The Gilmore Book Club

 Why Music is the Power we all need

Name a song that gets stuck in your head. Maybe you heard it on the radio once, or someone had it playing on their social media. For me, it’s the song of Tom Bombadill. Not familiar with that one? Here’s how it goes:

O come, O Come, Tom Bombadil

And rescue captive friends of Underhill

That struggle under earthen tombs here

Until the song of Bombadil appears

Oh wait, that's not from Lord of the Rings (LOTR), my bad.

In an episode of Private Practice, Dr. Addison Montgomery discusses a song stuck in her head with her therapist and the idea that certain songs get stuck in your head for psychological reasons. It's kind of like how your dreams are your subconscious trying to tell you something. Whatever the reason, your heart or your shoes, that song's in your head, to tell you the truth. Oops, wrong story, again.

So, what's the deal with Tom Bombadill, and why am I writing about him at Christmas? Well, the answer starts with an explanation of one of my family's very non-traditional holiday traditions.

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, all the hobbits were scurrying like a scared little mouse. I know, I know, not this one either; I can't help it. One year at Christmas, my sister and I decided to have a Lord of the Rings movie marathon. Yes, we watch The Grinch and Elf, but somehow this magical trilogy snuck in there. The Lord of the Rings movies are long, even by usual standards, but we have the special extended editions with several scenes left out of the theatrical version. Each film is so long that it doesn't fit on one disk; it's split across two. A Lord of the Rings marathon is a serious commitment: each movie is three-four hours, depending on which one you're watching. That meant we spent a whole day and a half watching the hobbits try to reach Mt. Doom. This wasn't the first time we had watched these movies or even the extended editions, but for some reason, it stuck: The Lord of the Rings movies were now a Christmas tradition.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien is a fantasy series with the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring, published in 1954, later followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King. In Middle-Earth, we meet Frodo Baggins and other hobbits, Sam, Pippin, and Merry, who are sent into the wide world of Middle Earth to help destroy the ring that belongs to a most terrible and powerful enemy. They are helped and hampered on their journey by a host of characters, including men, elves, dwarves, wizards, ents, and orcs, to name a few.

The Fellowship of the Ring details the origins of the ring, how Sauron made it to enslave all who lived in Middle Earth, how great battles were fought, how the dark lord was defeated and the ring passed into the hands of men and hobbits, but for thousands of years, was forgotten until it came to Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins. Now, it is time for Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin to travel out of the shire to Rivendell, where a council shall decide how to destroy the ring, thereby saving all of Middle-Earth and its peoples from Sauron. Our main characters are gathered here: Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimili, and the four hobbits: Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin.

The Two Towers depicts the separation of the fellowship introduced in the first book. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli go off to rescue Merry and Pippin, while Frodo and Sam go off on their own to take the ring to Mt Doom for its destruction.

Traditions are sacred things, rituals we repeat that allow us to mark the occasion and really experience all the emotions tied to that moment. But we don't often see them this way. Some people view traditions as just for children, something one must grow out of. Perhaps they're striving to achieve the perceived pinnacle of maturity, or they've lost the meaning behind the action, or perhaps they're trying to subconsciously ignore the feelings and thoughts those rituals bring to the surface. For some, traditions take up too much time in an already busy season. Sure, those experiences would be nice, but so would a lot of other things, so they're allowed to fall by the wayside.

Not me. I'm here for all the traditions- big and small. I don't believe in forcing yourself to do something you don't want to do or are in some way unable to do. Sometimes I'm exhausted and can't stand in the kitchen to mix, roll, and bake the snickerdoodles I make each holiday, and then also hand wash each bowl, measuring cup, and utensils. So, I have to postpone that tradition for another day, or sometimes, another year. But when I can participate in my favorite traditions, I do so with enthusiasm.

The holiday viewing of The Lord of the Rings is a cherished activity for me, one that ties this series of books to the holiday season. But how would I make this non-traditional tradition into a Christmas blog post? How would I translate the seasonal vibes I get from Middle Earth to everyone else?

When I began to listen to The Fellowship of the Ring on audiobook, I endeavored to do so with as a blank canvas. I couldn’t totally approach it as someone reading the series for the first time, but I hoped to recreate it as best I could. But as the message of Christmas isn’t literally included in the books, I’d have to find the Christmas spirit more metaphorically. I just had to keep the faith that literature would show me the way.

Continue to Part 2

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