I Guess We’re Locals Now

We moved to OK in October of 2011. We might have heard the jingle a couple of times on the radio when it started up that year but it didn’t really register as anything other than another commercial. And then… Our oldest daughter was in choir at Moore High School. At the Christmas concert, as one choir left the stage and another entered, the Seniors invited everyone to stand and stretch and join them in a sing along. We were expecting We Wish you a Merry Christmas, or Silent Night/Peace Peace. Instead they broke into a jingle about a jewelry store. And to hear 500 plus people in the audience join in to sing a commercial floored us! My husband and I just stood there laughing at all these people who actually knew every word of a jingle for a local jewelry store. Of course we didn’t know the history but it shouldn’t have surprised us since we all know the Big Mac song, we are the “I don’t want to grow up ” generation, learned the phone number for Empire Carpets (Chicago area) by heart before we even understood that you have to buy carpets, and knew that if you were going to buy a car (Southern California) you had to go see Cal. Now of course we’ve been here long enough that when Christmas starts to make an appearance we’ve actually had that moment where someone says “Hey I haven’t heard The Jingle yet!” and not only do we know the reference but immediately in my head it starts to play. Every word. And I guess we’re locals now because it just doesn’t seem like it’s really Christmas until you’ve heard “Jewelry is the gift to give…”