When Ruthie and I first got married, we had to create our own Christmas season traditions. In my family, we usually set up the Christmas tree on the first Sunday of Advent, and the tree would stay up (mom or dad faithfully watering it everyday) until the feast of the Epiphany. In Ruth’s family, much more traditional, her dad and/or brothers would cut down one of the trees on the farm, and set up the tree on Christmas Eve. Since we got married on December 27th, our first Christmas together was almost a year after we got married. By that time, Andy was born and we were in a little town that time forgot on the southwestern Minnesota prairie called Jeffers. We waited until it was almost Christmas to buy our first tree. By that time, most tree lots were empty and what we got resembled the tree on the Charlie Brown Christmas special, with a good portion of the needles falling off the tree as we dragged it into the house we were renting. From that time forward, we decided to create our own Christmas tradition, with the Christmas tree and decorations being put up on Gaudete Sunday, Rejoice Sunday, in the Catholic liturgical calendar. We usually had a little Christmas decoration party as we put the lights on the tree, and decorated the house.
LATER TRADITIONS
Because I was the director of liturgy and music for Catholic parishes, much of my time, with planning beginning in July and August, and rehearsals beginning in September, during Advent was preparing for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. By this time, I became a member of Minnesota Public Radio (when there was only the Classical Station). I use to get a magazine called “Minnesota Monthly” which would publish all the programming that the stations would air. Because we were so poor, I could not afford to buy albums of music I loved, but I could buy a lot of blank cassette tapes which I could record music on the air. Especially at this time, Minnesota Public Radio would air a number of Christmas concerts. I would try as best as I could to record those concerts on cassette tapes so I could listen to them when I was not busy with rehearsals. Alas, many of those concerts would air while I was busy conducting rehearsals and I would have to rely on my kids (Ruthie was working nights as an RN so she was usually trying to catch 2 or 3 hours of sleep before she had to leave for work) to press the record button on the boom box to record the concerts. That was hit and miss at best. Sometimes, I was able to rerecord the concerts if they were aired on a Saturday afternoon.
One of the concerts I looked forward to every year was the Christmas concert put on by the Dale Warland Singers. This choir was exquisite! I think over the years, I was only able to record two full concerts … much to my chagrin. Later, they released a lot of their music on CDs, and I would buy them as soon as they would be released. The other concert/liturgy to which I looked forward was the Christmas Eve broadcast of the Kings Choir doing Advent lessons and carols, with a Christmas address by Queen Elizabeth. Of course, I rarely heard this on Christmas Eve because I was up to my neck in Christmas Eve Masses and generally wouldn’t get home until 1:30/2am Christmas Day (only to get up at 6 am to get ready to leave for the first Christmas Day Mass). MPR would replay the lessons and carols usually in the afternoon on Christmas Day and then I would record and listen to it.
TODAY
Sadly, by the time I retired in 2019, Dale Warland retired and the choir disbanded, so there were no longer any of their concerts on air. I would like to say that I listened to the lessons and carols last year, but I had Covid and was awaiting surgery on my broken right foot … so I was not quite in the Christmas spirit. I have accumulated either by CD or downloaded from online much of the music I use to look forward to from 1977 to the present. I have created on my two tablets all this Christmas music to play and listen to from this Sunday through Epiphany.
I began listening this afternoon. Mind you, there is none of the commercial Christmas garbage that has been inundating most commercial retail outlets since the day after Halloween. There will be no chestnuts roasting on anything, and as far as “my momma kissing Santa Claus”, hell no! These are Advent and Christmas carols that have been around long before all the commercial Christmas jingles and Frosty the Snowman specials. These carols have a way of creating an aural space of contemplation and joy, and stir the human soul in an incredible way.
May these remaining weeks of Advent be one of contemplative joy leading to Christmas for you!
