Music Brings Memories of Christmas Past

Most holiday events open hearts. This one was different. Every year Patti and David open the hearts of residents at resorts and retirement communities throughout central Virginia when they present The Most Popular Christmas Songs of All Time. Their talk combines stories about the writing of the biggest holiday hits as well as stories about the singers who turned them into classics. But in December of 2023, their presentation did more than open hearts.

When Patti and David presented The Most Popular Christmas Songs to an audience full of memory care residents, the music opened a pathway to memories stored in their brains. As soon as Brenda Lee's Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree started playing, their eyes lit up, their feet started tapping and they started singing every word - from start to finish.

Studies in the Harvard Health Publishing magazine show that "music doesn't just help us retrieve stored memories, it also helps lay down new ones." That couldn't be truer in this instance. And, when the memory care residents of the Lakewood and Westmont Retirement Communities were asked to share a memory from their past, the room came alive with story after story after story.

The staff in attendance were thrilled to see so many residents singing and bebopping like they had never seen them before. And, at the end, even the staff were moving and grooving to the beat as they wheeled the residents out of the auditorium. Patti said, "We couldn't have had a better holiday treat!"