‘Tis the season for holiday songs and this year I reached back to my childhood. My early memories of Christmas music are simple. A small black & white record player (speaker on the front), and two Christmas albums. Bing Crosby (not the “White Christmas” album), and Nat “King” Cole (not the “Christmas Song” album). Our two-LP catalog was more obscure, especially the Nat “King” Cole album which got FAR more play than Bing’s

In hindsight, I understand why. The album is long gone, but after some digging through cyberspace, I have found it. “The Magic of Christmas with Children” was released in 1967 (pictured above). It looks like it was a limited release, and available at Safeway stores. (We had a local Safeway store, and Nat “King” Cole was my dad’s favorite singer. It passes the logic test that it would have been purchased by my parents.) But it wasn’t ever widely available. And it WAS targeted for children. No wonder we loved it.

There are very few Christmas “standards” on the album, but ALL of them became standards for our family. My three siblings and I even wrote and performed Christmas shows using these songs. (This is how we entertained ourselves without video games and VCR’s.) In 1990, I finally found a Nat “King” Cole cassette with these beloved songs, although not the exact same album. I actually wept the day I found that cassette at the local “Wherehouse.” Cheesy, I know. But, there is a magic that surrounds our early Christmas memories. Bonus! There were some additional cool tracks on this new album discovery, “Cole, Christmas, & Kids.” That one can still be found and I highly recommend it. Here’s a YouTube link to some of that playlist. Nat “King” Cole songs. (That’s how easy it is these days.)

Anyway, LONG backstory to get to our holiday song for this year. Mrs. Santa Claus! A fun, bouncy, happy song about the woman who apparently keeps the North Pole running smoothly. She feeds the reindeer, wraps gifts, packs the sleigh, puts spice in the brownies, keeps his red suit clean, offers advice, reads the notes from girls and boys and puts in toy orders…all while singing a “merry, merry, Christmas song.”

Staff caller Steve Moore croons on the male range, with me (Shauna Kaaria) on the female range. Jimmy Mac, and myself provide the harmony tracks.