December 12, 2022 – Theme Week Day 1

Today we’re kicking off a theme week on Christmas songs! Our first Christmas song is “Jingle Bells”, which was actually written as a Thanksgiving song! It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published in 1857, and originally had no connection to Christmas. A plaque in the Boston suburb of Medford, Massachusetts claims the song was written there in what was the Simpson Tavern. Inspired by Medford’s sleigh races, he wrote the song because he wanted something to play on Thanksgiving for his Sunday school class. The song became one of the most performed holiday songs ever written. From 1890 to 1954, it was actually in the top 25 of the most recorded songs in history. “Jingle Bells” was also the first song ever broadcast from space in December of 1965. Learn more here.