She Put the Music in Me

On my way home from driving Jeremy to work this morning, I turned the radio to FM 100 because I know they play "soft Sunday sounds."  I heard a song that touched me so much, that I had to look it up on YouTube as soon as I got home.

The words of this song could have been written for me, in fact I wish that I had written it.  Then as I watched the video, I just started to cry.  I realized this young woman just lost her mother last year to cancer and wrote this song as a tribute to her.  I could make a video very much like this, and the tears flow as I think of the videos and pictures I see in my mind from my childhood of my Mom singing, teaching me and my sisters to sing, singing to and with children all through her life - very much like this:

Then I realized that tomorrow is the anniversary of Mom's birthday.  I am so thankful that Mom taught me all the songs this song refers to and a multitude more.  She gave me music, she taught me to sing, she gave me the confidence to learn and perform.  She gave me the joy that music has brought and continues to bring into my world.

I miss her.

My Favorite Version of Jingle Bells

Christmas music is the best!  I love it in all it's varieties.  I have loved singing Christmas songs and carols with my family, school choirs and church choirs.  I have enjoyed putting together Christmas programs and choosing Christmas music for my ward choir when I was the director.  I even "transcribed" a piece of music that we could not find the music for anywhere.  It was an arduous task of listening to the music bit by bit and writing down the notes that I heard for all four parts.  When I was able to actually sing that piece of music with my sisters, it was my favorite Christmas moment of all.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Jingle Bells."  There are so many versions of Jingle Bells, once I put together my own mix (on cassette tape) of about 10 different tracks of just Jingle Bells.  My favorite version was one by Bing and his son Gary Crosby from my LP (that's a long playing vinyl record) "Happy Holidays with Frank and Bing," called "Jingle Bells in Swing."  Check it out!