Today's Christmas memory is about Christmas music.
I love the traditional songs of Christmas such as "O Come All Ye Faithful", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman", "Angels We Have Heard on High", "The Drummer Boy", "Mary Did You Know" and "O Little Town In Bethlehem" to name a few. Hearing these songs in our church with it's beautiful pipe organ on Christmas Eve Mass or at Midnight Mass was always the highlight of Christmas. Below is the pipe organ at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church where I spent many Christmas's enjoying my favorite sounds of the season.
Photograph is courtesy of Brian Mullins Photography, Apex, North Carolina and used with permission.
I remember how my Mom or Dad would carefully pull a vinyl record out of its sleeve, put it on the stereo turntable, locking it in place, watching it drop and then the needle gently moving over to start the first track. I remember listening to Bing Crosby's, "White Christmas", Burl Ives's singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Silver and Gold", Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song", Robert Goulet's "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Do You Hear What I Hear" and who can forget, Jimmy Boyd's classic "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". Below are some of the record albums I remember having as a child.
As I went through school I sang in the choir and I remember singing Christmas songs. One particular memory is from the sixth grade because we were living in Dayton at the time. I remember that we had to wear navy skirt or pants and white blouse or shirt. I remember my parents sitting in the auditorium while did Christmas concert. I don't know why this memory sticks out more than others, it just does. I participated in school choirs through my sophomore year in high school.
I remember as teenager in North Carolina how my friends and I would go caroling through our neighborhood just before Christmas. It was a lot of fun however now you just don't see many people going door to door and caroling, at least here in the south. How about my fellow geneabloggers, do you see caroling or do you participate in caroling where you live? Or has the tradition died out altogether? Maybe it's not just done here in little piece of world, I do live in the boondocks!
Editor's Note: I am reusing photos from last year's ACCM and portions of the original post.
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