Amazing Christmas Memories for World War II Veterans
What makes for an amazing Christmas present for folks of “The Greatest Generation?”
For these wonderful grandparents, parents, and friends who bequeathed to us the Baby Boomer era, maybe an amazing gift is simply one that brings about a ready smile and a moist gleam in the eye. Maybe it is one that rekindles memories of their Christmas Past and comes wrapped with nostalgic pictures and favorite holiday sounds. (Think Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Scribner’s, The Saturday Evening Post, or Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Gene Autry and you get the picture.)
Maybe, just maybe, an amazing gift is one that stirs the emotional impulse of elderly veterans to reach out and tightly hug children and grandchildren.
Despite such a tender display, forever etched as a priceless moment in time, it may not mask the betrayal of strength that once allowed World War II veterans to wend their way through the years. With the dwindling of time, moreover, these cherished moments may become more rare, or lamented as lost opportunities, and even more so with the passing of 450 World War II veterans each day.
Today, the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, presents an opportunity to show your appreciation for our World War II veterans. If you are searching for an amazing Christmas present for your veteran loved ones, look no further. American Christmas Classics, a richly illustrated 2-in-1 Christmas music gift box collection, was dedicated to “The Greatest Generation” which gave so much and asked so little.
With YOUR PURCHASE of the amazing American Christmas Classics, or Best-Loved Christmas Carols, Ron Clancy and Christmas Classics Ltd. WILL MATCH IT BY DONATING our best-selling box sets to World War II veterans and military organizations that support them. Both are available here at www.christmasclassics.com
A Special Christmas Music Gift
We all love to get into the Christmas season and set the right mood for love and merry making. This is also the right time to look for special gifts and send them to our loved ones just to let them know how much they mean to us. Just as we are reminded by the timeless hit of the Little Drummer Boy, no gift will ever be ideal for Christmas than the gift of a real Christmas classic. But unfortunately, it is a little bit of a task to locate and find such gifts and send them out during Christmas.
American Christmas Classics – FREE SHIPPING until Christmas using Code CHR2015!
Despite the fact that it is not easy to find the perfect gift to send out during Christmas, there is not a total blockade to prevent you from thinking out of the box. It is still possible to come up with a nice sweet collection of American Christmas classics and wrap them into a gift box that will be much appreciated, especially by those folks from the Baby Boomer era. Fortunately, with a little searching, there are several places where you can find such gift collections. One such place is Christmas Classic Ltd. It produces exquisite Christmas music collections that will make perfect Christmas gifts at any time. To boot, American Christmas Classics is available at $29.95 . . . a 50% Discount from the original price of $59.95!
Included in the American Christmas Classics collection are 47 all-time favorite classic Christmas songs featuring music legends Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, Andy Williams, Gene Autry and other celebrated singers. But the collection is not only about music.
This cultural treasure includes a lavishly illustrated masterpiece book about the stories behind favorite American Christmas carols and songs featuring period fine art and illustrations from America’s great artists, such as Norman Rockwell, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and Grandma Moses, as well as images of nostalgic Victorian Christmas cards and notable magazines of yesteryear as The Saturday Evening Post, Scribner’s, and LIFE.
This Christmas collection has been described as a sumptuous and ideal gift package that will bring boundless joy this season. For customers nostalgic for their Christmas past, this is the perfect Christmas gift.
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AMERICAN CHRISTMAS CLASSICS
Christmas Classics PERSON OF THE DAY: Mel Tormé
On this day in 1925, Melvin Howard Torma, better known as Mel Tormé, was born in Chicago to a Russian Jewish family. He was an accomplished and well-liked jazz composer, scat singer, author, and actor for television and movies. In Christmas music circles he is best known as co-author, along with Robert Wells, of The Christmas Song (a.k.a. Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).
During the World War II years Tormé moved to California, enlisted in the Army, and started his own quintet Mel Tormé & the Mel-Tones. B y 1947 he decided to strike out on his own and then went on to develop a reputation as a cool jazz singer. He did not disappoint in 1948 with Careless Arms, a number one hit. In all “The Velvet Fog” a sobriquet Tormé detested, is credited with 250 songs and the arranger for a host of songs he sang for several recording companies, including Decca and Capitol Records. For a time in the 1960s he was the principal song writer and music arranger for The Judy Garland Show and by the 1970s with the resurgence of jazz singing his career was revitalized and from that time forward he remained a presence in the jazz world until his death.
How Tormé became associated with one of the most popular Christmas songs for the past seven decades is one for the books. During a terrific heat wave besieging Los Angeles in July of 1945, the songwriter Robert Wells sat at his piano and tried to find solace from the heat by jotting down several lines of lyrics with wintry themes. “It was so damn hot, I thought I’d write something to cool myself off,” he once said. “All I could think of was Christmas and cold weather.” While in this mood, his good friend Mel Tormé paid a visit. When Tormé noticed the notes Wells had put to paper, he suggested to him that they just might have the beginnings of a Christmas song.
Within twenty or forty-five minutes, depending upon who’s telling the story, the two songsters produced The Christmas Song. Tormé then went to the home of Nat King Cole and convinced him to record the song, and in the Spring of 1946 Nat went into a New York recording studio with a simple piano version of the song. The initial results weren’t satisfactory, and at the urging of his wife Maria and manager, the mellifluous singer responded with a more highly regarded version with strings and full orchestra. It was Cole’s exquisite recording that popularized the song, and over the years The Christmas Song has consistently ranked as one of America’s seasonal favorites.
Considered an historic recording, the song was honored in 1999, as was Tormé himself for life time achievement, by being inducted by the Grammy Awards organization into its Hall of Fame.
The Christmas Song has truly stood the test of time. This is quite understandable because it was written during an age when composers like Tormé produced music marked by grace and charm. In retrospect it is easily understood why his passing was mourned by many, especially by those nostalgic for such memorable musings from “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” . . . to . . . “And so I’m offering this simple phrase, To kids from one to ninety-two; Although it’s been said many times, many ways, “Merry Christmas to you.”
Mel Tormé
