A Holiday Hit List – Lessons From Songs of the Season

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There are four more shopping days until Christmas, and especially if you live in the U.S., likely four more days you might be hearing a completely different sets of songs on the radio and in stores.? Let me share four songs of the season with lessons for all of us – whether we like the songs or even celebrate Christmas…

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Johnny Marks wrote it (he also wrote Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer), and Brenda Lee recorded it in 1958 when she was 13. By 1960, she was popular and the song became popular, too. While this is two years before I was born, I am confident how many people felt about it. While the kids into early rock n’ roll loved it, everyone else, well... not so much. Many felt that Christmas music spoke of the Christmas story – and even if it didn’t, it was sung by Frank, Bing, Nat, Perry, Andy, or Ella. A 15 year old talking about "rockin’ at the Christmas hop"?

Not so much.

I can hear it, “What is the world coming to?”

The song that many probably thought was trendy, frivolous, wasn’t really Christmas and that they didn’t care for, is now a timeless classic.

The final line of the chorus and the song has always struck me: “In the new, old-fashioned way.”

Here are two thoughts to consider as the song runs through your mind

• What was once new, is now old-fashioned, treasured, and traditional. Songs some people may have hated, became tolerated, then even beloved. I believe there will be things from these unusual past two years, that will become treasured and cherished just like the Brenda Lee classic.
• The paradox of the clever line: “New old-fashioned way.” Look at the traditions of your kidhood or from history.? Look too at the opportunities of today. The joy in the old and the promise of the new.? Finding that balance might be the key to your holiday and your leadership success.

Here's the song and the lyrics.

Silent Night

You don’t even have to be familiar with this classic Christmas hymn to appreciate my lesson here; the title is enough.? This time of year, with all of the extra activity of the holidays, a silent night might seem a faraway wish.?

And so maybe it won’t be this week or next week, but I hope you find time for a silent night. What I’m really saying is there is power in quiet – and in the modern world of devices and screens, we don’t tap into this power often enough.

You need time to stop. Time to reflect. Time to think. Time to dream.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by busy, you need a silent night.

If you are losing focus, you need a silent night.

Turn everything off.

Light a candle or a fire or turn on a soft light.

Just stop.

All you really need is silence, your beautiful brain, and maybe a journal.

Find time for a silence (whatever the time of day) and every part of your life will benefit.

White Christmas

The biggest selling single of all time (by a wide margin) is Bing Crosby’s version of this song.? The familiar chorus…

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

Just like the ones I used to know

Where the treetops glisten

And children listen

To hear sleigh bells in the snow,

I am dreaming that dream, for I love snow, and not just on Christmas. This year (and too many others) for me in Central Indiana, it will only be a dream.

But I do know that before the end of the week, I will have watched the movie White Christmas with my wife and daughter – singing the songs, and likely, with my daughter Kelsey repeating many of the lines.

I have bigger and more important dreams than that of snow on Christmas morning, but in this season, who is to really judge the bigger or better dreams?

What are your dreams? Are they as clear ad vivid as the line above?

Here’s Bing’s original of this song. And here is the song in the finale of the great movie White Christmas. (The ending dialogue NOT in English and if you haven’t seen the movie, it doesn’t give away too much!)

All I Want for Christmas is You

The #2 best-selling Christmas single ever (after Bing) is Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas is You.

You could ask yourself – what do you want for Christmas (and all of next year) for yourself, let me tell you, dear reader, what I want for you.

I really would like you…

… to commit to your leadership walk in 2022.

… to spread your vision for learning and improvement with others.

… to engage with us in ways that we could meaningfully help you, your team. and your organization.

While Mariah sings “I don’t want a lot for Christmas…," I am asking for a lot. I want you to commit, I want you to invest, and I want you to grow.

Those decisions are for you to make.? They don’t come with a bow or from someone.? But the good news is that with the right decisions you will receive gifts all year long.

Let Mariah sing it for you as you think about what you want for yourself and your leadership development in 2022.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday week – the links to the resources below will extend this article and support you in getting Remarkable Results.

You are Remarkable!

Kevin ??

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