I load the CD, push track 9, and wait for Andy to sing the familiar words: "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire; Jack Frost nipping at your nose . . . ." Never mind that I have never tasted a chestnut nor do I really want to. The lyrics warm my heart more than any roasted nut of any kind ever could. This album and most especially this song touch me because this album belonged to my mother when I was a young woman. I don't know who bought the actual record album nor how I came to have it, but each year this album which I now listen to on CD or on my iPhone brings sweet memories of my mother. Moreover, I place a tiny wooden snowman on the Christmas tree and remember it on our tree years ago. I display a funny-looking inexpensive ceramic Santa Claus because I know it came from my childhood.
The Christmas Song, otherwise known as Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire, is most assuredly one of the first songs I listen to at the beginning of the season and always the last. All my children don't quite understand yet. There goes Mom getting teary-eyed over Andy Williams just as I do when Mannheim Steamroller starts to play. I recall all the times my children piled into the car or van (from small cars, then minivans to an 8-passenger hunter's green Ford Club Wagon to the 12-passenger one the same color known as the HUTCH BUS as our family grew) to go and see Christmas lights with this music ringing in our ears. Music brings the past to the present for ages "1 to 92" as Andy sings and brings those who have already gone home to heaven closer for a little while.
Merry Christmas Momma!
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