This well-known winter season song has probably been sung during every Christmas season of my life, except for my first two Christmases, which I don't remember. It is an Irving Berlin song from 1942, made tremendously popular in the 1940s by the singing of Bing Crosby. It is a beautiful song, not so much as a Christmas song, but as a song that envisions a beautiful setting for the celebration of Christmas.
Nostalgia has always been a powerful and emotional feeling in human experience. "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" draws on that nostalgic feeling of yearning to feel again the delight, the well-being, and satisfaction that are remembered from previous special times. The feeling is particularly compelling when one's own personal circumstances are markedly different from what one hopes for and longs for. When Bing Crosby introduced the song, he spoke of scenes and feelings in stark contrast to the swaying palm trees of Beverly Hills, pleasant though they are in their own way. The song leads one into feelings of the special beauties and fascinations of a Christmas season up North, where the snows dress the world in white, the tree-tops glisten, and sleigh bells ring to the delight of children of all ages. The song, as we say,"really caught on" during the early and mid-1940s.
It is interesting to me that this Christmas song became so popular in the middle of World War II. So many families had soldier boys, as we sometimes called them, engaged in battles on the other side of the oceans and far from home; and even families at home were going through changes as people moved from their old generational homes to take jobs in aircraft manufacturing plants or building trucks and jeeps and tanks or producing other war materials. Seasons like Christmas in those days evoked strong longings for a sense of home, stirred yearnings to see beautiful and familiar scenes again, and aroused anticipations of rekindling joyful times shared with loved ones as in the years before.
From time to time, I remind myself that Christmas is greater than the settings in which it is celebrated, and that white Christmases and winter wonderlands are not the essence of the joy of the Christmas message. Some people live in parts of the world where they never see a New England type snow, which we in the U.S. sometimes idealize as a wonderful time and setting in which to celebrate Christmas. I'm sure that it is possible to celebrate Christmas in many different climates, with many different kinds of decorations and songs and events.
At the same time, I genuinely delight in songs like Bing Crosby's "I'mDreaming of a White Christmas" or Nat King Cole's "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire." I see them as great ingredients in our recipe of Christmas traditions. When the world's situation is dark and bleak, it is good to have not only the reminders of divine love and hope for peace on earth, but also thoughts of more pleasant scenes which will one day replace the darkness of the present. Some of our seasonal songs can be something like parables, reminding us that wintertime is not just cold and windy and dark, but that it has its beauties and fascinations, and its own peculiar delights. Sometimes we need more than additional analyses of the troubles around us. We need music and lyrics that can open our eyes to see hope and goodness as those appear before us and around us.
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, can be contacted by email at [email protected], or call 621-1621. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 12/20/2017