Here I am, 15 years old, sitting on the floor in front of the new stereo Daddy bought for our family. I think this was earlier than Christmas as my sister Deb reminded me that the first albums bought for the new stereo were South Pacific and Flower Drum song as Daddy and Mama had seen the Broadway shows in Chicago recently.
But as my sisters and I were discussing on FaceBook, come December after the new stereo came to our home, our parents took us, as always, to downtown Nashville after dinner out to view all the store windows, especially to the beautiful Christmas ones at Cain-Sloans Department Store.
We went to the record department where you were allowed to play the albums in sound booths before purchasing them. And there we each got to choose a Christmas album.
Friends, this was a really big deal! Our parents were not extravagant but music was important to them and so they bought a piano when I was about ten years old and began piano lessons for us, beginning with me, the eldest.
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By the way, that piano, a Gulbransen spinet, that came back to me after my little sisters grew up, was with us at our previous home, Valley View....
And now belongs to our granddaughters!
I must also include a picture of another tradition in Nashville as my sisters and I were growing up. Our parents always took us to the large Nativity Scene that was sculpted by Italian sculptor Guido Rebechini and displayed in front of Nashville's Parthenon, the world's only life sized replica of the Parthenon, built in 1897 as Nashville was called The Athens of the South. Inside the Parthenon is a 42 foot gilded sculpture of Athena. As you can imagine, Nashville's Athena has sometimes caused controversy in this city of a church every block or so.
But outside, from 1953 to 1967 was this glorious Nativity Scene that enthralled us as children when we joined the quiet crowds that went to experience its solemn beauty telling of the night of Christ's birth, Christmas carols playing softly on loudspeakers.
I begin listening to Christmas music the first day of November and don't pack my albums away until February. I'm old school and like to handle my albums. I tried music via Pandora a decade ago when my kids set me up with it but after a few weeks went back to my CD albums, wishing that we had never gotten rid of our stereo and LPs a long time ago.
I love it that two of our kids have now gone back to collecting and playing LPs. How about you? How do you get your music now? Those of you who celebrate Christmas, when do you start listenting to it?
These are such precious and beautiful Christmas memories. I love the photographs of young you! I listen to my music via Spotify on either my Bose sound system or my earbuds. But I have to admit, there's nothing like the sound of a LP on a good stereo.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of Christmas music, but a few years ago I found a Spotify playlist of jazz Christmas songs, and I liked that. I start listening to it closer to Christmas.
Thank you, Melanie! And for telling me about your music preferences. I love knowing what people enjoy listening to and what movies they like and books they read. I have about eight years of Starbucks Christmas music CDs that Zack used to give me every year and many of them have light jazz Christmas music on them. I enjoy playing them when I'm cleaning house. I had an idea that you would start listening to Christmas music later than I do, Melanie, and I bet you weren't surprised by when I do! Right? We have gotten to know each other pretty well in our emails, haven't we? I hope your good weather there lasts as long as possible!
DeleteI thought I would pop into my blog just in case you had written and there you were at the top of my blog list! I just loved this post to pieces. Very funny about Athena! I love all my Christmas music. The only one I have on vinyl is Johnny Mathis! Which, guess what, my daughter remembers and loves! I have a lot of music on CD, and a lot on iTunes - music I own but music that isn't "touchable". I have a "Christmas albums" and "Christmas singles" category. It is fun to hear a song in a movie, and then buy it and put it in the latter group. I love all the music. I start December 1, usually with George Winston's December. I just found the whole album on youtube, if you haven't heard it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci52Iq_IQso&ab_channel=JediMasterGeoff
ReplyDeleteNan, Johnny Mathis is always cool! How have I never heard of George Winston? I have his December now playing on my phone and it's lovely--Carol of the Bells now playing, almost my favorite carol. Thank you so much for the link!
DeleteNan, I am now on the Pachelbel and my blood pressure is mellowing out. I must buy this album!
DeleteWhat would Christmas be without music? Even the angels sang to the shepherds. I love it and start in November. I have kept all of my CDs and wish I had a player that worked with my Bose speaker, but alas, everything we've tried doesn't result in very good sound. So I use Spotify, and can find most of my favourites there. I like Michael Card, Josh Groban, Twila Paris, a Celtic group, and more. I play them while I'm sewing or baking, but through the speaker as I really dislike earbuds. I like the music to surround me - I have a theory that we hear with our skin as well as our ears. Silly, I know.
ReplyDeleteLorrie, I don't like earbuds either and I love your theory that we hear with our skin too, not silly at all! I love Groban and Paris but will have to try Michael Card who is new to me.
DeleteYou're right, what would Christmas be without music? Presents I could do without but not music!
Dewena, this post is dee-licious!! I love those pictures of you, and the stories of Christmas in your youth. As I was reading about the Parthenon, something was stirring in my mind.... didn't I write something about that place in Nashville... for some reason... way back when sometime...? Well, I checked, and it wasn't very far back at all; I think you might enjoy it.
ReplyDeletehttps://gretchenjoanna.com/2020/12/07/shucking-beans-with-women-friends/
I still have a largish boom-box type player that my late husband and I bought decades ago. It includes a cassette player, and I still have some cassettes, but I usually play CD's on it, and mostly at Christmas. I also have an Apple Music account with a Christmas playlist, but that is mostly for the car. I'm not sure I get my money's worth from that Apple account, I like silence so much.
At least one of my children has got himself a turntable, and I gave him all of our remaining LP's. And one of them plays nothing but digital recordings. Gone are the days when a nice LP or CD was a good choice for a Christmas present for anyone.
Merry listening to you!
Thank you so much, Gretchen Joanna! And now I'm very curious about what you wrote on your blog about our Parthenon and will be back to my laptop after breakfast to find that. I can't imagine!
DeleteI too play cassettes, in fact many of my Christmas cassettes are those I recorded years ago from NPR. I'll have to tell about them in a post. I agree, giving a nice record has gone. Women's magazines used to have monthly columns suggesting new music recordings for children of all ages as well as adults. And we used to head for the record store in the nearest town to buy them, not have them delivered to the door in two days--something that I certainly take advantage of now. What would I do without Amazon delivery service?
I did go back to your post where you wrote about our Parthenon here! What are the odds? Now I must get Mary Norris's book Greek to Me. When I read your opening words though, it explained to me why you manage to be such a consistent blogger and also explained why I also feel so unsettled when I drop out of blogging. Why a day that ends with me blogging does feel "completed." Anyone reading this is going to be confused but I know you will understand since you taught me into understanding it! That doesn't mean that I'll manage to change my bad habits but it's named now.
DeleteDewena, you really shouldn't compare your blogging style to mine. You have family in the house and not too far away, which makes a huge difference in your discretionary time. You would not want to be the constantly distracted homemaker that I am, and I don't like to hear you talking about all this using words like "bad habits." But -- I'm all for you having more days that feel completed with a blog post!
DeleteI get your meaning, Gretchen Joanna, and realize I can also add that my more advanced age has to have a lot to do with having less time to blog simply because I'm so very slow getting my must-do list done each day. But it sure does make my life happier when I do create a blog post so I have to remember that. Not being able to bend over or lift anything for 10 days and RH taking over much of the housework during that time has meant I do have more time for blogging and hopefully that won't last! Thank you for cautioning me!
DeleteI have one old Christmas LP from my childhood. It's still a favourite after 60+ years. The memories sift up as soon as it starts to play. I found a place online years ago that could take the LP and turn it into a CD. So it's the CD that I actually listen to, but I still have the old LP. It's a treasure. Thanks so much, Dewena, for your thoughts about music at Christmas. I used to start listening early in the autumn, but hubby has never liked to listen for that length of time (there are good reasons), so I tend not to crank up the seasonal music until closer to December. I'm always glad when the music starts playing on the radio.
ReplyDeleteOh I certainly understand you putting aside Christmas music until later for your husband's sake, Brenda. I have to admit that in November I tend to play my music after RH has left the house in the mornings. But then I also have to wait until he's not here to crank up my opera music! I'm so glad you kept that LP from childhood. It was smart of you to have it converted to a CD but just displaying the old album cover must make you happy. It would me!
DeleteDewena, what a gorgeous teenager you were! How exciting it must have felt to be given the chance to pick out your own Christmas album! In the photo, you look like you just put yours on the stereo!
ReplyDeleteNashville is known as the 'Athens of the South'?! I had to google why, immediately! Accordiing to the Nashville Public Library, it's '...because of its dedication to higher education, it was perpetuated in a few other ways—from the building of the Greek-Revival-styled State Capitol to the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, which brought about Nashville's iconic Parthenon building...'. I am impressed!
I start humming 'Let It Snow' as soon as the first raindrops fall and the temps drop a few degrees! After that, it's all the old classics, many 80s hits, and of course, jazzy renditions of everything. I have a Perry Como Christmas cassette and I associate his warm, charming voice with Christmas cheer and picture him as the sweet, fun loving husband and father in my imaginary Christmas movies, with either Doris Day, Mary Tyler Moore, (or moi!), as is adoring wife!
Happy listening, my friend!
xx
Poppy, hardly gorgeous! However, just being 15 and having that pore-less skin all 15 year olds have is enough, right? I can't believe I never told you about Nashville being the Athens of the South! Yes, that was hugely emphasized locally when I was growing up and the fact that we had so many colleges and universities. And of course every year we school children boarded a bus and took our annual field trip to the Parthenon, although Athena was added much later than that so I've only seen her once, as an adult. Daniel has taken his family there for photo ops and it does make an impressive backdrop.
DeleteI can just picture you whisking around your lovely home there in Crete, adding Christmas touches while singing along to your favorite Christmas music. Probably not many here know that you once sang publicly and not so long ago--and should still be doing that!
Happy singing to you, Poppy!
A nice story about your childhood and appreciating music, Dewena. I was surprised when you said you were 15 in these pictures, you looks older. I remember when my dad bought the stereo, and I would play records on it all the time. That's when my brother first introduced me to Neil Young. That's so nice that you passed the piano on to your granddaughters. To answer your question, I start listening to Christmas music as soon as they play it on the radio. It's the merriest time of year, and the music always brings smiles to my face. It must have been wonderful to see the Nativity scene as a child and listen to the Christmas carols.
ReplyDeleteA Merry Christmas season to you, Dewena.
~Sheri
Thank you, Sheri, and thank you for telling me about when you begin listening to Christmas music. It does tend to take us back in time and make us very nostalgic, and it certainly does when I listen. Merry Christmas to you, dear Sheri!
DeleteI just left a message on your previous post, but it probably didn't go through, as I wasn't signed in. I am also saying a prayer for you and your husband and your health issues, Dewena. You have been going through a lot lately. ; ) Take care.
Delete~Sheri
Sheri, it did go through but as anonymous. Strange, but I used your name in replying to it. You are so sweet to let me know and I appreciate the comment so much! Thank you!
DeleteMy mom sang on Broadway, so music was always playing in our house. During Christmas we listened to Mitch Miller, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole...the music I still gravitate to...and we also have a piano that was from my grandparents' house. It's a 1929 Cable Nelson player piano. I love the music and the history.
ReplyDeleteKim, I just learned another thing about your beautiful mother! That's fascinating! And that music is still the music I listen to, among many other oldies as well as some of my favorite old country music stars. Actually almost any Christmas music is my kind except I do get a little tired of Little Drummer Boy.
DeleteHi Dewena, I hopped over from Debbi's Front Porch and I enjoyed this post so much. Music was always very important in our family too and I have always loved it. Like you, I got rid of my rather large collection of LPs in 1989 when I purchased my first CD player, and I have regretted that for a LONG time. What was I thinking? I am no stripe of a hoarder but I do wish I'd had the prescience to realize those things' value. I was so into the SOUND coming out of our Sony speakers, of Mozart on a CD! And Tony Bennett! We saw Tony several times in person, once at Ravinia Festival in Chicago and once right here in Columbia. I never play CDs now. I had Spotify for many years but just recently gave it up. I would become frustrated trying to find a playlist that did not sound repetitive to me. We have Sirius XM in the car and I keep it on Siriusly Sinatra, and that makes me happy as we drive. At home, when I think of a song I want to hear, I go on YouTube and play it as many times as I need to. And that's for free! Your pictures -- of you, of the spinet -- are SO beautiful and what wonderful memories so eloquently remembered! We lived in East Tennessee for many years and loved to visit Nashville. That's where we saw Phantom of the Opera many years ago. My TG goes every spring for a golf tournament with his buddies at The Hermitage golf club -- the one with the Scottish Blackface sheep roaming the course! Anyway we are firmly old-school in just about every area. TG often tells me, we are dinosaurs, sweetheart! But we're good with it. Merry Christmas to you and yours, Dewena, and Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Jenny! How nice of you to visit here from Debbi's. I enjoyed reading your comment and learning how you get your Christmas music. I'm also a frequent listener to a particular piece of music on YouTube as well as following my favorite channels there. Tell TG we're very familiar with the Hermitage golf club, not for golf but for so many weddings. I'm sure you saw Phantom of the Opera at TPAC in Nashville, many happy memories there although now I'm afraid I watch entertainment from the comfort of home.
DeleteTo two dinosaurs from two more, Merry Christmas from RH and me!
I've been to Nashville twice - both times for work - so have seen your Parthenon, although only in the summer. I also remember being taken to see the department store decorations in downtown Boston. A friend has written about all the bygone traditions in Boston, https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Traditions-Boston-Anthony-Sammarco/dp/1635000572
ReplyDeleteHope your Christmas is merry and bright!
I'm intrigued by the history of the nativity scene at the Parthenon. How fascinating! Merry Christmas wishes to you and yours!
ReplyDelete