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It's 6:30 on a Sunday evening. I'm in the kitchen washing dishes and listening to the radio. I tune in to the continent-wide John Tesh radio program. Before I know it, I have Bing Crosby serenading me with song...with a Christmas song?!
Last night I was cleaning up the kitchen after Shabbat and listening to the radio, expecting to hear an oldies-goldies radio program. Sure enough, it was oldie-goldie CHRISTMAS music playing for the hour or two that it was on.
People, it's NOVEMBER 20. The U.S. hasn't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet!!! What is with this Christmas music playing already...on the airwaves and over department store and shopping mall PA systems? Today Toronto had its annual Santa Claus parade. That is acceptable to me because the weather is still tolerable for families to face the outdoor elements while watching the progression of this big event (equivalent of the Macy's parade). But music?
Yes, call me Jewish. Call me an Orthodox Jew. But I still like certain ones of the Christmas songs, especially if they're sung by some classic singers. Some of the songs/singers have become great American standards already and are welcome on the airwaves. Some of the music is beautiful and the lyrics just keep you cozy.
I remember when I was a kid I'd watch the Andy Williams Christmas special, the King Family Christmas specials, the Peanuts Christmas specials, but I overlooked the trees and the religious facets of these specials to just get a sense of warmth and community from the songs being sung and the bells being rung.
I'm hoping that this year over the holiday season (which apparently, according to the music being played indicates that it's already the holiday season!) when I visit the nearby large shopping mall, which is in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, I might even hear over the PA as I shop, "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay..."
10 comments:
don't hold your breath waiting for Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel! I'm with you Pearl...this Jewish girl loves Christmas music too, ESPECIALLY sung by the classic singers...and...thanks for that jog down memory lane...I completely forgot about the King family (all those blondes!)
Huge Andy Williams fan here too...shhhh
lol
D
I love listening to "seasonal music". In fact I wish they would continue with playing them throughout the winter months, since many of them do not reference anything Christian or Christmas...just snow, sleighbells, and winter. I bought a christmas cd last year to listen to, but now with my daughter even more aware of the differences, it would be a big no no for me to played in her presence.
People with Nokia phones have the jingle bells ring tones without even realizing what it is, then again Kratzmer(christmas in Yiddish :) isn't as well known in the Jewish communities here as it is in the US.
One of the stations here has been playing christmas music 24/7 for three weeks.
I used to have a pretty high tolerance for christmas before I worked in an ad agency and we were focused on Christmas from Early July through Late november. Now I can't stand it.
We have a soft rock station here in Detroit that, come the BEGINNING OF NOVEMBER (yes, you read correctly - 3 weeks BEFORE Thanksgiving), starts playing "holiday" music. Not for a couple hours a night...for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That's right, folks.
Here in my neighborhood, the x-mas season begins about the Halloween time. Lights go up then, as well. Only Nordstrom's (upscale department store) adheres to the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving start of the "Holiday" season. My funniest x-mas story is arriving at Honolulu Airport in December, only to listen to the Musak blare,"I'm dreaming of a white x-mas." I suspect most of the tourists arriving in Hawaii are doing so to avoid the white part of x-mas!!!!!
Got you beat Helene, the department stores started to set up their Christmas displays in August! As for decorations in the strip mall parking lots, October.
I also have a weakness for X-mas music. The radio station here siad they can't wait to play the Adam Sandler chanukah song, but that since Chanukah was so late this year they couldn't start to play it for another 3 weeks!
I also love christmas music and I don't think there is anything wrong with it! the majority of it is just the season etc- not anything religious.
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