Gigi with Catie and Genie 2015
What do you get when you combine one the oldest, most-anticipated holiday celebrations of not just childhood, but throughout the life-span, and music?? Of course you get the most magical, powerful, and emotional music that has ever been written! Get Alice’s Christmas CD!
Now if you’ve been following my blog for any time at all, you know that the music that we love most, and that has the most healing effects for us, has some sort of powerful , emotional association. Perhaps
- the Christmas you got your first bike
- the Christmas that your Mom gave you a baby brother or sister
- the Christmas that the whole family went skiing or to Disney
- OR, perhaps it’s a sad association
- the Christmas your Grandpa died
- the Christmas you didn’t get the present you really, really wanted
- the Christmas a tornado, blizzard or flood struck
The idea is, though, that depending on your age, there was undoubtedly some holiday music that was popular that year that you still hear and get flooded with those memories. So, if you want to benefits from the calming, soothing, energizing, invigorating, reassuring, or inspirational power of music, you want to go back to your childhood and start finding those songs that did that for you!
Today, with the power of You Tube, you actually search for something like “top Christmas songs of 1956.” In my case, I was 8 years old, in the third grade, and hoping for a bicycle and a bride doll. I also wanted many books, and maybe a few dresses or play clothes. I had just started taking piano and probably would have loved some records of piano music or perhaps a record player or radio of my own. Of course, I remember “Up on the Rooftop,” “Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and the songs I heard at church like “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” When I search for top Christmas songs of 1956, I also see “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” and “Mary’s Boy Child” with Harry Belafonte.
Just hearing those titles bring back visions of the house we lived in, my brother and sisters at that age, and what I liked to read and play with. It’s almost like time travel, just to think of those songs! How does that work ? It’s all about the combination of brain chemicals, our amazing memories, and good song-writing.
If you’re feeling blue this Christmas and lonely or depressed, scared, or filled with grief, homesickness, or any sad feelings at all, I highly recommend going to YouTube and search for the top Christmas songs of the years when you were approximately 3-9, the years when you were still innocent and believed in Santa, flying reindeer, and magic of all kinds. Ill just bet it will cheer you up for a little while, this Christmas Day!
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