Christopher Rush
One wonders how one could possibly top such a marvelous tribute to the glories of Christmas as was printed in last year’s Christmas issue. Clearly, such a task is not possible, but one must go on in any event. Christmas keeps coming, as long as the Lord tarries, no matter how good or ill our previous Christmas experiences have been, so we shall press on as well.
Being an expert at making near-definitive lists, I am often asked to make lists of things for people. If only I had learned shorthand as a boy, I could have gotten a stellar career as a secretary or at least an amanuensis (for a list-making company, I suppose). For not much of a particular reason, we enclose here the recent list of 34 Christmas Songs (and versions) to Know and Enjoy Forever compiled and distributed in Intro. to Humanities. This list is of such length primarily based on the time of the songs involved given for the number of class periods to listen to them. Such is the guiding principle at times in Intro. to Humanities.
- “A Christmas Festival,” Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops
- “Carol of the Bells,” Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops
- “The Christmas Song,” Nat King Cole
- “White Christmas,” Bing Crosby
- “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Judy Garland
- “Home for the Holidays,” Perry Como
- “Sleigh Ride,” Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops
- “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” Roger Whittaker
- “Joy to the World,” Julie Andrews
- “Jingle Bells,” Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters
- “Mary’s Boy Child,” Harry Belafonte
- “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” Burl Ives
- “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra
- “Feliz Navidad,” José Feliciano
- “Here Comes Santa Claus,” Elvis Presley
- “If Every Day Was Like Christmas,” Elvis Presley
- “Blue Christmas,” Elvis Presley
- “Santa’s Beard,” The Beach Boys
- “Little Saint Nick,” The Beach Boys
- “The Man with All the Toys,” The Beach Boys
- “Christmas Time is Here,” Vince Guaraldi Trio
- “The Chipmunk Song,” Alvin and the Chipmunks
- “Twelve Days of Christmas,” John Denver and the Muppets
- “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home),” U2
- “Medley: Winter Wonderland/Sleigh Ride,” Dolly Parton
- “Christmastime,” Smashing Pumpkins
- “Children Go Where I Send Thee,” Natalie Merchant
- “Christmas,” Blues Traveler
- “Thank God It’s Christmas,” Queen
- “Father Christmas,” The Kinks
- “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24),” Trans-Siberian Orchestra
- “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” (Live), Mannheim Steamroller
- “Stille Nacht” (Live), Mannheim Steamroller
- “Going to Another Place” (Live), Mannheim Steamroller
You may have noticed some overlap with last year’s definitive list of Christmas tunes to listen to every year, but these are of such high quality they only improve with multiple mentionings and listenings.
On an unrelated note, I watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special the other day with my family. It’s awfully loud for what is purportedly a children’s special. It has a lot of yelling; everyone is mad around the North Pole, apparently. I’m glad my daughter was not scared by the Abominable Snow Monster. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still a Rankin/Bass fan, as I’m sure we all are, but the appeal of this particular special seems rather limited. Santa Claus is awfully superficial: for someone who prides himself on judging the children of the world based on their deeds, he gives young Rudolph no opportunity to prove himself solely because of his shiny, loud nose (odd choice of sound effects, really). All this despite the fact Rudolph proves a much better jumper than any of the other young bucks and does out there. Not only that, he takes the toys from the Island of Misfit Toys without asking King Moonracer’s permission. How did these toys even get created in the first place? Aren’t they Santa’s fault, since his elves create all the world’s toys? Does he ever apologize to them? No. I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch it, but be sure you explain the shortcomings of it to your children when they are ready to understand it.
A brief word again should be made in favor of Will Vinton’s A Claymation Christmas Celebration. Unlike the at-times frightening Rankin/Bass specials, Will Vinton’s A Claymation Christmas Celebration is a delightful series of musical numbers hosted by the loveable Rex the Tyrannosaurus and Herb the Styracosaurus. It even features the California Raisins mimicking The Temptations. One can’t go wrong with the California Raisins, especially when mimicking The Temptations. In addition to the delightfully festive panoply of claymation carols, we (those of us who grew up not in the 19th century) finally learn what “wassail” means, thanks to the running gag frame story provided by hosts Rex and Herb.
Since I mentioned moments ago I am a Rankin/Bass fan, I don’t want to leave without saying a good word for one of their fine Christmas specials, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. We also watched this recently as a family. I don’t recall if I have ever seen it before or not, but it will most likely become regular seasonal viewing for us. I’m not a big “Santa Claus” fan, and we won’t be raising our kids to really believe in Santa, but this was a fairly impressive little show. This is odd to say, considering it has very little to do with genuine Christmas events, but its emphasis on generosity and love was a far more enjoyable message than the confusing and loud mishmash from Rudolph. Certainly the comforting voice work of Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney, and Keenan Wynn help the pervasive tone of sweet simplicity. The absence of extended conflict is also enjoyable, even if the resolutions to the conflicts are perhaps too simple for “grown-up” tastes. Whenever I saw the Winter Warlock (before he warmed up and became just “Winter”), I thought of the opening scene of Big, in which young Josh plays the apparently not-really-existing graphic text-based video game: “You are standing in the cavern of the evil wizard. All around you are the carcasses of slain ice dwarfs,” and the unforgettable question “what do you want to melt him with?” Love and generosity are the real ways to melt Winter’s cold heart — so, too, with us all.
On a second unrelated note, some further thought has been given to what we called last year the saddest Christmas song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” It has been decades since I have seen Meet Me In St. Louis, granted, so all these thoughts are based on long-distance memory. Based on recent readings of the original lyrics, which made the song quite a bit sadder than it ended up being in the movie, my questions about the song became even more confused. In the Judy Garland movie version, since the original lyrics are not part of the canonical movie, the ending of the second verse is “From now on our troubles will be miles away.” Since the family is moving away from their friends, is Garland saying the troubles they presently have will not be left behind but will, rather, be where there will be in their new home? Most likely that is not the interpretation, since at the end of verse one she encourages her sister (in the movie) with “From now on our troubles will be out of sight” — but is “out of sight” the same as “no longer extant”? Verse three tries to regain some optimism by saying “Faithful friends who are dear to us / Gather near to us once more”; though we are moving away from our friends, we will be with them again, she says, but only in blind hope. The final verse, then, places only a miniscule amount of hope in the “Fates,” as if Atropos, Lakhesis, and Clotho are in charge of everyone to this day — she doesn’t even trust in God; no wonder the song is so sorrowful, despite purportedly being ameliorative. With no transcendent source for hope or joy, Garland can only entreat her sister to cheer up and “have yourself a merry little Christmas now” (emphasis added), because no matter what she says, there’s definitely the chance we won’t have a merry little Christmas next time. No wonder the servicemen cried during the song in World War II.
On to the pleasantness: it’s shaping up like it’s going to be a pretty good Christmas break for us this year. It will be the first (Lord willing of many) Christmas with the four of us; my family is coming over; my wife’s family is coming over; and I don’t have as many semester exams to grade as I did last year. True, it will mean a lot of dishes to be loaded and unloaded, but that’s a small price to pay for good times with family. We’re going much simpler this year, especially as far as gift-giving. I’m sure many of you are as well, considering the current economic climate. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course — in fact, it’s probably a good thing for everyone; it helps us keep our priorities straight, for one thing.
Christmas break, though, has a way of becoming awfully full, somehow. If your house is anything like mine, it needs a great deal of attention inside and out. I suppose that was true of our home growing up, but I didn’t notice it. Final Fantasy VI doesn’t play itself. I doubt I’ll have time for video games this break; though, oddly enough, the one time this past semester I did have time for video games was when my parents were visiting us (and by “us” I mean “our newborn son”) — so, hope will be kept alive, fingers will be kept crossed, and cocoa will be kept warm.
Crow T. Robot was right when he said “there’s no tradition like a new tradition,” but this year I think we are going to try to bring back some of the old traditions we have put on the back burner for various reasons. Although, with both families commingling for some time this year for the first time, it will be interesting to see how both families’ traditions mix. Most likely the old Rush tradition of going to the theater Christmas eve (which, to be honest, as you may recall, only happened four times) will be subsumed in favor of the Dingman tradition of getting Chinese food to eat and watching a Christmas movie at home — and I think all involved will be in favor of that, especially considering the dearth of quality movies at the theater (though, it would be interesting to see Sherlock Holmes with my dad and brother, come to think of it), considering, as well, we need to pick up my brother from the train station late that night anyway. It’s always odd to see the tremendous wave of relief spread over the faces of the parishioners when the pastor announces they won’t be meeting on Christmas Day Sunday and only Christmas Eve Saturday night instead — as if spending Christmas morning at church is somehow a terrible burden (Easter and Christmas at church!? Unfair!). No doubt we will also bring back the Dingman tradition of a “Mall Day” with my family (my parents, at least). It’s always enjoyable having one’s Christmas shopping done weeks in advance and thus being able to relax and wonder at all the dilatory shoppers so close to the holiday, as if it somehow snuck up on people this year (it never changes, does it?).
We will also continue the caramel roll and bacon tradition on Christmas morning (at least I won’t be the only one still in jim-jams this year), though portions may be smaller this year with at least 9 people at our house during present-opening time. That’s fine — with all the caramel rolls, bacon, cranberry bread, gingerbread, meringue cookies, cider, hot chocolate, Wheat Thins™, Easy Cheese™, See’s®, Betty Jane™s, M&M’s®, and everything else flying around in the next few weeks, portion control may be the way to go this year. Most likely a good deal of this will be consumed while watching “Dear Dad,” “Dear Sis,” “Death Takes a Holiday,” and all the other Christmas-related episodes of shows from over the years, as well as The Bishop’s Wife, White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, and a few others. I’m not holding my breath for The Lion in Winter or MST3K’s Santa Clause Conquers the Martians this year, but, if the Lord tarries and so wills, there will always be next year — same time, some place (where’er we — and our troubles — may be next year).
Once again the staff of Redeeming Pandora wishes you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Dona nobis pacem.
Feliz Navidad.
Joyeux Noёl.
God rest ye merry, ladies and gentlemen.
May 2012 bring you genuine leisure!
Redeeming Pandora 