On the Third Day of a Feminine Christmas
Christmas carols have a heavenly quality with magical melodies especially when sung by a choir of adults or children. But I worry that many of the songs and lyrics will be forgotten one day, replaced by Mariah Carey-like screech songs that are piped into the sound systems of stores these days and ring in our ears as we shop.
Even traditionally religious carols were once taught in public schools every year and sung at special afternoon school assemblies (which is what holiday performances were called back then), when mothers would take off their aprons and arrive at school in dresses and suits and sparkling Christmas brooches to hear their little ones sing Hark, The Herald Angels Sing, or O Come, All Ye Faithful. Where have all the Christmas carols gone? Public radio stations seem to play them only on Christmas Day for a few hours.
To find beautiful Christmas carols I trawl YouTube for favorite old selections – the kind of music that is linked to simple rural life of long ago. I don’t think it odd that I still know what each of my grandmothers’ favorite carols were (they are written in the previous paragraph). Traditional Christmas hymns were once the background music of a child’s holiday, craftily creating a sense of enchantment and even reverence for the season. Think of what your parents played on the family hi-fi while you baked cookies or wrapped presents with paper ribbons and bows.
And what of caroling? That roving band of neighbors, friends, and local civic groups that would gather in a horseshoe outside your very own front door just to serenade you with joy and hope. Perhaps, like me, you caroled at nursing homes with the Girl Scouts and CCD. Today, cold festive nights dressed in mittens, hats, and scarves, earnestly and a bit shyly at first, belting out heartfelt favorites, remain some of my happiest Christmas memories.
Back to YouTube…to find lovely old timey Christmas music (like K-Mart’s 1974 shoppers’ musak track – nostalgic and lovely!), one need only search. When I crave my personal favorites, including The Messiah, I hunt exceptional choir groups.
So much of the beauty of a feminine Christmas can be found in ancient song.
11 Comments
Robin M
Wayne King’s “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas ” is the soundtrack of my childhood Christmases. I have that cherished album.
Thresia Newbury
Carrie Underwood’s new album, My Gift, is the best so far for new Christmas albums. I was just sharing with someone the other day how it’s more traditional and speaks more to the season and is beautiful .
Cherre
Hi Doona, I miss the carolers too! I think about how these old beautiful Christmas traditions will disappear just like the hilarious Phyllis Diller (I love her) . Traditions are not the same so it’s important to try to keep it in the family. I often find classic Christmas carols on Spotify. I wonder if there is a Kmart Christmas station? I’ll be checking. xx
LA CONTESSA
AGREE……………THEY ARENOT ON THE RADIO ANYMORE!
THE CHRISTMAS SINGING SOX’s program got scratched because some woman complained!
This was where the 5th graders made puppets out of socks with Tinsel and wreaths and such!
Plus they sang CHRISTMAS SONGS!
ONE WOMAN RUINED A TRADITION!
ITS THE WAY OF THE WORLD NOW…………….
MERRY CHRISTMAS DONNA!
XX
Ann
What wonderful memories of Christmas concerts…and being in the choir…and to this day remembering your part of the harmony from grade and high school concerts. And…I cannot hear/sing “Angels We Have Heard On High” without remembering 4th grade Sister Anne Marie telling us to sing glOria…with an O…like “glowria”…so we would look like carroling angels with our mouths in that shape!!!
Amy
My own Sister (“Sister Caritas”) always told me that I needed to mouth the carols,not sing them in the school Christmas assembly. I’ve apparently always been terribly off-key. Ever since then I’ve only sung out loud when I’m alone. But I love carols!
Ann
Awww….good story – but sing out! If only the best birds sang the woods would be silent! Merry Christmas!
Dana
I’m always so excited to hear an old-fashion carol that seems long-forgotten. This happened just last night as I drove home from work in the pouring rain. Much to my surprise, Frank Sinatra’s The Christmas Waltz came on and that first line “frosted window panes” warms my heart every time!
Amy
Oh, boy! The tip about the K-Mart 1970s Christmas music is GREAT! Who knew?!
Allyson
I was in choir beginning in the fourth grade until I went to college. I miss children’s Christmas concerts so much! When I was in elementary school, we went to North Star Mall in San Antonio, TX and assembled on the Spanish style spiral staircase for our annual Christmas concert. All the schools took their turn. The sound of children’s voices echoing through the mall was so beautiful and festive. I’m getting all ready just thinking about it! Thank you for the lovely memory!
Karen
Oh, I love this! And I 100% agree! I was just thinking the other day that I know all the lyrics to so many carols and the reason is exactly as you pointed out, we sang them *all the time* as children during the Yuletide season! We sang them for concerts, we sang them along with the radio or the phonograph, we sang them in Girl Scouts– we sang them in music class in school! Everybody sang them–They were the soundtrack for the season! (And I lived in a Jewish neighborhood growing up, and I can sing Hanukkah songs too!) I can still feel the joy that I felt when I was part of the fourth grade Christmas concert, when my mother did show up and her pretty Christmas dress and had a sparkly Christmas tree pinned to her coat, and we sang Silver Bells–we played the chimes and were so nervous that we would get out of line and not play our little tinkling bell note at the right time! You for this beautiful reminder of just how important music is for the season! One of my favorite things is to sit in the quiet of my house and just listen and sing along with the beautiful carols that I love so much. 🎄❤️🧑🏻🎄