Can I tell you just how much I LOVE Christmas music? It is the true “happy, happy joy, joy” songs that make me feel so warm and cozy ….. like a bowl of tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. What can be better than that?
I can’t even begin to think about my all time favorite Christmas song … there are so many that touch me in a variety of different ways. Some are the classic hymns, the soul-stirring Christmas carol, or the just plain toe-tapping fun stuff.
Whenever I hear, “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole, I get the feeling of warmth and home spread all over me. Years ago, in another life where I had a job thingy, the company that I worked for held an annual Christmas dance. It was a pretty exciting event to attend. The committee who worked on the planning, staging, decorating, and organizing of this event usually went unsung (sadly). But, ladies and gents from the past, if you are reading this, you have my utmost gratitude at providing a
dinner, dance, and weekend that Luscious and I enjoyed on numerous occasions. Anyway, during dinner there was plenty of background music being played that matched the Christmas festivities. However, when “The Christmas Song” was played …. even if we weren’t finished eating our dinner …. Leo would always ask me to dance — 🙂 I discovered that this song was originally called “Chestnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire”, changed to “Merry Christmas to You”, and finally “The Christmas Song”. It was written in 1944 by Mel Torme (always referred to as The Velvet Fog). He wrote it on a hot summer’s day while thinking cool thoughts …. and after 40 minutes, a song standard was born that still brings thoughts of Jack Frost, Yuletide carols, and Eskimos. This easy, breezy song remains one of my all time favorites to this day — 🙂
My grandson, Bobby, has discovered just how much fun singing Christmas songs can be. His Mommy tells me that every time they get into the car now, he settles himself 
and then says, “Turn on B101”. Then, as each Christmas song is played, he belts out the lyrics …. a little off-tune … but with great gusto and a smile on his face. I had the opportunity to listen to his “concert” the other evening and it just reinforced the spirit of Christmas … it’s all in the children — 🙂 When I was little, my Mom would take us “downtown” to do her Christmas shopping for the family. I remember one time when we were on the “el” (an elevated train … and one of my Dad’s all-time favorite quips, “Noel, then take the bus”.) At any rate, as we were riding along, I was listening to the clacking of the wheels on the tracks and it reminded me of a Christmas song that I sang often — “Up on the Housetop” …. reindeer paws and all. Turns out that this catchy tune is a real oldie but goodie. Penned in 1864 by Benjamin Hanby of Ohio, it has been record and recorded countless times by folks like Reba McEntire, The Jackson Five, and … my favorite .. Jimmy Buffett.
Speaking of Jimmy, he put out an awesome Christmas album a few years back which included a re-do of another classic, “Christmas Island”. I was still working then and we were encouraged (not any more!) to decorate our team spaces for an annual contest. One of those years, I had suggested that we use “Christmas Island” as our inspiration …. and everybody agreed. So we had flowered leis all over our tree instead of garland. There was a parrot perched on top instead of a star. We used seashells, starfish, 
flamingoes .. all sorts of island stuff … and had the most uniquely decorated space ever. On the day they came around to judge, we had all decided to dress the part with our flowered shirts, flip-flops and shades. I even had the song ready to go on the radio that sat on my desk. We were a huge hit, had lots of laughs — and won first prize — 🙂 As a side note, another song from this album is “Ho, Ho, Ho, and a Bottle Rum” — but that’s another story!
As a kid growing up in Southwest Philly, we spent many a shopping day “up the avenue”. I can’t even remember a Christmas without snow during those years … and I am always reminded of this whenever I hear the song “Silver Bells”. Hearing the snow crunch, seeing the kids bunch is forever a part of my life …. along with me holding my mittened hand in my Dad’s while we checked out Santa’s big scene. My Mom even had paper mache silver bells as part of our Christmas decorations in our home … and that just reinforced my love of this magical song of my youth.
There are a few special songs that my Dad absolutely loved. His favorite was “Away in the Manger”, but when he heard “The Little Drummer Boy” for the first time, he actually teared up. I remember him saying to me, “Now that’s a gift from the heart 
from that little boy”. That has stuck with me all these years … the simpliest of gifts straight from the heart means more to Baby Jesus than the gold, franchensense and myrhh from the Three Kings. As for me, I have always LOVED having my family give me such perfect gifts … those that come straight from their hearts. When they do, I am reminded again and again of that little boy, his gift, and the smile he received in return ….. ahhh, Christmas — 🙂
There are hundreds and hundreds of Christmas songs … some good, some not so much. My least favorite of the bunch is “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” — what a complete waste of music! But one of my favorite fun recollection is the year that my sister, our little neighbor girl friend and I decided to go “Wassilling”. We had NO idea what that meant, but there is a song about it ….. so off we went. The word “wassel” literally means “be you healthy” and refers to a salute (Waes Hail) and the drink of mulled or warmed wine. Then you would get a treat in the form of some sort of sweet pastry to go with the warmed wine. Well, we didn’t get any wine, but we got tons of treats as we went door to door singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” at the top of our little lungs. When I tell you that we came home with pillow cases …. yes, that’s a plural …. you’d best believe it — 🙂
If you want to hear some really great arrangements of Christmas music, then you MUST check out my brother, Bob’s, album. It’s titled “Christmastime is Near”. You can hear samples of his music by going to his site … and enjoy! I remember that we
had a player type piano in our dining room in Philly and Bob would spend hours and hours practicing and playing his music. During Christmas season, it was especially fun since we not only had Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” on the radio, we also had Bob Carey playing carols as well. One year, as he was playing an especially sweet rendition of a song, Flossie came up behind him and said, “Hey look!! Bobby’s playing “The Alaskan Fiddlers!” Needless to say, we kinda did a double-take at his sheet music on which was clearly written “Adeste Fidelis” …. and a new Carey family joke was born — 🙂
When we moved from Philly to Jersey, my sister and I joined our church choir. 
During the Christmas season, our rehersals and recitals took up a great deal of our time. But the rewards of those few years that we participated have lasted well into my life today. One of the best songs we ever sang was “Oh Come, oh come, Emanuel”. In addition to being one of my favorites, it was also one of the easiest songs to sing but sounded so complicated. I have heard it in recent years sung by many artists, but I think that my current favorite version is from Enya …. so sweet, so mystical, so perfect!
I really could go on and go with this topic …. with songs ranging from “Barnyard Christmas”, from “The Muppets Christmas”, from “The Irish Tenors” and “The Cheiftans” …. but I think that instead I’m going to load up my CD changer and just listen.
VIEW FROM THE PORCH 