Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

One of our local radio stations has been playing Christmas music nonstop since a week before Thanksgiving. And you know what...I love it!

I love Christmas songs. They remind me of my childhood and easily transport me back to those magical moments of Christmas when I was a little girl. The excitement of pulling out all of those boxes loaded with decorations. Searching for the sweet little cardboard church covered in glitter with the red bulb inside to make it shine. And the choir of candle boys and girls to place around the church. Hanging the red and green stockings my mama crochet for each of us...including a little one for Gigi. She used a fuzzy white yarn for our names and I thought it was so fancy. Oh, how I could not wait to hang those stockings!

We always had a big bowl of nuts in the shell out to enjoy too...almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pecans and walnuts. I would always dig through the bowl looking for the Brazil nuts...they were my favorite. Why this was a Christmas tradition, I have no idea...but to this day, it says Christmas to me. And I'm bringing it back this year in my home. I may even try to sweet talk my mama into letting me have the nut cracker set from way back then...it's got to be vintage by now!

Oh, and how I loved when my dad would come home with yet another client gift of Hickory Farms...the go to gift of all businesses back in the 70's. All of those cheeses and beef sticks and the little strawberry candies nestled in the shredded green paper would make my heart race with delight.

Then there were the Christmas specials on television...Rudolph, Frosty, Charlie Brown, and It's a Wonderful Life. I can remember when HBO first came out, and I watched Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner and Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas...still one of my favorites. There were no dvd's to watch over and over again. It was a one time shot to enjoy...well, except for It's a Wonderful Life which seemed to come on twice a day every day. And I wanted to watch them all...to snuggle up and know Christmas was finally here.

So I say, enjoy all the Christmas music! And have yourself a merry little Christmas with wonderful memories...old and new!