the night before xmas....

....a number of years ago....back, when my older brother was still in art school..

...we had his then girlfriend staying over...most of the family had run off to midnight mass
that christmas eve (back when attendance was still somewhat "enforced")....maybe we were supposed to meet them all there, or we had all finally fallen out with the Catholic religion for good...but we stayed home...just the 3 of us I think.....

...our big old house was quiet...but pregnant with the excitement we still managed to conjure up for the holiday....and we were huddled 'round the television watching IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (a film I can STILL watch and never get sick of.....)....

....for some reason we flipped to the Los Angeles public t.v. station and this amazing little ditty of a film was on....we all held our breath in awe....the house totally still...the snow falling inside the t.v. set seemed to expand to include us there in it's wintery umbrella...huddled around it's glow....breathless....

PART ONE

PART TWO