Yay, A Thanksgiving Song!!

It seems every year after Halloween, the Christmas season is thrust on us, by-passing Thanksgiving altogether.

Did you know there is a Thanksgiving song? That’s right, “Jingle Bells” wasn’t intended to be a Christmas holiday song,
much less a Yuletide classic. In fact, the song doesn’t even mention Christmas or any other holiday for that matter.

Written in the 1850’s by James Lord Pierpont, the song made its debut in Medford, Massachusetts.
Pierpont was a native of the town and wanted to write something to commemorate the town’s annual sleigh races
usually held around Thanksgiving. During the next several years, the tune was used in Thanksgiving services
and was originally titled “One Horse Open Sleigh.” The song title was change to “Jingle Bells” after the main and
most familiar line mentions it multiple times. The “jingle” in “Jingle Bells,”
refers to the bells on Bobtail’s harness to help avoid collisions.

It’s not clear how the song found its way into the holiday season, but numerous artists have covered
it such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton, Pentatonix,  Lauren Daigle and even The Beatles.
Also, in 1965 during NASA’s Gemini 6 space flight, the song was the first song ever broadcast from space!
Pierpont died in 1893 and before the song became so popularized
during the holiday season in the early twentieth century.

So, as you gather for Thanksgiving next week, it’s okay to sing “Jingle Bells.”
You won’t be rushing the Christmas season, it’s a Thanksgiving song!

Thankful,

Kurt