Chestnuts roasting

I've been testing a theory this week, and now that I'm convinced of its validity I'm going to share it with you.

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire is a song with magical powers!

I remembered a few days ago that I sang this to Lucy when she was a baby. I was trying to think of a lullaby one night when she was 6 or 7 months old and, because it was near Christmas, I had carols and other Christmas tunes rattling around in my head. I started to sing this to her, and it fit nicely with my side-to-side sway as I rocked her around the room, so I stuck with it and realized she loved it! It put her to sleep before I had even reached the "for kids from one to 92" line. I stuck with it long after the tree had been taken down and the lights put away, though I felt a little silly singing "Merry Christmas to you" in the middle of March.

So as Joey was fussing a few nights ago, this memory came to me and I began to sing, in my best throaty lounge-singer voice,

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping at your nose...."

I tell you, he had been crying nonstop for over a half hour and nothing I had tried was working, but by the time I reached "Yuletide carols being sung by a choir" he had stopped and his eyes were closed! I thought it was just a fluke, or maybe he was thinking, "Okay, okay, I'll stop if you stop!" But the next day, it worked again! I've used this rediscovery almost every day this week.

So, I'm telling you, something soothing, something calming, something magical about those chestnuts....