My first recollection of Christmas is me at four years of age stuck in bed with the chicken pox; I am isolated from my family due to an infant sister that needed to be protected from illness: my mother is standing at a distance from me in the doorway of my room holding up a beautiful doll that Santa Claus had brought me… I was told, that morning, that I could hold my new doll as soon as I was well, in a couple of weeks. I don’t recall wanting the doll too much at that point as I itched and my hands had been ensconced in socks to keep me from scratching the pox. After that, all memories deal with the music of the season, which of course is much happier.
Music is meant to make us feel our souls. It is meant to cause us to reflect, refine and remember. And, this is especially so at Christmas time. These timely tunes announce the anticipation of the season; they keep us smiling. At least they keep me smiling… I don’t work in a department store where one hears the very same songs and the very same arrangements rolling through in the same painful pattern. Also the music, as I am listening to it, is not coupled with the harassment of customers nor is it intoned with the pain of being on my feet and working overtime. No, for me music is a deep friend found somewhere in my soul. And Christmas music, from the sacred to the secular, is always welcome… Well, almost all of them. There are a few that drive me sort of bonkers…
Remember a song from long ago sung by a child-like voice…
“I’m gettin’ nothin’ for Christmas… Mommy and Daddy are mad!
I’m gettin’ nothing’ for Christmas… ‘Cause I ain’t been nothing’ but bad!”
And then that song continues with a litany of sins, which most good children would never even consider, let alone do. This is the child from hell; by the time I’ve heard this particular song a few times, I can’t change the music or leave the house fast enough.
My station of choice starts with the sort of nauseating tunes of Christmas music, and then gradually moves through to more peaceful or playful selections. Listening to radio has always been a crap-shoot, so I am at least happy that I know what’s going to happen throughout the day with this station.
Around eleven o’clock the dogs barking Jingle Bells, the chipmunks being led by a human through Christmas songs, and the little girl spying on Santa and her mommy as they kiss, have drifted away. (Thank God!) The seasonal arrangements of Bing Crosby, Rosemary CLooney, Julie Andrews, and Michael Buble take over. They sing the classics that we know so well and that many of us grew up singing as we caroled from house to house with our friends and family. Yes, I sing along! And while I do this, it had been shocking to discover that most of these traditional songs are not recognizable to children today. My own students, as I present these carols to play (or sing) for the season, have no idea what “Hark the Hearld Angels Sing” is, nor do they recognize “The First Noel.” I went through a long list of traditional songs including favorite Jewish songs of the season and, no… They didn’t know any of them. (And to close this bit of information, add to that Handel’s Messiah!) Nope, the didn’t know any of them.
For years as a music teacher in schools across the country I presented many songs of different faiths throughout the year for them to sing and learn about the way others live. But the complaining of a few now makes everyone become ignorant; our government (thanks to these few) has chosen to steal this from our children’s educational experience instead of embracing what could be a bonding of life. We have run away from our human wealth and become like the ostrich, as our governmental heads made laws that stick our heads in the sand. We do what our ancestors would be ashamed of! We run from what is different or displeasing to a few’s singular conception and we force this ignorant abandonment on our children’s education. Yes. I am passionate about this. I believe that all have a right to know and to learn and that includes the subject of music.
We each of us can only live for ourselves, but it is up to each of us to teach and not to foster prejudice and ignorance. We have chosen to eradicate certain music at this season out of fear… That what? It might turn a child into a Jew or Christian or a Muslim? Teachers present facts and the presence of life; they do not sway children from their family beliefs. Teachers give education to help children know as much well-rounded information to make good choices, and become good citizens. The rest is up to Mom and Dad; and if they can’t step up to the plate and learn with their children, then there in lies the ignorance and the rub. If we don’t want our children to make their own intelligent choices, then we should choose to live in a different place. Atheists and others of different beliefs from Christianity and Judaism are not entitled to force the music teacher(s) to turn his/her head away from the diversity of song. This is part of our American education. And, this seems to have started with our Christmas season and spread to other times of the year. We are little by little eradicating our own heritage, the right to know and to choose… Just stick our heads in the sand and hide from this part of our history.
More power to private schools that embrace what I am saying, and who are not bound by foolish governing, which now has forced public school music teachers to turn away from giving a complete education at this holiday season.
While I continue to listen daily to my little radio station, I encourage you to listen to this music in your cars, in your homes, and yes in the concert halls. Christmas music is a very big part of our American history and our heritage. It is meant to remind us of love, of sharing good food and shelter with others. It is meant to fill us with laughter when the day sucks, to take us to our souls where joy lives in the innocence we all once embraced as children. Listen! “Do you hear what I hear…” That’s what the song says. Listen… To your children, to each other, to yourself, to the silence, to the music of it all.
There is one song I look forward to hearing every day more than any of the others, and it embraces what I’m trying to say:
“My Grown Up Christmas Wish” (Lyrics by Kelly Clarkson)
Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you with childhood fantasies.
Well, I’m all grown up now;
And still need help somehow.
I’m not a child;
but my heart still can dream.
So here’s my lifelong wish,
My grown up Christmas list.
Not for myself
but for a world in need…
No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown up Christmas list.
As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath a tree.
Well, heaven only knows
That packages and bows,
Can never heal
A hurting human soul.
No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts,
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown up Christmas list.
What is this illusion called the innocence of youth?
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth.
(There’d by)
No more lives torn apart
And wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end, oh…
This is my grown up Christmas list.
This is my only life long wish,
This is my grown up Christmas list…
“Thank you Kelly!”
Whatever your beliefs, is this not a beautiful thought, these lyrics? May we each of us find joy in the music of this season; may we share the knowledge of it with our children; and may the chicken pox ignore your house!
Best… Carolyn Thomas Temple