What memories does the Christmas season bring to mind? The childhood glee of discovering what Santa brought on Christmas morning? Holiday light displays? The joy of giving anonymously through a dollar dropped in a red kettle or fulfilling an Angel Tree wish?
For me, Christmastime is synonymous with music. I come from a long line of musicians – some, like my dad, professional; others just really good shower singers. I love all of the season’s sounds: big brass fanfares introducing choirs singing in six-part harmony; traditional carols; Bing Crosby crooning “White Christmas”; even the unlikely pairing of Dolly Parton and Michael Buble on her “A Holly Dolly Christmas” album.
Some of my favorite holiday memories include caroling with college friends at homes of our professors or with Sunday school classes in nursing home hallways. From the time I was on a vocal scholarship to UTC in the 1970s on into the 1980s, I was often contracted to be the mezzo-soprano soloist in Handel’s “Messiah.” To this day, the oratorio’s majestic choruses can still move me to tears. But then, so too will a candlelight chorus of “Silent Night” at First Cumberland Presbyterian’s midnight Christmas Eve service, with everyone holding their flickering candles up in the darkened sanctuary like hundreds of shining stars.
The holidays may look a little different for all of us this year. No big family dinners. No Singing Christmas Tree, a decades-old community tradition hosted by the Chattanooga Boys Choir. No large holiday performances of any kind, really. But memories of seasons past will still warm hearts as we share this one virtually with loved ones.
We asked Chattanoogans to recount their favorite holiday memories and more than 170 results poured in. Here, we share a selection of those memories, some personal and some hallmark city traditions – and, hopefully, a reminder of the joy this season holds, which will always live truly in our hearts.