History of Our Favorite Christmas Carols!
Susan Savia, local musician and entertainer, presented a beautiful program for the residents of Brightmore this week. She started her program singing “Christmas Time is Here,” which is a Victorian Christmas Carol from the 1800’s. The Victorian Era is where the majority of our favorite Christmas Carols come from. Through the years, these songs have been recomposed in to English versions that we are all used to hearing during the holiday season. In the 1800’s, at Christmas, families would Parlor Sing around a piano or organ and then go out to carol which was known then as Waits-traveling from house to house singing for others in exchange for food (Also where “Bring me some Figgie Pudding originated. Families would carol and not leave until Figgie Pudding was brought out to them). Susan’s beautiful voice definitely brought the Christmas Spirit to us as we sang together many of our favorites including 1st Noel, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Deck the Halls, Joy to the World, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, Over the River and through the Woods, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, Silver Bells, Silent Night, We Wish You a Merry Little Christmas and Jingle Bells. One last fun fact she presented was that Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer was written in 1939 for the Montgomery Ward Store to accompany a children’s book they had written about a reindeer. Merry Christmas!