It feels like Christmas….

It’s not the first snow that stays on the ground, the decorations hanging in the streets, the arrival of Santa in the busy malls or the holiday music that get me into the spirit of Christmas.

Nor is it the baking, the candy canes, or even the mandarin Oranges.

It’s not the holiday specials on T.V, the arrival of cards in the mail or even the timeout from life.

No ho ho ho.

What puts me in the mood for Christmas is a simple jingle:

“It feeeeeels like Christmasssss….. on CJOB…..”

Memories of Breakfast with Santa Claus, cuddling into an elderly woman’s fur coat at the bus shack, Turkey dinners, A Barbie Dream house and waking up in the middle of the night to see what Santa brought for me flood into my thoughts.

Those five familiar words, accompanied by a soothing voice and magical music, let me know that Christmas is on the way.

I couldn’t think of the first time that I had heard the jingle, and that will still remain a mystery.

I called CJOB to ask them how long the jingle had been a part of the station’s Christmas tradition, and unfortunately nobody who could give me an answer was available to chat. (That’s what I get for phoning half an hour before the office closes on Christmas Eve.)

The CJOB, founded in 1945, has had the highest ratings in Manitoba for several years, as noted in Sonya’s article from our most recent issue.

With ratings like that, I imagine that I am not the only person who perks up at the sound of the jingle.

The man I talked to could only tell me that the jingle had been on the air for at least as long as he has worked there (three years), but I know that it has been much longer than that.

He did mention something I didn’t know, a name: Gipp Forster.

Forster is the voice of the 75 one-minute Christmas-themed stories that are accompanied by the jingle. He is based out of Vancouver, but has sold two It Feels Like Christmas CDs and lends his stories and jingle to radio stations all across Canada.

The stories are all personal experiences or thoughts about different aspects of Christmas that really inspire the warm feeling of what Christmas is meant to be.

And I think that’s why I appreciate it so much. It’s about making Christmas something special for you and your family, sharing stories and making new ones to cherish – no matter what the holiday means to you.

So thank you Gipp Forster, and thank you CJOB, for being part of my Christmas tradition.