One of the best things about Christmas is the music. "Joy to the World," "Jingle Bells," "White Christmas" – we hear them countless times between Thanksgiving and Christmas day. No one performed these classics and other forgotten Christmas hits better than the big bands of the 1930s and 1940s. One of my favorites is the “Dixieland Band from Santa Claus Land” as performed by Jimmy Dorsey & His Original Dorseyland Orchestra. Sit back and take a listen. Well, better yet, stand up and dance to it. It is a hard one to listen to and not move! Ava performs this song and many others with the big band in Song of Return.

There was a brief pause, and Ava spoke rather than sang, “It was the night before Christmas and quiet as a mouse, but listen to the saxophone in J.D.’s house!”

Their saxophone player, Clifford, took the lead, and Ava stood beside him clapping her hips and bobbing her head.

Song of Return, Chapter 38