Friday, December 23, 2022

Mr. Kapanka's Christmas Wish (with thanks to Earl Hamner Jr.)

Some of you are not old enough to remember the TV show called “The Waltons” about a family making do through the Great Depression, but I grew up a big fan of the show's early seasons, and I’ve long admired it’s creator, Earl Hamner Jr., whose voice narrated each episode (through the written journals of “John Boy," played by Richard Thomas).

In many ways, the show reminded me and my siblings of our own family “making do” through hard times as we built our home deep in some wooded acres in “the thumb” of Michigan. This was especially true for my mother who had grown up living in a three-generation household with her grandparents. When I went off to college in 1974, this reading was on the Walton’s Christmas album. The words of Grandpa’s Christmas Wish came to me as I shot this video footage on the last day of school before Christmas Vacation. Heavy lake-effect snow decorated the outside while classes reveled inside. It was a beautiful day!

The full reading by Will Geer can be found at this link:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Constructive dialogue and encouraging feedback is always welcome. This is a community of friends and Christian parents and educators. You know my name, please identify yourself by name in your comment, so we know who to thank for sharing.