Saturday’s Sonic Festoonery
I am drinking from my “Reindeer Feed” mug. The holiday mugs are out and I am enjoying the whimsey that comes with the season.
Though there are many opinions out there, I for one do not mind the Santa Claus/Kris Kringle story that goes along with the stories of the historical St. Nicholas…or the Nativity story of Jesus. In fact, I rather enjoy them. I especially enjoy the variety of origin tales out there. From “The Night Before Christmas” to “The Christmas Chronicles,” HAve you watched “Klaus”? Delightful! I find the magic of the season compelling and sweet. Their playfulness is a helpful counterpoint to the more serious Advent and Nativity stories.
It would not be wrong to say that in some way, I believe in them all. They each have something to preserve and teach. This is a time of year when belief is a ready friend. I cannot always say that, but Advent and Christmas are special somehow.
Maybe it’s the music. All the stories are so readily sung. Festoonery is not simply visual during the holidays.
I own Bing Crosby’s entire holiday opus. Burle Ives is also prominent. Then there are the more religious selections like Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” and recordings of Lessons and Carols services abound. Various volumes of Oxford’s “Carols for Choirs” feature prominently on my bookshelf. And I have countless Christmas albums from popular artists like Sarah McLoughlin or Annie Lennox to this season’s Milk Carton Kids and Windborne. I confess that I don’t own Pentatonix’s Christmas albums which surprises even me. I love a cappella singing and Pentatonix is fantastic. But their music is so popular during the holidays that one only need to find that Christmas Station on the radio to hear them.
I remember being a child and loving to sing Christmas carols. We weren’t churchy folks, but I loved it when people would be caroling on the streets near the marketplaces. When I finally was able to do the same, I was elated. In fact, I once was part of an a cappella group in the 90s and we sang at Knott’s Berry Farm for weeks. Here’s photographic evidence.
Don’t judge me. I’m in the back on the left.
Today, we will set up the Christmas tree and festoon the house with our decorations. The John Waters Christmas album will likely make an appearance. There are all manner of sonic symbols that make themselves available this time of year. Each brings with it various meanings, stories, and memories with the promise of more. There’s a semiotic snowballing that occurs with music that I especially appreciate this time of year.
What are your favorite holiday songs or albums? Let me know.
Be excellent to each other.
My favorite Christmas album, especially while decking the halls, is Clare College’s “The Holly and the Ivy,” but really it’s the cassette recording (!) of the children’s choir my little sister was in at our church, singing many of the selections from that album. One piece on the tape is by the church handbell choir, and there’s a spot where someone misses their note in a very obvious way. Every year, the whole family freezes in whatever house-decorating position they’re in, for the space of that missed note, then continues decorating.