Merry Christmas!

I’d like to wish you and your family a wonderful and blessed Christmas. May the spirit of the season be with you today and linger well into the year ahead.

Christmas Cheer: Twas the Night Before Christmas

 

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

Here’s an interesting take on this classic.

Christmas Cheer: Couldn’t Miss This One This Year!

Of course I’m talking about The Waitresses Christmas Wrapping. The most random Christmas tale told to music, maybe aside from Dominick the Donkey.

If you’ve haven’t guessed by now, I’m a random person who enjoys the random things of life. Christmas Wrapping is one of those random things.

“Bah, humbug!” No, that’s too strong 
‘Cause it is my favorite holiday 
But all this year’s been a busy blur 
Don’t think I have the energy…

Christmas Cheer: Falala

As you might have guessed, I like love Christmas music. For the better part of the last decade I’ve been sharing some of my favorite Christmas tunes annually with friends and family.

This year is no different. After a painstaking process of picking my favorites to share for this year (a process that goes on for a few months), I narrowed it down to 20 tunes that I shared.

You can get one of the featured tracks to download and own for yourself, for nada money. A little Christmas gift from the artist I suppose.

Christmas Cheer: Deck the Halls

Who doesn’t love a good Christmas flash mob?

The students over at the University of Minnesota’s School of Music certainly do.

Nearly 300 students joined a saxophonist for a flash mob holiday surprise at the Carlson School of Management in November. 

Christmas Cheer: In St. Louis?

Speaking of catching up on classics from the past, I recently watched Meet Me in St. Louis for the first time.

Again, another classic movie that you don’t find being made today. Seriously, is anyone going to say 50 years from now that “The Proposal” was a classic and that they don’t make ‘em like that any more? (For the official record, I’m a fan of that movie–don’t judge me.)

Back to St. Louis, which was a pretty nifty movie. Some great scenes and I’m still kind of amazed that the trolley scene with Judy Garland was done in one take.

But of course that’s not my reason for writing about this movie.

Christmas Cheer: It Only Took Me 57 Years to Catch Up

I finally got a chance to catch up on a new Christmas movie release. As mentioned the other day, I’ve never seen White Christmas. I had an opportunity to finally see the film (its only been out for 57 years) this week, as part of AMC‘s 3-in-row (or something?) nightly feature.

AMC called the movie its all-time-favorite Christmas flick. But, I’m not ready to make that pronouncement just yet.

Christmas Cheer: About Those Chestnuts

Truth be told, I don’t think I’ve ever had chestnuts, never mind chestnuts that were roasted on an open fire. And before you even ask, no, Jack Frost has never nipped on my nose either.

I have, however, sung yuletide carols by a fire. Score one of me!

Ah The Christmas Song, also sometimes referred to by its opening line “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.”

The only problem is, I don’t even know what that means. But leave it up to a five-year-old to teach me.

Christmas Cheer: The Holly and the Ivy

A treasured Christmas tune is The Holly and the Ivy. It is a simple, yet poignant carol for Christmas.

The holly bears a blossom as white as lily flower,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to be our sweet saviour…

The holly bears a berry as red as any blood,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to do poor sinners good…

Christmas Cheer: Herding Cats

Taking Christmas photos with cats can be, well, like herding cats.

The other day I decided I wanted to capture a few Christmas photos of my cats, Doggie and Dakota.

While the end result was exactly (I guess) what I was hoping for. It certainly didn’t start out that way.