Christmas in the shower.

in Random Crap

Xmas is weird this year because my mom is sick so we postponed going to visit until she feels well and that means a quiet Xmas home with just Victor and Hailey and I.  Since we don’t cook we’re eating at the local Chinese buffet and then watching movies at home and it’s different but honestly it’s lovely and low-key even though I miss my family.

My dad asked for one present this year…

Hailey wasn’t super into it at first but after a few minutes we were laughing like mad and ended up with a half hour of video that I will honestly love for years to come. We sent it off to my parents and said they will treasure it forever or until they get a new phone. Then a few minutes later this arrived on my phone:

 

This is what Christmas is all about.  Being together even when you’re far apart.  Embracing the moments that come rather than the moments you expect.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday filled with strange wonder and presents you never knew you wanted.

93 thoughts on “Christmas in the shower.”

Read comments below or add one.

  1. Sounds like a great way to enjoy lunch Jenny. I hope the meal was good and I hope your Mum feels better soon,

  5. I loved this! I’m thisclose to telling family members that I can’t be with to march themselves to the showers. Merry Christmas to you and yours and I hope your mother feels better soon!

  6. That was lovely! We are celebrating with other families who also have kids with autism and are alone or don’t quite feel accepted by their families because of their kids’. Sometimes family consists of those who love and accept you even if they are not related to

  7. Omg. That girl can sing!! So awesome. And your parents are adorable! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

  8. Tell your dad I said Thank You for asking for that for Christmas. These videos are perfection!

  10. Pingback: Christmas in the shower. - Buzz Banter

  12. Love these! Hailey has a beautiful voice. Well, I think you both do, but you stopped. Merry Christmas!

  13. First, I’m in love with your parents.
    Second, your shower is bigger than my entire bathroom, and I’m a tad jealous.
    Third, Hailey is a fabulous singer, and I’m a tad jealous again.
    Fourth, Happy Holidays to everyone!
    Fifth, I are too much fudge and am going to take a nap, now…

  14. Merry Christmas! Hailey has such a beyootiful voice and I think your Christmas plans sound great

  16. The Viking and I spent nearly an hour chatting on Facetime with our family in Denmark. It’s always hard to hang up though. 😢 Please don’t ask why, as Vikings, we celebrate Christmas because Vikings didn’t particularly care for Baby Jesus, but time has made us more accepting of people of every religion and race and that’s what Christmas is all about, isn’t it?

    Merry Christmas to you and yours.

  17. That little bit of reverb in the shower always enhances a good voice. Some of us guys would sing in the gang showers in college. We could sound a lot like the Everly Brothers.

  21. The kind of thing that comes along out of nowhere and ends up being better than anything you could have sat for three straight days trying to imagine. Merry Christmas from P.J. and me, Jenny!

  22. Omg…the love that your parents have for each other is SO obvious and sweet. Brought tears to my eyes! Merry Christmas to you all!

  23. Awww!!! OMG those both were SUPER cute and I th our ally enjoyed watching both of them!!! Merry Christmas!!!

  25. Merry Christmas from cloudy Medford Oregon. Our holiday is very quiet and seems to become more so each year. There’s just the 3 of us, my husband, our son and myself. We amused ourselves by treating our kitties to some Christmas catnip and laser pointing and our corgi just enjoyed biting the tags of of everything. I’m not cooking, been sick for a week with a rotten cold. I will just reheat the premade meal I purchased for us. Merry Christmas, it can be anything we want it to be as long as we are together.

  26. Hailey is actually quite good at that singing thing.
    You never told us YOUR DAD IS SANTA CLAUS

  28. I want to be Hailey when I grow up! 🙂

    We’ve had the movies/Chinese food (or Indian food) tradition in our family for years. Might have to add shower-singing-videos, though. Hope your mom is on the mend quickly! (Your folks are too adorable!)

  29. What wonderful videos to treasure! I don’t have either of my parents anymore. I would have loved to have something like this of them!

  31. We just are lunch at McDonald’s … wherever we are, Christmas is in our hearts. Hope everyone finds joy and love today and throughout the coming new year.

  33. It’s still Christmas Eve here through the magic of my husband having to work today and our girls being almost 2.5 and turning one tomorrow and not knowing the difference. So Santa comes tonight! And it’ll be just our little family together tomorrow through the magic of not having to travel anywhere to see anyone because my husband had to work today. Win win.

    Merry Christmas to you and yours! What fun with you and Hailey singing together. My two year-old currently does not allow me to sing in her presence (NO MOMMY NOT YOU!!!) but maybe someday…

  34. Merry Christmas! I am glad you are still connected with family even if you aren’t occupying the same physical space right now. The older I get. the more I treasure times when the family is together and/or likes one another (usually both don’t occur at the same time).

  36. Dear all,
    Did you know that sound waves diminish but never completely disappear? If we had the technology we could “tune in” Lincoln reciting the Gettysburg Address. I remind myself of this when I’m about to say something that I’ll regret later. I want the world to wander, marveling, in a fabric of “I love you.” Or maybe “I forgive you.” I think that would be nice.
    “Missing” a note doesn’t give one permission to stop singing. It’s just a brand-new composition. Giving voice to one’s heart is the great miracle of Life.

  37. I Love the keyframe of your parents’ vid where your Dad is looking at his wife. To have someone travel through life with you like that strikes me with awe. Such beauty.
    Get well soon.

  38. 1) Hayley has a STUNNING voice! Just beautiful – keep on singing, no matter what you do in life!!
    2) Your parents are WEIRD! And now you make perfect sense! Thank them for suffering the indignity of the internet at Christmas, just for us.
    3) Merry Christmas you wonderful amazingly weird odd crazy family, from our weird odd crazed crazy family!!!
    May the year be filled with light love joy happiness and much much happiness.

  40. Such good acoustics in the bathroom! We literally could not all fit in our bathroom to sing, let alone our shower. Please enjoy the space you have on my behalf!!!
    I hope your mother gets well soon! Coughing sucks for everyone

  51. That is awesome woman! We as well had a great time, my honey bought me something I’ve been wanting – 2 of your books! I was ecstatic. I already had You Are Here which is awesome. Now he says i have to paint rory – got paints to start painting again too. I told him next year he has to up his game – i want one like rory but I wanna make clothes for him and make him like Rocket from Guardians of the galaxy 😂😊

  52. You don’t cook? Yeah, that’s what I took away from that. Lol! You need to cook at home. It’s important. Hailey needs to learn to be self-sufficient and save money by cooking at home. Also, the house feels homey and cozy with the smells of home cooking.

  55. Yep…you just never know what a day will bring. Wasn’t supposed to see my parents this year for Xmas Day…saw them last night. But my mom ended up needing to go to the ER, so the 3 of us spent the day in the hospital. Thanks for sharing your non-traditional, yet super sweet Xmas videos with us!

  56. That. Was. Awesome. Hailey hitting those notes was AMAZING!! <3
    I love singing in the shower. ALSO I wish I had recorded my youngest niece singing in the shower tonight because she was full-on metalhead wailing songs of her own creation and it was…stunning in all the way. Mostly by the laughter from those of us trying to play chickenfoot in the other room. 🙂
    Hope your moms is on the mend and feels better soon, and thanks for sharing your family with us. <3

  58. God bless you and your shower singing family. I hope your mom feels better soon, and you are able to get together, but until then we have (fully clothed) showergrams.

  59. I called my grandparents Nanaand Papa. I never knew anyone else who pronounced it the way we did!

  60. That’s awesome – you and Hailey have beautiful voices! And that’s so sweet that your parents did a return video in the shower! Your poor mom and her cough though – I hope she feels better soon. I am envious of your shower. Truly. Our shower makes my claustrophobia rise its ugly little head. I’d prefer to scrunch myself in our bath just because of it.

  61. Hi, you probably won’t read this, but I need to get it out somewhere. You say depression lies, and I know that, but what do you do when the lies feel so big you can’t remember anything else. I’m supposed to be happy on Christmas, but I just feel like a fraud. I don’t understand the point my existence. I can’t seem to do anything right. And the things that I have done right I don’t feel like I deserve, or I’m just going to mess it up eventually. I wish there was a button I could press to erase myself without negative consequences for people in my life. I’m just so sad.

    (I so understand these feelings. I fight with them too. When I start to believe the lies I ask for help. I ask friends and family to help watch over me…to remind me that I’m worthwhile. It feels like a lie even when they say it when it’s really bad but it helps. If I’m still struggling I call my therapist or a crisis line. You are so needed and important. You are not alone. ~ Jenny)

  65. You and Hailey both sound great, way to hit that high note Hailey!

    Coo, your dad is Santa! Hope your mum feels better soon.

    We couldn’t spend Christmas at my Mum’s as planned, as she’s ill with shingles and staying at my sister’s, but we got to see & talk to each other over the Internet. Technology can be a wonderful thing sometimes.

  66. Anonymous of comment 61: it’s hard, it’s really hard to see beyond the black cloud of depression when you’re in the middle of it and feel overwhelmed by it. You know depression is a lie, but knowing it and feeling it are two different things.
    Remember though, it is still a lie. You’re surrounded by the cloud right now, but the clear skies and sunshine still exist above the clouds, and the cloud WILL CLEAR sooner or later. You WILL get through this and feel happy again. The lens of depression is distorting your perception of all your actions – you’re a valuable human being and deserve all the good things that happen to you.
    Christmas can be hard when it feels like you have a duty to enjoy yourself. Take what small pleasures you can find, but don’t be too hard on yourself.
    Many of us have been where you are and understand what it’s like. We also know that it’s not always going to be like that, even if it feels that way at the time. There are people who understand, and there are people who love you and care about you. Keep going.

  67. HAPPY BOXING DAY!
    Thank you for the grin on my face right now, produced by those videos.
    How funny and adorable, and yes this is what xmas is about.
    Much love to you and your family.

  70. Christmas buffet sounds amazing right now, even tho I am completely stuffed from over enduling on christmas food.

  71. LOVE it. Your parents are awesome for joining into the shower festivities (doesn’t sound like I meant it to sound. I think I just ruined it.)
    We also decided to roll with things this year, after having many awful Christmas times trying to make those traditional “perfect family” things happen in spite of all the bad stuff going on — one kid having bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, and the other acting out because of catching all the emotional shrapnel. Now they are in their twenties and things are
    a bit better, but what really worked was my husband and me going, “You know what? It’s all good. Let’s have hot dogs and sloppy joes for Christmas Eve dinner and whoever shows up can have some. Boeuf Bourguignon for Christmas dinner, but only because we feel like making it and it’s fun to say. Let my widowed Dad do jigsaw puzzles all day in the dining room, and forget about the fancy table settings. And it was lovely.
    And now my cat Hobbes, who is just like the one in Calvin and Hobbes, is making his 1111 [paw on my keyboard]. I feel like singing too!

  72. Hailey’s voice is absolutely lovely (yours isn’t as awful as you seem to think); your folks are super-cute. Hope your mom feels better soon!

  74. definitely I now know you are your father’s daughter. He gets it, all the way. I hope you enjoyed your laid back holiday, and that your Mom feels better soon…I love your Dad. He’s way cool.

  76. I had a bittersweet Christmas. First Christmas as a married lady! Also the first Christmas we did not go home (6hours away) to see my parents, or my husband’s. However, it was lovely to be home and enjoy a low key holiday with my husband!

  77. I am so glad you shared these vids with us, but even more glad that you HAVE them… in years to come it will bring you so much joy, and some tears too. When my husband and I got married, we said at first that we didn’t want a wedding video, that it was kind of silly, but we went along and got one done anyway. Now, it’s one of the most precious things to us… so many family members who are no longer with us, smiling and dancing and wishing us a happy life – this is why I maintain that the existence of photography and movies is the most important invention man ever pulled off. It’s like magic – we can actually see and hear real moments from the past, and relive them again and again. We never lose sight of our loved ones. It’s like Harry Potter’s “Mirror of Erised”. And don’t even get me started on classic film… TCM is a staple in our house!

  78. PS: Forgot to say – hope your mom is feeling better! Also – I think Hailey meant to say “Do you know the song O Holy Night?”…. am I right? That would be another one that would sound great in the shower.

  80. Merry Christmas, and thank you for this post. You, your daughter, and your parents are fantastic. “Embracing the moments that come rather than the moments you expect.” Exactly what I need to do right now as well.

  85. I’m behind. Loved the video, but it wasn’t till the very end that I realized y’all were sitting in the shower, not standing, and I was thinking, “OMG, her ceilings are SO high!” 😂

  91. Chinese food and a movie on Christmas…you are now an honorary member of the Jewish tribe. Mazel tov!
    OMG your shower! I can haz live there?

  93. man, did Hailey belt that out or WHAT???!!!! so beautiful! and i love your parent’s reply & great sense of humor.

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