I love, Love, LOVE Christmas music. I probably have 15 or 20 Christmas CDs. Very eclectic combinations of things, some might even say, strange. For some reason, nothing says Christmas to me, like Christmas music. When my sisters and I were little girls, our mom and dad would put us to bed at night with a stack of records on our record player. Yes, I know, I’m dating myself, but it’s the truth. We would go to sleep with Bible stories, a whole bunch of kids records and even some southern gospel music. But, when it got close to Christmas, out came my favorites – The Chipmunks and Gene Autry’s Christmas album. I can still see the cover of the Gene Autry record – he’s in his boots and hat with a tiny little sleigh and reindeer. I’m still not sure why they are so tiny. That just makes Christmas for me!
Now, my tastes have changed a little. I have some Mannheim Steamroller, the Beach Boys, the Carpenters and my new favorite, Chris Tomlin’s Christmas CD that just came out last year. I have 2 Steven Curtis Chapman CDs with Christmas songs, several Jim Brickman (including one I know I have that I can’t find –HMMMMM) and a Harry Connick Jr, which I also can’t find. I even have several compilation albums, including a WOW! Christmas Album, and even a Rosie O'Donnell Christmas one. My favorite songs on that one are “Nuttin’ for Christmas” by Smash Mouth and “Silver Bells” by Sugar Ray. I have a great one I got at the gas station and one from Hallmark called “Music to Trim the Tree By.”
I also have a Barry Manilow one – if you know me at all, you know how much I love him! Phillips, Craig and Dean, Avalon, 4Him, the list just goes on and on!!
I have several versions of Handel’s Messiah – but those are bittersweet. I have the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s version and one called “A Soulful Celebration.” I have the “Young Messiah” which was actually a tour several years ago - Sandi Patty’s “And the Glory Of The Lord” just blows my socks off and 4Him’s version of “The Trumpet Shall Sound” gets me every time. But every Messiah ends with the Hallelujah Chorus – and that’s the bittersweet part. My mother absolutely, positively LOVED that song – so much that for years she made us promise we would play it at her funeral at the end. When we were driving back from Marathon, after she went to heaven, my sister Robyn said to me “you know what we have to play, don’t you?” And of course I knew exactly what she meant. We all did. So I had to get out one of my Christmas albums in May – on Memorial Day. For that, we used the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
So as much as I love Christmas music, whenever I hear the Hallelujah Chorus, it makes me happy and sad – all at the same time. Sad, because I still miss my momma so much. But happy because I know that she celebrates Christmas every day, in a way that we can’t yet. Oh, but one day. . . One day.
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