Yep. I know what you're thinking. I'm "that person" that celebrates major holidays prematurely and unnecessarily pushes my Christmas spirit onto the people around me. And to be fair, I can totally understand why you think that. But you're wrong, so wrong in fact that the subject of Christmas in itself has nothing to do with why I listen to the music of that particular season. Think about this for a second: Have you ever had a memory or group of memories that were linked with a particular sound, sight, smell, season or reoccurring event? Chances are, you have probably had many of these memories.
When I was 17, I lost my father very unexpectedly to congenital heart disease. As you can imagine it was a huge hit for our family. It shook the very foundation we stood on and our faith was tested in every way possible. If it weren't for my Mom stepping up and being both Mom and Dad, my family probably would have disintegrated. My Dad's most favorite moments in his life were centered around vacation, holidays, lake weekends and the famous "Friday night grill-outs" featuring our very own "Redneck Riviera." But out of all of those fun things, Christmas had to be one of the best times of the year for our family. I mean, we went ALL OUT. We got a real Christmas tree, decorated inside and outside the house, made count-down chains out of red and green construction paper, made cookies, went to the Simpsonville Christmas parade, and even "mailed" letters to Santa.
No person other than Santa Claus himself was as jolly as Paul Roberts. I remember he used to write my sister and I letters "from Santa" and place them next to our stockings on Christmas morning. He was always the first to say, "Oooh look Courtney, look what Santa brought you!" He always said that his favorite times were the times spent with his three girls. As I mentioned earlier, memories are often linked to sights, smells and sounds. And for me, Christmas music does not bring me any Christmas joy at all, it brings me something better. It brings me overall joy and happiness. It brings me comfort and reminds me of the love a parent has for their child. It brings me peace.
