An Early Present

Last week we bought ourselves an early Christmas present. Like many folks of our age, we have a collection of old vinyl records...some we purchased but many our parents owned. There are a good many Christmas ones, with lots of good music that is no longer available in any other format. For several years I have longed to be able to play this music. We do have a 35 year-old record player, but many things went wrong. First came the Christmas when I inadvertently left the player on and the needle was worn out by morning. It was a good deal of work to find a replacement on line. Then when the replacement came, it was only to find that the turntable no longer turned in the right timing. It was determined to be a worn-out belt. All that to say that for many Christmas's we have not been able to hear our records.
This year I noticed that our local Fred Meyer had a good selection of record players for about $100 on sale. Then last week I noted that these 'on sale' prices had dropped another 50%. After picking each up to see if it was compatible with our older speakers, we found one was. And that one came home with us for $49, cheaper than replacing the belt.
Every day I have been enjoying the lively and beautiful music coming from this record player. I haven't even put on a CD since we got it. There is a complete older version of the Messiah, sung by a London choir and accompanied by the London orchestra that is quite wonderful.

Strains of Andy Williams, Julie Andrews, Perry Como and Percy Faith have been heard in all parts of the house. Today, this morning, I am extremely grateful for the gift of a (very pretty) new record player.