Beech Tree News Network

One of my best Christmas memories happened years ago at a concert near Houston, Texas, during the summer of 2007.

                Nikki bought the two of us tickets to an outdoor concert, featuring Texas singer-songwriters.  It was the kind of concert where you sit on a blanket on the ground.  One of my favorites, Robert Earl Keen, was to headline the show.  Texas has often been called its own country, because of the size of the state and all the natural resources available there.  It’s the same way with the Texas music world.  It is a virtual nirvana of talent.  Because I had been in Texas for over a year, I was familiar with most of the musicians who would be appearing that night.  I felt so fortunate to be there.

                As I sat on the blanket, waiting for Robert Earl Keen to take the stage, I turned to Nikki and said, “I know we’re sitting here in eighty-degree heat, but I really hope he sings “Merry Christmas from the Family.”

                “Well, Mom, it’s Texas,” Nikki said, “Anything is possible.”

                She was right.  As the very last song of the night, Keen started singing those familiar words, “Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christmas party…”  I almost cried.

                “I wish I could get a picture,” I said, “but there’s no way we can get close enough to the stage to get one.  (You’ll have to understand it was during the days when smart phones didn’t have the kind of zoom lenses they have now.)

                Nikki stood up and said, “Give me that phone.  I have boobs.”

                I did as I was told and watched her walk from our position on the grass through the throng of people pressed up to the stage.  It was like watching the parting of the Red Sea. 

                “It’s a Christmas miracle!” I whispered to myself.

                Nikki returned a few minutes later with my phone and my picture.  “Here, Mom.  Merry Christmas,” she said.

                And it was.

 (If you have never watched Robert Earl Keen perform “Merry Christmas from the Family,” do yourself a favor and watch it on YouTube.)

 Feliz Navidad,

 Cheryl Hughes