A Tiny Sleigh Bell

I love Christmas music.  I can remember my parents having albums by Johnny Mathis, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and a host of others. Lots of those old albums are on a shelf in my room, back at my parents house, even though there is no turntable to play them on. I can remember my grandparents also having a delightful selection that they played on one of those fabulous stereo consoles in their den.  I loved the slightly bizarre version of "Little Drummer Boy" sung by Bing Crosby and David Bowie...still do.  I remember learning to play "Silver Bells" on the piano and singing along, mostly to annoy my brother.  I love Handel's The Messiah, which is being performed this weekend at my church.  I wish I could sing the high parts like Lisa Welch Kosier could back in high school.I look forward to the Sundays during Advent when we sing Christmas songs from the hymnal each week. When Chelsea was little, she would look at me in amazement when we got to the part " In excelsis Deo" of Angels We Have Heard on High.  It sounds like you are saying her name in the song and she loved that.There is a radio station in our town that plays Christmas music from Thanksgiving until Christmas...all day and all night.  And I love to play that in the car.  I turned on the station Thanksgiving morning on my way home from serving breakfast at church to our community friends and the first song I heard was, " The Christmas Shoes".  I am going to say that the first 2700 times I heard the song, it brought a tear to my eye.  Now, not so much.When Chelsea was a tiny baby, I would rock her to sleep every night and sing to her.  The only songs I could readily recall in the middle of the night were Christmas songs and songs from "The Sound of Music".  So those were her lullabies.
Christmas music reminds me of my family, of growing up, spending Christmas with my parents, my grandparents, my brother and my sister.
As we enter the Advent season, I have shopped a little, sung a few songs and made some cards and ornaments.  But what I really enjoy is the little trips down memory lane that each song bring to me."Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing, ting ting tingle-ing..."