Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Merry Music Winner!…

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…is Kerri Epling! But there were so many great entries. I’ll share a few in the next few days.

Meanwhile, at the Colley house, there’s no internet. After going to McDonald’s, Kroger, Starbucks, and another McDonald’s this morning to try and post (and do some other business), I’m learning that the widespread internet outage is just that…very widespread. At last. I’ve found a hot spot. The storm last Monday in Huntsville, Alabama took a huge oak tree via powerful lightning, our internet, a window in the cabin, to my complete amazement as my husband stepped out on the porch to “listen to the storm”. At that moment, behind his head, I saw the light show of my life–electric red flashes of light, fire and the loudest boom I have ever heard. More about that later, but so very thankful that it did not take our home or even our lives! So many blessings tp keep counting…and I’ve resolved to do that throughout these blessed holidays.

Here’s the entry. I love it!…(and more of your music stories though the next week!)

There’s just something about Christmas music, isn’t there?   Something in it takes us all back to childhood, where we anxiously anticipated the colorful lights, the smells of goodies baking in Grandma’s kitchen, and the joy of choosing the perfect gift for our loved ones and wrapping it just so in the shiny papers and ribbons before placing it lovingly beneath the sparkly, ornament-laden tree in the corner of the living room.   As we sing of jingling bells, talking snowmen, missing teeth, and winter wonderlands, we are able to suspend reality, if only for a precious few weeks in the midst of a crazy, busy, and cold season!   I have always loved Christmas music.  For as long as I can remember, I have looked forward to those merry tunes and whimsical decorations.  My kids have inherited my love for seasonal songs, and listening to and singing them together is a favorite part of the holidays for me.

 

My husband is a staunch believer in “no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving,” and he plays it up with the kids like it is a big deal.  Any time we hear songs earlier in the year, there is good-natured teasing that “Daddy won’t like this!” as everyone giggles at the idea that someone must not know that Christmas music isn’t allowed until Black Friday.   If we are out in a store and Christmas music is playing the kids can’t wait to point it out to Daddy, who always delights them by responding dramatically that it isn’t Thanksgiving yet and the music must be stopped.  Giggles abound at these declarations!

 

Black Friday is one of our favorite traditions as a family.   My children affectionately call it “Shopping in the Dark,” and they count down to that day  as eagerly as they do to Christmas Day or birthdays.    While we seldom make any large purchases, we rise early (5 AM or so), pile in the car, and head out to buy a gingerbread house and to have brunch at Chick-Fil-A.  We people watch, buy batteries on sale, deliver goodies to some friends who own a local business, and listen to the first Christmas music of the season for our family.   Daddy always makes a special CD containing mixture of some of our favorite songs, and we never know which songs he will choose.   As we pull out of our driveway in the dark, the music starts playing and all our voices belt out the merry melodies.   It is such a fun tradition and a great time to bond.  Something about having this special tradition of no music until a certain day and spending that dark morning with Bing Crosby and Burl Ives gets our holidays off to a fun and festive start and sets the stage for season.   The merry truly is in the music.

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