The Music of Christmas

When I was a little girl, the initial nod to the Christmas season in my house occurred on December 1st.  This was the day we were allowed to start playing holiday music.  Nothing else Christmasy was visibly evident but just hearing the sounds of the season was enough to carry me for several weeks.  I looked forward to pulling these records out every year and never got tired of listening to them.  They were the same albums year after year but that didn't matter; their predictable familiarity was part of their charm.  I even loved looking at the album covers. 

I've spent a bit of time throughout my adult life searching for cassettes or CDs to replace the long gone vinyl discs but I haven't been very successful.  Many are listed as "no longer in stock".  My favorites were compilations from Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians, The Robert Shaw Chorale and a very obscure record entitled, "Christmas in England".

Listening to the Fred Waring arrangements throughout my youth proved to be quite helpful in my years of glee clubs, choruses and choirs.  Very often my music directors chose those same arrangements as part of the Christmas music program.  Since I was so familiar with them, it was extremely easy to learn my alto part.  As a member of these assorted choral groups over the years, I learned so many lovely Christmas carols and holiday songs.  Believe me, there's so much more out there than "Silent Night" and "Jingle Bells".

I love singing these songs as much as hearing them.  I often become quite overcome when I listen to certain carols; a great emotional surge that is comprised of all the wonderful Christmas memories of my past up to the present washes over me.  The result is tears but they are soft, welcome, feel-good tears.  There are tears that cleanse the soul; these are the kind that fortify the soul.  Oh, how I love Christmas!