Music Adds to the Holiday Spirit

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. Time-wise it comes right after my favorite holiday Thanksgiving. With Christmas, the magic of the holiday comes for me, out of the amazing love story that is the basis of my worldview of Christianity. Other world religions main themes focus on people, striving after trying to reach God. With Christianity the theme is God reaching down to us humans by sending his Son, Jesus to sacrifice his life for us. The church we have been attending has had a message series, The Gift, and Jesus if the gift to us.

Along with the message of the story of Christmas the music adds to the Holiday Season. Music has always been important to my life and in the past years many of my blog posts focus in on music. So far this season there has been two standout musical experiences.

One Saturday in November my wife and I enjoyed morning coffee at a small town coffee shop in Seguin. While we were enjoying our coffee and scones an elderly gentleman came over to us and began to tell us of the upcoming Mid-Texas Symphony concert coming soon in December. He told us not to miss it. So along came December 15th and we went to the University Hall in Seguin. It was an uplifting concert. The concert began with The Christmas Festival by Anderson and ended with the popular Sleigh Ride by Anderson. Hearing those tunes reminded me of playing in my high school band in Barberton, Ohio playing those same songs at the Christmas concert back years ago. The symphony also played selections from the Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. That brought back memories of seeing the Nutcracker ballet back when I lived in Chicago. Music is powerful in bringing back memories.

The following week I was looking on television for any Christmas specials and TBN was showing a Christmas special by Keith & Kristyn Getty. I had never heard of them before but I am glad we watched the special. They are from Ireland and the band that was with them played the Christmas carols with an Irish flair. Here is an example of their performing Joy Has Dawned/Angels We Have Heard On High (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibe5zRch8bU ). The performances made us wish we were live at the concert. It seems like they tour the US each Christmas season so we will look them up next year to go hear them.

Be it at a live concert, at home watching a special or driving along listening to Christmas music the songs of Christmas add joy to our inner spirit during the Holidays. I have been too busy to bake much this year, but the one evening while baking some cookies I had Christmas music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra playing in the background. Listening to the music heightened the experience of Christmas baking for me.

During this Holiday Season add some music into your experience. You will note that it adds to a relaxation and inner joy. Music can also bring up pleasant memories from Holidays in the past.

Reflection: What is your favorite Christmas song? What has been your favorite musical experience this Holiday thus far? A community event? A school event? A church event?

Enjoy Small Towns at Christmastime

With a recent breakthrough on my PhD dissertation, I found myself with a desire to write again in my blog. After a stress-filled hiatus from writing here, I thought what topic do I write on? The topic came from a weekend getaway my wife and I did last week. We traveled for an overnight stay in Georgetown, Texas for their Christmas Stroll event. I have noticed here in Texas, many small towns have what they call the Christmas stroll where the downtown is decorated for Christmas and the townsfolk come out and enjoy the decorations and shop at the stores.

We arrived in Georgetown early on the Friday of the stroll and received a guided tour of the town library. The lady who gave us the tour, Teresa, is the person a month prior on another visit told us we had to come see the Georgetown square and the Christmas stroll was a must do experience. She is a volunteer at the Georgetown library and told us all about the National Medal for Museum and Library Service award the library won in 2018. She is probably their biggest cheerleader. Teresa exuded with passion for the library and for the city of Georgetown. The city has a beautiful library and I was glad to see all they are doing to promote reading to children and teens. The picture above this paragraph is a statue that someone had donated to the library.

Later that evening we enjoyed the Christmas stroll. The lights around the square were breathtaking. There was a festival atmosphere with a variety of booths with art and knick-knacks for sale. Of course there was a variety of foods available as well. A local church sponsored a Bethlehem section with displays set up and a live nativity scene that was captivating. A church member said they had done the Bethlehem scene at the Christmas stroll for about 13 years. It was a relaxing and enjoyable evening with just the right amount of chill in the air for a Texas Hill Country Wintry evening.

During the time on the town square we bumped into Teresa again so we strolled around together and she gave us insights into the history of the city. I later reflected to myself that if we had not met Teresa a month prior my wife and I would not be enjoying their beautiful town square event. I took this as a Godwink.

We stayed at the Olive Tree Inn there in Georgetown right across from Southwestern Texas University. It is a Bed & Breakfast of a rehabbed house that was built in the early 1900’s. The ladies that are the hostesses, Sandra and Eleanor, are so friendly and provide a gourmet home-style breakfast in the morning.

Sometimes with the stress of work and life you just need to get-away for even an overnight stay. I learned that during the holidays it adds joy to life to visit and experience small town America and join in with their holiday traditions.

Reflection: Is there a small town near you that you would enjoy to visit? Don’t put it off. Make time to go on a short enjoyable get-away.