Joy to the World

Isaac Watts, born in England in 1674, grew up not liking the music used in the church.  His father challenged him to come up with something better.  Challenge accepted.  Watts wrote more than 600 hymns and other poems.  While studying Psalm 98, he wrote a poem he called “Joy to the World.”  It was based on verses 4-9 of Psalm 98.  During his lifetime the poem was sung to the tune of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”

Lowell Mason, born in New Jersey, USA, in 1792, loved music and composed songs.  He studied Handel and enjoyed composing music in the classical style.  In 1836, he composed a song he called “Antioch.”  In 1839, he discovered the words of the Isaac Watts poem “Joy to the World” fit the meter of his song “Antioch.”  He put the two together creating the present-day carol “Joy to the World.”

Information on “Joy to the World” was found in Ace Collin’s book Stories Behind The Best-Loved Songs of Christmas published by Zondervan.

Winter Wonderland

It sure is cold where I live, and there is several inches of snow on the ground.  I thought because of all the snow and cold why not share some winter songs.  First, there is a fun, animated video of Bing Crosby singing ‘Winter Wonderland’.  Then Doris Day sings about a ‘Snowfall’.  Last, there are two songs featuring Michael Buble, ‘Let It Snow’ and ‘Winter Wonderland’.  Enjoy!

Winter Wonderland – Bing Crosby

Snowfall – Doris Day

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow – Michael Buble

Winter Wonderland – Michael Buble

Happy Mother’s Day Christmas Style…a little early

The second Sunday of May in the United States is Mother’s Day, a day we celebrate our mothers. Since I won’t be posting another blog before then I thought I would say, “Happy Mother’s Day!” a little early.

Here are three songs for two women of Christmas, Mrs. Santa Claus and Mrs. Snowman plus a recipe you can do for Christmas parties or with your children for you own Christmas celebration.

Enjoy.

Mrs. Santa Claus – Nat King Cole

Mr and Mrs Snowman – Hank Thompson

Mrs. Santa Claus – Angela Lansbury

Marshmallow Snowman

3 jumbo marshmallows
White frosting of choice
2 pretzel sticks
3 red hots
1 star sprinkle
Toothpicks
Black food coloring

Place a small dab of frosting between the marshmallows and stack one atop the other. Poke a pretzel stick into opposite sides of the middle marshmallow to make snowman’s arms.

Use small dabs of frosting to secure red hots down center of snowman for buttons and a star sprinkle for the nose.

Dip toothpick into black food coloring. Poke toothpick into top marshmallow to make the eyes and mouth

Christmas in Spain

To whet your appetite (and to get my creative juices flowing) for my upcoming webpage on Christmas in Spain, I’m giving you some videos about Christmas in Spain. The first video is presented by an Australian in Madrid. The next video shows one of the three kings at a Three Kings Parade. The third video gives us a sample of the dancing that can be enjoyed throughout Spain during the Christmas season. The last video lets us enjoy displays of Christmas lights and decorations in Spain.

Enjoy, and Feliz Navidad.

The Customs of Christmas – the Story of a Website

Why did I call my website, and this blog, The Customs of Christmas?  That is a story that begins way back in my childhood. 

Growing up radio stations did not start playing Christmas music 24/7 in November.  The radio station I listened to, WROW out of Albany, NY, 590 on the AM dial, did not start playing Christmas music until the first week of December.  Even then we heard just one Christmas song per hour on the hour.  The second week another Christmas song was added, one at the top of the hour and one on the half hour.  The third week of December the station started playing Christmas songs every quarter hour.  It stayed that way all the way to 6:00 pm Christmas Eve.  Then WROW played their 24 Hours of Christmas program.  Not only did they play Christmas music, but they played programs that I looked forward to hearing every year.  They had live reports from NORAD telling us where Santa Claus was on his Christmas flight.  They also played a version of A Christmas Carol that included the songs from Scrooge, the Albert Finney version of A Christmas Carol.  (One year I recorded it off the radio onto a cassette tape.  I still have that recording enjoying it whenever it is played.)  They also surrounded their commercials with a series of ad wrappers that gave us the history of some of our … customs of Christmas.

As time went on WROW’s Christmas programming increased to 30 hours then 36 hours.  I have not been back home for Christmas in some time so I do not know what WROW’s Christmas programming may be now.

In 1999 I worked for a company that put on a Christmas luncheon and program for the employees.  That year I oversaw putting the program together.  Can you guess what I did?  Yes, it was The Customs of Christmas.

In 2000 I took a course on web design.  In it we had to design a website.  I already had all the text I used for the Christmas luncheon program.  It was perfect for a website, a home page with several pages for content.  That is how my Christmas website that investigates the history of our customs of Christmas began.

Since then the website has grown to include histories, recipes, games, and an advent calendar featuring The Cinnamon Bear, a radio show that has played over the air every year since 1937.

Stop by and enjoy the website, customsofchristmas.com.  The advent calendar begins November 29.  Tell me what you like and what you would like to see on the website. 

Christmas For My Family

Last month I shared what Christmas was like for me as a child. Now I’ll tell you about how I celebrate Christmas with my wife and children.

Christmas music may be heard anytime during the month of November, but it usually isn’t played exclusively until the day after Thanksgiving. At 12 noon Thanksgiving day our favorite internet Christmas station, https://www.stfrancis.edu/spirit/, begins their all-Christmas programming. They continue playing Christmas music 24/7 until noon on January 2. We also fill our 5-disc CD player with CDs from our Christmas CD collection of well over 50 CDs. I sometimes think we have a larger selection of Christmas music than some radio stations.

We used to put up our outdoor decorations including the lights on our house Thanksgiving weekend. But, because it is frequently unbearably cold that weekend where we are, we started putting the lights on the roofline of our house earlier in the month. We just don’t plug them in until after Thanksgiving.

The Christmas tree is decorated the day after Thanksgiving. Our main tree is a 6-foot slim tree. My son likes to put up our 4-foot tree in the basement. We call it the kids tree. We decide on one of the four color schemes we have, red and silver, blue and silver, purple and silver, and anything goes. I think this year is an anything goes year. We put a lot of lights on the tree including a string of bubble lights.

We have 5 different ways, 4 books and 1 set of ornaments, we rotate through each year for advent. 3 of the books tell a story that is inter-related with the other 2 books to give 3 different perspectives of the days leading up to the birth of Jesus. The main characters go on their own journey while intersecting and interacting with the characters of the other 2 books.

Our church has a Christmas program put on by kids in the church. The program is put on the first weekend of December. Through the years several of my children have taken part in the Christmas program. This year my youngest daughter is in the program, my middle daughter is helping out with it, and one of my sons is handling one of the spotlights.

Our church’s adult choir also puts on a Christmas program a week or two after the kids program.

During the month of December the family makes several kinds of cookies and several batches of fudge. Everyone gets to help make cookies. At one time we made all the cookies on one Saturday in December. That quickly became a chore that I dreaded as the number of kinds of cookies grew with the number of children in the family (we have 7 children). Now some of the older children are given the opportunity to make their favorite cookies anytime during December while I make 1 or 2 different kinds of cookies on “Cookie Saturday.”

Christmas morning the children are not allowed out of their rooms except to use the bathroom. They are not to go into the living room with the tree or into the kitchen before Mom or I call them. We fix breakfast of egg casserole and put their stockings out so they can have them during breakfast. Before the gifts are passed around we read the Christmas story out of the Bible or the last chapter of the Advent story book. We always have Christmas music playing while we open gifts usually with a fireplace video playing in our DVD player.

By the time we finish with the gifts it’s almost lunch time. We don’t have the traditional turkey or ham for Christmas. Instead we make an extra cheesy and meaty lasagna. We like doing this because there’s less clean up afterward. This year we’re going to have a couple cheesecakes for dessert instead of pies.

After lunch we play games and enjoy our gifts and each other.

That is our Christmas celebration. How do you celebrate Christmas?

Christmas in July

Today I am seeing more and more references to Christmas in July.  From Rankin/Bass’ Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July to store advertising using that theme.  Movie channels on TV play Christmas movies and music providers play Christmas music again for a short time.

I do not mind it at all.  I listen to Christmas music whenever I want to listen.  I watch Christmas movies whenever I want to watch them, too.  I even watch Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July in July.  Why?  Because it ends shortly after the “final firework fades on the Fourth.”

Here is a short video on some of the origins of Christmas in July.  I have not verified all the claims, but I have heard or read most of them.  I hope you enjoy it.

I am also including the trailer for the movie Christmas in July referenced in the video.  You may want to add it to your watch list this year.

Perhaps you do something to celebrate Christmas in July.  If so, please let me know in the comments below.

Merry Christmas in July!

Christmas Carols

Every year, usually around October and November though I have seen them all year round, we are inundated with memes telling us it is too early to listen to Christmas music.  Personally I listen to Christmas music whenever I feel like.

When I was growing up radio stations did not play Christmas 24/7 in the weeks leading up to Christmas like some do now.  The radio station I frequently listened to would play 1 Christmas song at the top of the hour the first week of December.  The second week of December they played 2 Christmas songs, one at the top of the hour the other at the half hour.  The third week of December Christmas songs were played every 15 minutes.  Then came my favorite time of the year.  Starting at 6:00 p.m. Christmas Eve the station began 30 hours of Christmas programming.  It was wonderful.

When I was a teenager I usually listened to Christmas music using cassette tapes I owned or copied from the radio for at least a month in June or July.  One year not too long ago using headphones so I would not bother my coworkers I listened to Christmas music every Friday throughout the year.  I reasoned since Friday is the happiest day of the week I would play the happiest music I could find.  I think there is no music happier than Christmas music.

Now I no longer limit my listening to Christmas music.  I have added Christmas episodes of old-time radio programs.

I love listening to Christmas music.  I still listen to it anytime of the year whenever I feel the need for a quick pick-me-up, a boost to my Christmas spirit.

My favorite Christmas songs are Twas the Night Before Christmas by Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians and Silent Night by Mannheim Steamroller.  I also must hear songs by Andy Williams, the Ray Conniff Singers, and Mannheim Steamroller.

What are your favorite Christmas songs?  Let’s start our own list.  Perhaps we can use that list to make a great Christmas playlist.

Merry Christmas!

Anticipation – the Start of the Christmas Season

At this time of year I really start looking forward to Christmas.  As Halloween nears I find myself getting excited about Christmas, wanting to listen to Christmas music, and looking forward to putting up Christmas decorations.  In some ways I think Halloween is the beginning of the Christmas holiday season.

The producer of some of my favorite Christmas movies and TV specials is Rankin/Bass.  Here is a Halloween video that Rankin/Bass produced.  I think you will enjoy it.