Creating Vintage Christmas Music

Esther:
To my husband and anyone else who doesn't listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving.

My humblest apologies!

But I've discovered vintage record players. Vinyl albums. Phonographs. I'm not sure what people are calling them these days, so someone feel free to correct me.
A few years ago my sister got me this portable record player for Christmas.


I googled the model and got only one hit (I didn't even know that was possible). It was a tutorial on how to turn my record player into an amp. Cool, but not helpful in determining how to work the thing or any clue to how old it is. Based on pictures I can find, I think this is a 1960's version of a portable cd player, but don't quote me on that.

Meanwhile, I'm making all sorts of revolutionary discoveries.

Some people need to touch, feel, see and smell music. They're sensory people. The "S" in the myers briggs. Old record albums just smell like Christmas. Jamie won't touch an ipod, but he figured out how to run this record player while his mom was madly trolling the internet for instructions. There's just something magical about watching the turntable spin around, putting the needle down with a delicate touch, and watching music spring forth.



It just sounds more Christmassy. Think about it, phonographs were the common means of listening to music from the late 1800's to the early 1980's. That's a really long time. It covers everything from Queen Victoria to It's a Wonderful Life. No wonder it sounds more like Christmas than my pandora station. It's only what defined Christmas music for our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.



It's gloriously imperfect and I can't take it everywhere.
And I'm not dissing my Ipod...truly. I love having music everywhere I go. But sometimes it's nice to have something to look forward to. We were at the dentist this morning and Jamie told the dentist we were going to go home and eat candy and listen to music (thanks Jamie). I can't remember the last time I thought of music as an activity I'd look forward to. Normally it's something that follows me around in addition to whatever else I'm doing. I like coming home and fighting over which album to play. I love counting grooves with Jamie and watching him delicately put the needle down on the song of his choice. I love dancing around the living room to a scratchy and imperfect rendition of Bing Cosby's "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas".



It's a delightful and easy way to infuse a little nostalgia in your holiday season. I regularly see record players in thrift stores for under $10 and I'm pretty sure every thrift store in the country has stacks and stacks of old records. Remember, there's almost a century worth of records people have collected. No wonder the stacks are so high. I bought all mine for 99 cents each, and I didn't even put a dent into the Christmas music section. I'm sure if you're a connoisseur like Jess M, then there is probably a lot of crap mixed in there, but I'm just now dipping my toes into vintage albums, so traditional Christmas carols work fine for us. :-)

Off to turn the record over...


4 sprinkles of fairy dust:

Brack's had a turntable for ages, but hasn't been able to listen to records without headphones since he sold his speaker system around the time we got married.

But last time we were in Lubbock his mamaw decided she didn't want her old record player/reciever/speaker system anymore (she was gonna throw them away!!)...so Brack brought it all home and as soon as we get it set up, we are gonna be able to listen to records again!!


I love listening my Christmas records! So much better then cds!=)


My absolute favorite Christmas gift of all time was my first "stereo" record player. It was in a box literally under the Christmas tree. My folks got an unusually short tree that year, and put it on a box covered with a large "tree skirt". After all gifts were opened, I was surprised by my daddy lifting up the small tree & telling me to check out the box. Oh, how I loved it - my stereo was red & white, and had an automatic arm. Why oh why did I ever get rid of it? I still have most of my 45rpms - including I Wanna Hold Your Hand, House of the Rising Sun, Ricky Nelson stuff & Elvis...singing Christmas songs!


I hope I'm not the "Jess M" connoisseur you're talking about, although I'll gladly pretend I am! I love records, but compared to my coworkers, I know practically nothing. lol.

Enjoy the record player! Although I'm not a fan of Christmas music, I guess I should go out and buy some cheery holiday records anyway. =)