Ho, Ho, Hello!
So, here is a story for a Christmas favorite. The song Jingle Bells has an interesting history.
Jingle Bells was not written to be a Christmas song! James Pierpont was the son of a Medford, Massachusetts pastor. He was very talented in music, and as an adult, helped his father in the church by working with the choir and musicians. It was before Thanksgiving around the year 1840 that James was given the assignment to write special music for the Thanksgiving worship service. As he worked on the song sitting at 87 Mystic Street, he looked out his window and saw young men sledding down a hill. He went out to watch and it reminded him of times that he had raced with sleds and horse-drawn sleighs. Returning home, the melody for the song came to him as he sat by the fire. There was only one piano in the town owned by Mrs. Waterman. James quickly walked through the snow to her house and composed the song and melody with memories of sleighing on his mind. He titled the song "One Horse Open Sleigh". He then taught it to the choir and it was sang on Thanksgiving. People liked it so much that the choir was ask to sing it again on Christmas Eve. Visitors at that service took the song home and shared it as a Christmas song. In 1857, James published the song and over the next 20 years it became one of the most popular Christmas carol in America!
Now you know the story of the Thanksgiving song that became one of the most well known and maybe the first Christmas song that many children learn.
Betty tells me that the workshop is busy and Mrs. Claus is baking some fresh gingerbread cookies, so I am off to check on both! Till next time...
Santa