Music of the Heart......

My dear friend Lori Davis "Vintage Palette" started a topic on our PFATT forum that I thought was interesting..."What is your favorite Christmas carol?" I started to answer on the forum but then realized that I have so many favorites that I would be writing forever! Christmas music holds such a special place in my heart for many reasons, not just because of the season but because so many songs have a memory attached to them that when I listen to them it is like a motion picture of pure delight playing in my head! I can see my children living the fantasy of Santa, and the excitement in their eyes as they snuggle down in anticipation, when I hear "Santa is Coming to Town". "The First Noel" brings back memories of wrapping goodies to send over seas to my brother as I felt the grief of war at Christmas and the longing to have him home safely. The memories of my first Christmas with Dan come to life everytime I hear "Silver Bells"... we had just enough money to buy a tree and "one" ornament to decorate it with and on our first Christmas morning we opened our packages to each other and found we had bought each other the exact same ski jacket...now that was funny! When I hear "Greensleeves (Away in the Manger)" I think of my dad. He always loved westerns and hearing it puts me in a theater watching "How the West Was Won" with him and listening to the theme song which was written using the music of Greensleeves! I have one memory that always makes me chuckle out loud and smile for hours and I think of it everytime I hear "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole....Dan comes from a rather large family, seven kids. Most of them made it home to his parents for Christmas one year with families in tow. Needless to say there were a lot of "Gracia's" under one roof. Tradition in Dan's family was that his parents stayed up all night wrapping presents, well this year they had help. Ken, Dan's father, was a master wrapper so he had the honors of wrapping. He wrapped 25-30 packages before I asked quite calmly..."who are these for?" No one thought to put tags on anything. Needless to say Christmas morning was a riot! Grandkids opening gifts that were meant for adults and adults opening gifts meant for kids...IT WAS AWESOME!!!! It was like a Christmas version of musical chairs with packages! This was to be the last Christmas that Ken was with us so this memory is VERY special on many levels! So many memories and so many favorite Christmas Carols.....

Christmas is a season of the spirit and touches many of us in different ways. We often communicate this joy and love through music. I try to encompass much of that "warm fuzzy feeling" with the music here on my blog. Memories of happiness and love are important memories to help us tackle our everyday lives and give us a sense of purpose. Hold on tight to yours and know that a "memory to music" is only the beginning to the "Broadway Musical" of your life!