So it is that time of year again, the Holidays. I want to write about the holidays and Mikey. Where to start lets start with when Mikey was little we had a real tree. Every winter we would get all bundled up and go out to pick a tree, cut it down and bring it home. Even as a baby in his snow suit that was way to big for him. I’ll look for a picture of him. Well he loved the smell which filled the house. As we all know real trees have needles that fall off the tree. Mikey of course at about 7 got stuck with one, which of course was not the first time. So the next year when it was time to go get a tree, he said he didn’t want to go. I asked why and he said he was going to ask Santa for a fake tree. I asked why, he said he didn’t want to step on the needles again. So I told him that would be fine but what if I buy the tree as your present cuz if Santa brings it you won’t get it until Christmas and don’t you want to enjoy the lights and decorating it? He did of course so we went out and he pick out the tree. So that year his present was a fake tree. We had that fake tree for years all the way up to about he was 20. But he still loved the smell of a real tree and missed that. So off and on over the years of the fake tree I would make the kids money tree’s. I would cut branch’s off the pine trees in our yard, plant them in a pot, and with red ribbon tie 2 dollar bills on the branches. That way some of the smell was around and sometime you just don’t know what to get teenagers.
Mikey had trouble with the notion of Santa very early in life. He had a hard time understanding why there had to be a special time to remind people to be good, kind and to give something of oneself to others. Like most of our talks about the bigger picture of life when he was young. It had to be put in turns a young mind can understand. Here’s what I told him about holidays. Yes it would be nice if everyone would tell their mother’s, father’s, veteran’s, workers, families, neighbors how much they are cared about but in our lives we get busy and at least there are days set a side to make us remember. Maybe we do something and maybe we don’t but at least something reminds us to think and make a choice. He being the funny kids he was wanted us to stop having Christmas at about age 10 he wanted us to stop, after having the talk about giving, why we need to be reminded. What struck me then and now is he felt that we his family were giving everyday so we didn’t need a special day to day it. By the time Mikey was 10 we had several kids live with us, had taken neighbor kids on vacations, had held holiday parties for people with no family, and always say I love you, hug, and meant it with everyone we know. So he was right we don’t need a reminder to be human. But what I kept trying to explain was it was for people in general. That there are many people who act as we do. So from about 10 on we hold our holiday gathering on Dec 21st. With good friends, family, and food. As for gifts it is different now.
Gifts in my family for the past 5 or more years have been things of the non-materialistic type. Last year I put together a secret santa. We had many different groups due to Mikey’s passing that came together and it was a good way for people to get to know each other. Still kept it on the 21st. This year we are doing the same type of thing but I didn’t set up the secret santa just pulled names out of a hat. I do wish I could include everyone who has been here in the past year and you all have a place in my heart. I just can’t the holiday has gone to the core people from mine and Mikey’s life. There are a few new people and a few old who have come back but really that’s all my house can hold.
So a bit about the tree and the holidays for us. I hope you have a great season and may you enjoy the ones you love.
Love Kathy
Hope you have a happy holiday!
I agree, we should always be treating ourselves with love. Just like mothers day haha
You should be treating your mom like if it was mothers day everyday, not just one day..
I hope you have a great December
Thank you for sharing more moments of the amazing Mr. Larsen. We miss him, he will forever live in his fans hearts and minds, living forever as he intended to. 🙂
hello ms. larsen. I am so happy I checked this page out. I really didn’t know it existed. First of all my name is mick ricci. I’m a aspiring hip hop artist from chicago illinois now residing in a small town in pennsylvania. its called williamsport. I moved here last february. First of all i want to say I am so sorry for mikeys loss. I wake up everyday and think the same thing, its actually a line from mikeys song “by the throat”..it goes “there will always be a place in my brain that will think of you” honestly every single day I stream that album beginning to end maybe 2 to 3 times. I only found out who eyedea was in Janruary…a couple months after he passed. I was so sad because he instantly became my faviorte artists..it’s like every thing he did and stood for was what I wanted to be…its very ironic. He’s what keeps me motivated to keep on truckin with hip hop. I feel an amazing connection to his music. There’s so much garbage out there but when i listen to all the rhymesayers artists I’m relieved that there is still soul in hip hop. I recently went to an open mic here in pennsylvania. The town I live in doesnt have a good reputation with hip hop it’s really sad. I did a couple spoken word pieces that I’ve wrote and I recited two of mikey’s songs. Smile and By the throat. Mikey will live on forever. I just wanted to show my respect. I hope you can get a chance to write back and listen to my music on my youtube channel…i posted it on the website thingy here…but I was really amused to here about mikeys childhood…brought a tear. and i wanted to share something I wrote.cheers
shooting pains woke me this morning
my back feels like its been torn in
half this is my spinal attack before
i collapse or cant talk anymore
cause i’m a liar the ciggarttes
still coat my chords
i keep asking for remorse
but i communicate in morris code
and taking the time to decode that
isn’t as fast as your ipad my bad
i guess the future came to fast
technology took over the world
and i’m still caught in the past
but that’s me
dileberating everything
sorting every last bit
in sequence
trying to figure out where i fit in
honestly i never really did
the cool kids had too much confidence
the punks wanted to party and break shit
so many cliques too little of patience
to own up to expectations
i just want to be me
whoever that could be
please pull my head out of the wall
im 2 seconds from falling in
calling it quits
another miral hung for yall
its the road that we walk
its the talk that we talk
its the final outline
graphed in chalk
you needa figure it out
you needa figure it out
i needa figure it out
and I can’t help it
i just look away from the mirror
viering away from my fears
im as shallow as a shellfish
i keep trying to deny this
but im the master with conivance
meaning i allow my self
to drown in my selflessness
walloing with helplessness
is all i can afford
my cars a piece of shit escort ford
i work a 9 to 6 3rd shift
and i put up with complete and utter bullshit
but its my patience
that will outdue all my
hesitant evaluations
of my wandering life and where it’s takin
me
we will see
we wil see
where ill be
in years to come
still drowning in deceit
under the sea where you cant see me
repeating mistakes untill i cant
fell thee
untill i cant feel thee
displacement
and i just feel like
im the last of a dying breed
i know theres a lot
of heads that feel like me
but theres a lot more that
dont feel me on a beat
its whatever though fame and fortune
doesnt dictate to what real talent is
rest in piece michael larsen
there will always be a place in my brain that
will think of you
im so sorry i mean ms averill…=[ I also wanted to add..i read a lot of stuff on here its all very wonderful
we always had a fake tree upstairs in a nook. my favorite spot, thanks for the reminder. happy holidays from the cirque north.