Tree Treasure No. 14: When John Denver Filled Our Home

My dad’s favorite singer was John Denver. His music was always playing, on cassette tapes in our big home stereo, in his truck, everywhere, all the time. It is one of those sounds that instantly takes me back to being a kid.

My first concert was Shaun Cassidy, and my second was John Denver with my parents. My grandma, his mom, loved him too. I think his music spoke to them living in the Santa Cruz mountains. The simplicity, the nature, the storytelling. It felt familiar and grounding in a way that is hard to describe unless you lived it.

When John Denver died in 1997, it felt like a real loss for those of us who grew up with his music as part of everyday life. There was no social media, no nonstop news cycle. You heard it on the radio or saw it on the evening news, and it just hit differently. It felt like a piece of a gentler era had slipped away. For my family, it brought up a lot of emotion because his music was so tied to memories, to car rides, to weekends, to being together.

This ornament was not easy to find. At the time, anything related to him felt special and a little rare, like a tribute to someone who mattered deeply to a lot of people. Having this on our tree feels like holding onto that chapter of life. A reminder of who my dad was in those years, what he loved, and how music connected generations long before playlists and streaming existed.

It means even more because this ornament plays music, and of course Dave loves to push the button. Country Roads fills the room, and just like that, the memories come rushing back.

Music really does have a way of keeping the people we love close, even decades later.

If you enjoy nostalgic holiday stories, I’m also sharing my Christmas memories in a new series called Christmas Stories Throughout the Years.