Every year of my childhood I remember sitting by the Christmas tree after dinner almost every night, my dad would pull out all the albums, turn on the tree and turn out the lights and we would listen to all the sweet familiar tunes. My dad had a pretty large collection of Christmas albums, including a number of the Firestone and Goodyear collections. There were seven volumes produced by Firestone and many of them are on You Tube.
We actually owned Volumes 2, 3 and 4, or at least those are the ones that were handed down to me. If there were others, and I think there were, I'm not sure what happened to them.
There's just something about Christmas music that immediately makes me feel warm and loved and cozy. so many of my happiest memories are from the holidays of my childhood. That's why when I curated my own Christmas Playlist, most of the songs came from the albums my family listened to when I was growing up. They are more than just songs to me, they transport me back to little house in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas, surrounded by the people I loved most.
Even though I have a number of my dad's albums, a few of them are worn and don't play very well, so for years I would have to wait patiently for the local stations to start playing Christmas music, which was usually after Thanksgiving. But now, thanks to Spotify and Sirius XM, it's a lot easier. Sirius XM, in particular, has introduced me to a few songs that I wasn't familiar with that have now become some new favorites. So over the next several weeks, while sharing some favorite Christmas memories, I thought I'd also share the lyrics to a few of these songs and my thoughts on them.
To begin I just realized that this song doesn't mention a thing about Christmas, but it is part of the album A Perry Como Christmas, and the title of the song is Love In The Home. Here are the lyrics;
You can tell,
When you open the door!
You can tell,
If there's love in a home!
Every table and chair seems to smile,
Do come in, come and stay for a while.
You almost feel you've been there once before,
By the shine and glow of the room!
And the clock seems to chime,
Come again anytime,
You'll be welcome wherever you roam!
You can tell when there's love in a home!
It was apparently written for the 1956 Broadway Musical, 'Lil Abner and originally sung by Mario Lanza, you can listen to it here, but I much prefer Perry's rendition. So while this isn't REALLY a Christmas song, since it's on a Christmas album I'm claiming it, because I just love the sweet sentiments that the lyrics convey. I think every home feels a lot like this at Christmas, but it's a feeling that I genuinely strive for our home to evoke all year round. When I look at the picture of my dad above, I feel the love that was in their home that first Christmas. My dad was so proud of their home, especially in that first year. My dad worked hard to provide for our family, but its the memories I have of sitting with him around the Christmas tree that I love most. I miss him the most in this season.
If you have a favorite memory from the Christmases of your childhood or a favorite song, I'd love for you to share it in the comments!
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