I’m Dreaming of a White (Bear Lake) Christmas
“White Christmas” is one of America’s treasures… literally. The Library of Congress selected it as one of the fifty most historically significant recordings to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 1999, NPR ranked it at #2 on its “Songs of the Century” list (behind only Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow”). It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942 from “Holiday Inn”. And Bing Crosby’s version is the world’s best-selling single of all time with sales of over fifty million copies (Elton John’s “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” isn’t even close at #2 with just 33 million sales).
But “White Christmas” isn’t just confined to Bing Crosby. It has more than five hundred recorded versions, making it the most-recorded Christmas song ever. And when combing all of those versions, the song has collectively sold over 100 million copies. Bing Crosby forever changed the music industry with this song and launched what we now recognize as “Christmas music” with it. His LP of "White Christmas" was first released in 1949 and has never been out of print since.
So today, we celebrated this iconic song. But we put a little spin on it by making it “I’m Dreaming of a White (Bear Lake) Christmas”. It was a great chance to have the twins get some cuddles with a dear friend while us parents got to enjoy a night out in one of our favorite towns (White Bear Lake, MN) and see it in all its Christmas cheer.
We got dinner at Gordy’s Steakhouse on the southern tip of the lake before heading to downtown White Bear Lake for some post-dinner cocktails at one of our favorite spots, The Alchemist. From there, we headed over to Lakeshore Players for a highly entertaining performance of “The Holiday Songbook” which mixes together performances of holiday classics with humor and also the history behind the songs. And yes… the show featured “White Christmas” 🙂
MENU:
Gordy’s Steakhouse
Cocktails at The Alchemist
White (Christmas) Wine
ACTIVITIES:
“The Holiday Songbook” at Lakeshore Players
INTERESTING READS & CONTEXT:
