Fa-la-la-la-la, la Friday Five from Rev Gals

Not One of My Favorites.

Here's a Friday Five post from Reverendmother, who says, "Those of you who read my blog know I have a love-hate relationship with the 24/7 Christmas music we're subjected treated to in stores and radio (in the U.S. at least). It gets too sentimentally sticky-sweet sometimes, yet I find myself unable to resist it. Nothing says 'it's Christmas' to me like John Denver and Rolf the Dog singing 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.' So..."

1. A favorite 'secular' Christmas song.

I love "Feliz Navidad." Not every version, but the original one by Jose Feliciano. It always makes me feel cheerful. The prison choir (where my husband is chaplain) belts it out every Christmas--the "Gospel Choir" and the "Spanish Choir" singing together. I LOVE those guys when they sing that song, smiling and singing with amazing gusto, if not always skill. I wish you could all see and hear them. It is a moment of joy and delight in my Christmas season.

I also like the Beatles singing "A Wonderful Christmas Time."

2. Christmas song that chokes you up (maybe even in spite of yourself--the cheesier the better)

Hmmm. "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer." NO, not really. But I couldn't think of one. "O Holy Night" doesn't choke me up, but it does give me chills when it is done well.

3. Christmas song that makes you want to stuff your ears with chestnuts roasted on an open fire.

Hee hee...for me that one would be "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" followed closely by "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." Especially the old version with the lisping "child" voice. Aaarrrrgh!

4. The Twelve Days of Christmas: is there *any* redeeming value to that song? Discuss.

Not much for most people, I suppose, but "The Twelve Days of Christmas" has redeeming value for me. Those of you who read regularly--God bless both of you-- know that I have two older sisters. On one of our rare trips to visit "the family" in Texas at Christmas, my two sisters had just learned all the words. So they taught the song to me, and we three practiced it all the way from California to Texas, no doubt planning to sing it in the "Christmas program" that happened at Grandaddy's house. That meant a procession of cousins entertaining the grownups in various ways. I'm sure my mom and dad were heartily sick of that song by the time we arrived. However, I can never hear it without a moment of nostalgia and love for the girls that we used to be, singing in the back seat of our car as we crossed the desert, the mountains, and the plains.

5. A favorite Christmas album

Just one? I can't pick just one. I have many. This is hard. Hmmmm.....

All right, I confess, I like John Denver's Christmas album. I love "The Messiah" and Kenny G.'s Christmas album...and Harry Connick Jr.'s album, and Ella Fitzgerald, and Johnny Mathis, and Amy Grant's Christmas album, and one from a church choir I used to sing with, and then there is anything by Mannheim Steamroller, and there is an old one from Burl Ives, and one called "An Old Fashoned Christmas" which features hammered dulcimer and pipes, and there is the one by Carman.....and...oh, sorry.

And now I am off to the basement to find the ornaments and the box of Christmas music, which includes vinyl albums, cassettes, and compact discs. I did throw away the 8 Tracks, though it made me sad to do it.