my holiday love.

I don't wear holiday sweaters or earrings or tights or socks. I don't wear anything holiday themed. I enjoy having a tree, a poinsettia, and a centerpiece. But what I really love and appreciate more than anything regarding the holidays is the music. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker is an album (movement? I should know this having studied classical music my entire childhood) that I make a point of listening to in it's entirety a couple of times during the season. John Lennon's "Happy XMas (War is Over) is a fav as well as Elvis' Blue Christmas and Ella Fitzgrald's "It's Cold Outside", I am embarrassed to tell you how much I charged to my credit card last week at the itunes store downloading Christmas music. Too much, that's all I'll say. But I do have a nice collection now.

But the music that tops all of the above is singing hymns with my gramps at the late night church service on Christmas Eve. It's the only time of year I go to church and the only time I enjoy it. "Joy to the World" is a highlight as gramps often exercises his baritone voice echoing "Repeat the Sounding Joy" and harmonizing with me through out. The service always closes with "Silent Night". The lights are turned way down, almost off, and everyone holds a candle. it's so beautiful, I always cry and every year I really want to reach for gramps' hand & squeeze it, but he is Scandinavian after all, and that might just be a little too much affection for him, so I don't.

xoxx