No Gaetz Report. Yet. So, Let’s Find Enjoyment In Unusual Christmas Tunes

As the fictional Mame Dennis aka “Auntie Mame” said “We need a little Christmas.” Sometimes we need it during the freaking year.  But we surely need it each year when Christmas comes up on the calendar and we certainly need the hope this season represents.  I realize not everyone is Christian but it’s still quite the time of year.

As for this year, I don’t know about you but I was REALLY looking forward to diving into the House Ethics Committee report on Bratty Matty Gaetz this weekend. Remember, the Ethics Committee voted earlier this month to release once this Congress adjourned. Alas, Speaker Moses Mikey Johnson didn’t gavel the Congress adjourned. They will be back from recess come Tuesday morning. I rather doubt there will be many in attendance.  The big thing was taken care of yesterday. Legislation to keep the government funded for the next few months was passed in the House and sent over to the Senate. (And Trump did NOT get his bigly Christmas wish of a debt ceiling increase)  I don’t know why the Senate dicked around the way it did but eventually they stopped pontificating and passed the stuff and sent it to the President. I saw a news blurb that he signed it earlier today. So THAT crisis has been averted.

However, as I’ve said this Congress isn’t formally adjourned so no Ethics Report. Being deprived of THAT entertainment I thought ‘Well, it’s Christmas and why not listen to some of the old songs I’ve enjoyed starting back from when I was a mere tyke?’ Then I thought why not share some of them here?  Some of us old farts will remember some of these. At least one will make many of you groan but it’s my article so there!  Anyway I think most of these lighthearted songs will bring a smile to your face.

Once upon a time before the internet one had to spend time listening to the radio and hope to catch ANY of these. Much less most or all of them. Well, times have changed and while the internet sometimes sucks, for some things like movie/TV clips or songs it’s awesome. It’s easy to find almost anything.

Let’s start off with the one that hooked me when I was quite young. Once I got older it dawned on me that the old 45 record my parents gave me of this didn’t just “disappear.” I’m quite certain one (or both) of my sisters smashed it to pieces and threw it in the trash. For the record I never particularly enjoyed trying to use a hula-hoop but I did love this song:

Next up is a tune I still love no matter the time of year. “Snoopy Music” from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special that aired each year. Again, starting when I was still rather young. It was an eagerly awaited night all over the country and not just by kids. It was true family entertainment.  I find it infuriating and tragic the rights were bought up and the masses no longer can see it on TV each year. What used to be free for everyone (ok, so you had to put up with commercials) is now something folks have to pay for. Still, it can be viewed and clips from it are available including that delightful “Christmas Dance”:

Next up is another Christmas song that made it onto the Pop Music charts back in the 1960s.  The only way to hear this was when it played on KXOK, the big AM station out of St. Louis that had a wide reach in the midwest and was Top 40 Rock oriented. A group named The Royal Guardsmen had created their own Snoopy song – Snoopy vs. the Red Barron. At the end Snoopy shoots down the famous Red Barron (there was an actual historical Red Barron in WWI) but the group decided to update the story. With a tale of the “bloody Red Barron’ flying once again. And the Allied Command choosing Snoopy to “Do it again” leading to a Christmas Eve dogfight. It seemed that Snoopy was a goner, except:

Skipping forward here’s another tune I could only hear on KXOK. For some of my pals it was a find another station to listen to song but being a lifelong doggie lover I’ve always gotten a kick out of it:

Getting a bit more serious, I never heard the next arrangement until I was a senior in high school. On the last day of school before Christmas break the traditional school assembly was held, with skits and readings and always a couple of songs from the chorus. Reading Twas the Night Before Christmas is a tradition, but after learning their was a chorus version this has been my preferred way of enjoying this tradition. And I learned of it because our new chorus director included this in the mix of what we did that day:

I could do this all day (and evening) long but I’ll wrap it up with what I consider the best sounds of Christmas – Hand Bell Choirs performing Christmas songs. Rather than a string of individual songs I chose to include a concert that’s about an hour long. Listen to a little, perhaps skip forward looking for a specific song or do yourself a favor and just sit back and enjoy a full hour of magic. It’s up to you. But it’s a great way to lose yourself in the beauty and magic of the season. (Sorry – I had a personal issue I was dealing with yesterday and didn’t see until this morning that the handbell concert wasn’t included)

Hope I brought a smile to your face with all this. I wanted to keep it lighthearted instead of putting up some of the serious stuff I listen to each year.  That too is tradition with me but I didn’t want to get into all that. I just wanted folks to have a little fun.

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