Christmas Music

In about an hour, I'm leaving to go to the church for the annual trek to the cantata.  I don't care if you call it a "dramatic presentation" or "evening of merriment" or whatever...to me...if it is at the church and is not a Living Christmas Tree...it's a cantata.

I know that it is wonderful because everybody who went last night has already told me so.  I attend a church with uber-talented people, and my friend, Beve (and her very talented daughter, Courtney), is in the choir.  I always love it when I go...but much like hospitals (unless you have just had a baby)...cantatas hit my "no-fly" list early in life.

Why that is, I can't exactly say.  It may have been sitting in church for what seemed like hours as a child or having to sit so close to other people that I swore to myself "never again" at some point in time when I was old enough to decide for myself.

So, every year...this battle.  And every year that I go...I'm blessed.  And I'm sure that will be the case tonight.  If it is as wonderful as it probably is, then I'm going to consider it a Christmas miracle and consider myself cured of future anti-cantata behavior.  Trust me...this WOULD be a miracle.  (Last year helped a lot in moving me in that general direction).

Although I am not a choir person, and I don't really sing in front of people...this past week I put out a Christmas challenge to sing a Christmas song at the top of your lungs in your car.  I figured that this would be a fun way to just throw a little bit of Christmas spirit your way...and that it wasn't expensive or even that difficult to do.  It also means that other people don't have to be subjected to this unless you wanted to "share your joy" so to speak.

Unless, of course, you are listening to Mix 103.3 here in Montgomery as I've been doing when I'm not listening to Rush Limbaugh, Greg Budell, or something else.

Actually, Mix 103.3 plays Christmas music all day long every day.  That's all this station plays from Thanksgiving until Christmas.  Except for those ten minutes each hour when it runs commercials.  Darn that capitalism!  Sadly, I always seem to tune in just about when they break for this necessary but annoying interlude.  However, while the station does play a lot of music that I love, and I've been very impressed that they haven't run anything into the ground too much yet...I want some songs that I actually know the words to so that I can sing along.

As of now, the only song I heard over the last hour while I was in the car that I knew the words to was the Hanukkah Song by Adam Sandler...which is...um...NOT a Christmas song.

And for the record...why, no, I DIDN'T know that all Three Stooges were Jewish.  Except that there were more like four or five Stooges...but whatever.

I didn't know the words prior to this Christmas, so I'm thinking that Mix 103.3 has been playing it a wee bit much, yes?  Or maybe I'm just on Adam Sandler overload.  A little bit goes a long way.  Don't believe me?  Rent "Don't Mess With the Zohan."  Try not to lose your mind.

Should you actually watch it?  No-no-no-no-no-no-no...

Speaking of losing your mind...there are three songs that absolutely grate on my nerves historically...Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" and that "So This Is Christmas" song.  The first because it is just downright annoying, the second because it quit being funny in the 1980s, and the third because of the line "Another year older..."  I mean, SERIOUSLY, who wants to be reminded of THAT at Christmas. 

Not me.  The only thing I can think of worse would be "Twenty pounds heavier..."

Oh, who am I kidding?  This song was written in 1983...which probably means that I stopped liking it sometime around...1983.

Amazing how that one line just shot the whole song for me.  That, and the fact that they play it every 33.7 minutes.

Which brings me to...what would I love to hear instead?  Well, that's pretty easy, actually.  I love classic Christmas music.  I don't really care who does "Do You See What I See?" because it is going to sound pretty awesome regardless.  Unless, of course, Eminem were to do a version.  Or Roseanne Barr.

See?

How about this version...

Or this one...

Or finally...

To me, it matters not if this song is done by Carrie Underwood, Bing Crosby, Destiny's Child or Whitney Houston...it just stands on its own and is magnified by their rendition.  Somehow "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" would probably only appeal to me if the Foo Fighters did it.  Which they haven't...so there.

I don't know what songs speak of the joy of the season to you.  It may be that you like that gosh-awful hippopotamus song...

They may want a hippopotamus for Christmas...but frankly, I'd rather have a goat from World Vision (in spirit...the actual goat would be delivered to a needy family somewhere far away from here).  In fact, a few years ago, my friend Carol gave our scrapbooking group a goat as a Christmas gift.  It was awesome of her to do...and it felt good to know that someone out there was going..."Cool.  A goat." in some language I cannot speak in some country I'll probably never visit. 

When World Vision starts putting hippopotamuses in their annual book for gifting, I'll get off of this song. Until then...

Tomorrow I'll try again to do a car concert.  C'mon 103.3...help a sister out.