we face today, tomorrow, or whenever -- whatever we are assigned to do, get out of the way and allow the abiding Christ to do "it" with us, for us, and for others.

While putting Billie to bed, we started talking about how in this new year of 2005, he might want to try to stop sucking his thumb. We discussed this for a few minutes and then Billie showed he had enough when he responded in a loud voidce.

"Mom, you don't know what it's like to stop."

I replied, "Yes I do! I sucked my thumb when I was small, and I do know it's hard to stop."

He then said, "Mom, you're not a side-kick or you'd know that I REALLY LOVE MY THUMB!!"

I didn't have any idea what he was talking about until he said,

"I'll show you you're not a side-kick Mom. Tell me what I'm thinking."

When I couldn't guess correctly what he was thinking he then said,

"My friends aren't side-kicks either. None of them can never tell me what I'm thinking!"

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence, the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children - last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence, the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence, the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence, the saying "dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence, the saying a "thresh hold." Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence, the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

And that's the truth... Now, whoever said that History was boring!!!

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

Author Unknown

And then we have to think about the depth of the Love God has for us and are reminded of the reality that God is the source of ALL love. Romans 8:36-40 says it this way:

Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way!

Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: Because we are hated we're like sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us.

  I'm absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

This is what Christmas is all about!