Saturday, December 16, 2023:
Holiday Music!
Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully, including my struggles to maintain a balanced life, what I listen to, read, and watch for entertainment, and occasional bits of information I’ve gleaned from doing the research for my novels.
Daily Diary, Day 1201:
Yesterday I spoke with a friend who was grading, and this brought up how important holiday music was in the past in helping get through that process at the end of every fall semester, when I had hundreds of exams and papers to grade in a short period.
Because I am a rather sentimental person. even if I am no longer someone who belongs to a particular religion that celebrates Christmas, I can get very nostalgic for all the trappings of the holiday that I experienced growing up (freshly cut evergreen tree that was over decorated, a large creche and presents under the tree, a wreath on the door, the outside of house trimmed with colored lights, and even occasionally, snow) including the music of the season.
As a result, how I got through that week of grading each year was to get a tree and decorate it before I started grading so I would have it to look at (and smell). Then my husband would make yummy Christmas cookies that I would have as a snack when I had graded a certain number of exams, and finally I would listen to Christmas music the whole time I was grading.
My poor husband is not as sentimental—or at the very least does not have quite the positive memories I have of Christmas as a child—and his taste in music is fairly sophisticated (heavy on Jazz and classical). Consequently, Christmas music--no matter how well done--would never be his first choice to listen to…ever. But not only did he indulge me in this behavior every year, he searched out and bought me Christmas albums to add to my collection each year. By retirement, I had over 30 albums that ranged from classics sung by Bing Crosby and Nate King Cole, to a punk rock album.
I thought I would continue my recommendations from yesterday’s post and suggest you might try out these albums that are among my favorites: The Bells of Dublin by the Chieftains, We Three Kings by the Roches, Noel by Joan Baez, A Merry Little Christmas by Linda Ronstadt, and One More Drifter in the Snow by Aimee Mann.
We no longer put up a tree, I can’t eat the Christmas cookies, and I certainly can’t look forward to snow here in San Diego, but I can listen to my Christmas albums.
Do you have a favorite winter holiday song or album?
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I love the colored lights....so when I quit trying to put up a little tree with lights strung around----because I have a wire eating cat and possibly more of them now (6 adults, 6 pre-teen kittens). I finally found a "Christmas Arch"! It is basically a Garden Arch with Colored lights on it. I put it out just in front of the front steps (closest to the outdoor plug)! I put it up Dec 1, and will take it down Jan 1. Timer runs it for 6-8 hours. Have been doing that for probably 10-15 years (i.e. I can't remember when I started). I can see them through the front door prismed windows (makes the lights sparkly!) and if I am close to the right side of the bed, through my front bedroom window!