WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2023 OLD WINTER SONGS

 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2023 - CHRISTMAS? SONGS?

I’ve been writing about Christmas Carols for the last week.  Today, I’m extending that discussion to Christmas (question mark) and songs (question mark).

Let’s take one of the good ones - It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.  I love those lyrics - it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas - as far back as Halloween in some stores - and by Thanksgiving - all stores!!!

Here are the lyrics:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go
Take a look at the five and ten; it's glistening once again.
With candy canes and silver lanes that glow

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in every store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door

A pair of Hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben
Dolls that'll talk and will go for a walk.
Is the hope of Janice and Jen
And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go
There's a tree in the Grand Hotel one in the park as well.
It's the sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Soon, the bells will start.
And the thing that'll make 'em ring is the carol that you sing.
Right within your heart

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Toys in every store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door

*****

Yes, it's a great song, but it is dated!!

How about this:

Take a look at the five and ten; it's glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes that glow

“Grandma, what’s a five and ten?” 

Well, sweet Ada, it’s like a Dollar store from many years ago when things didn’t cost as much.  A five and ten - meant things cost five and ten cents (or lower cost).  

***

“Grandma, what’s a silver lane?”

“Silver lanes are streets or small roads.”

***

Nana - what are Hopalong Boots?

“Good question, Gen!!.  Hopalong boots refer to a famous television cowboy - Hopalong Cassidy.  Back in the 1950s - all the boys watched Hopalong Cassidy stop the bad guys from rustling cattle and robbing banks in the Old West - and Hopalong Cassidy had pistols. I know that Grandpa had cap guns that you loaded a roll of “caps” into, and when you shot the cap gun, it made a sound like a pistol.”

Nana, wouldn’t that be dangerous?
Well, back then, it wasn’t a big deal.

***  

Nana - did the girls get dolls that could talk and go for a walk?

Yes, lovely Leah, Some of the dolls had strings, and as you pulled the string, the doll talked.  Some dolls even ‘wet themselves” and needed changing (or diapers).

Leah - you mean like Barbies? 
Nana - not really Leah

***

Asher asks, “What about Christmas trees?  Are there only two in town - one at the Grand Hotel and one in the park?”

Nana answers, “There weren’t Christmas Trees in every house when I was a girl.  I remember the big hotel in Maquoketa, Iowa (the Decker Hotel) with a grand Christmas tree. We’d go to the hotel just to see the tree. And, they were real trees (cut down, of course) just fresh out of the woods near town (not from someplace in Canada) - and not artificial.” 

***

There are other things, too.  Mistletoe?  I’m not sure that kids know about mistletoe - and how you were supposed to kiss under the mistletoe.  And some wreaths had real holly leaves (not plastic like today's ones). 

***

What about taking a sleigh ride?  Or, in Jingle Bells, riding in a one-horse open sleigh.  Would kids know about those things?  I remember going on hayrides with a farmer’s wagon with the old square hay bales - but not on a ride with horses pulling a sleigh through the “white and drifted snow.”  

Have you had chestnuts roasting on an open fire?  Who is this “Jack Frost” who is nipping at my nose?

Some favorite songs are dated, but that’s okay for me.

And there are a lot of non-Christmas songs about the cold (“Baby, it’s Cold Outside” and “Walking in a Winter Wonderland.”)  But when it really is cold (like February), songs about cold and snow aren’t getting any airtime!!!

But Christmas is the birth of Jesus, and tales of Santa Claus coming down chimneys, Rudolph, and so much more - including cold and snow.

*****

Alas, the hype machines for Christmas are turned off.  The next (minor?) holiday will be Valentine's Day, followed by St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. 

BUT - LOVE CAME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS

LOVE WINS’

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, DECEMBER 27, 2023