Holiday Favorites
I haven’t seen a holiday favorites meme bouncing its way around yet, so I decided to make my own, since I feel like a) writing about mine and b) hearing about yours.
(I have Christmas as the holiday of choice in the question below, because that’s what I celebrate, but if there’s another tradition that represents this time of year for you, by all means, have at it.)
1. Favorite Christmas cartoon: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” which has been my favorite forever. I love the bad claymation animation, the peppy songs, and the goopy message about the transformational power of giving. And Fred Astaire narrates, which always impressed me when I was a kid, because I knew he was very, very famous.
2. Favorite Christmas movie: “A Christmas Story,” for which I have Wendy to thank. When we first became roommates in college she was shocked and appalled that I had never seen it. She rented it for me and we watched it on our crappy dorm tv. I’ve never again let a holiday season go by without watching it — because really, nothing says Christmas like “Daddy’s gonna kill Ralphie.”
3. Favorite Christmas song (traditional): Louis Armstrong’s version of “Winter Wonderland” is absolutely fantastic. It’s moody and jazzy and perfect — and every time I hear it, I want to cozy up in front of my fireplace with a holiday cocktail.
4. Favorite Christmas song (pop/modern): As cheesy as it is, the very first pop-stars-can-save-the-world-with-song fund raiser single “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” always, always makes me smile, perhaps because it brings me back to a simpler time, when I actually thought musicians could save the world, and before I knew that a majority of Africans are not Christian, and therefore might not actually care that it’s Christmas.
(Honorable mention here goes to “The Christians and the Pagans,” by Dar Williams. While not new, it is new-to-me and is getting a lot of play. It’s a fun, funny folk tune about what happens when a Solstice-celebrant sits down to dinner with “her Christ-loving uncle” and his family.)
5. Favorite Christmas cookie (or other festive food): Hands-down, chocolate crinkles — but only as made from the recipe that my Aunt Anne tweaked to perfection. I may post it here to share their deliciousness, but I need to ask the family first, as I think it might be embargoed.
6. Favorite family tradition: When I was little, my parents made the three of us kids wait upstairs on Christmas morning while Dad went down to “make sure Santa came.” As I got older, I kind of realized this was just my parents’ way of keeping us from going downstairs and ripping into everything at a ridiculously early hour, but it it was still fun to play along. Dad really got into it, and it assured that we experienced the excitement of Christmas morning together, as a family.
I’m not going to go fully into meme-land and tag people, but by all means, share in the comments or link back from your own blogs — I look forward to hearing what gets everybody feeling festive!
Posted on December 16, 2007, in Holidays. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
Here goes….
1. Fave Xmas Cartoon: A Charlie Brown Christmas. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Peanuts fan and this one is ageless. And just when you get overwhelmed by the unrelenting commercialism of Christmas, pop this one in and enjoy the simple meaning of Christmas as told by Linus.
(Honorable mention: Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas. No one loves it but me and that’s okay. I love the Muppets (all hail Jim Henson) and the song Where the River Meets the Sea gets me everytime)
2. Fave Xmas Movie: It’s a tie between It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story. Two completely different stories but both classics. Yes, I was amongst the shocked that Sweetpea had not seen A Christmas Story either. It’s a tradition with me and my husband to watch it over and over on the 24-hour TNT marathon on Xmas Eve while wrapping presents into the wee hours of the night because Lord knows I can’t do it ahead of time!
3. Fave Xmas Song Traditional: I have to agree with Sweetpea here. I absolutely adore Louis Armstrong’s Walking in a Winter Wonderland. A close tie would be just about any rendition of O Holy Night….that is my favorite “religious” Christmas hymn hands down….Jewel’s version is beautiful.
4. Contemporary: Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses. It just makes me happy. Or Sarah McLachlan’s The River off her Winter Song cd.
5. Favorite Xmas Cookie: Again, anyone who knows me knows that the quickest way to my heart is to put your chocolate in my peanut butter. (insert dirty jokes here) Peanut Butter Blossoms rule the world….though I would love to get my hands on Aunt Anne’s Crinkles recipe….pretty please?? Do I count as an honorary family member here?
6. Family Tradition: My mother’s Christmas Brunch. It is the one meal that I totally look forward to other than Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad put on fruit cocktail, Bloody Mary’s or Mimosas, Eggs Benedict, Mom’s most-scrumptious sausage bread and cinnamon bread, and Irish coffee to top it off. There is nothing better than this.
And Sweetpea….I knew we had identical families….my Dad used to do the exact same ritual with us. My brother and I had to wait upstairs while Dad checked to make sure that Santa had been there. We do this with our kids now and even though the older ones are too old, they still play it up for the youngest.
@Shannon: so where would Eric Cartman’s version of “O Holy Night” fall?
Duck: Surprisingly, I haven’t heard it, though I can pretty much sing all the lyrics to I’m Just a Jew At Christmas.
I’ll have to look it up on YouTube….I’m sure I’d find it highly amusing.
I know, I know…shameless self-promotion…
but I loved this meme so much, I brought it over to my own blog…
I’m not going to answer all of the questions, but I do feel like putting in my two cents on a couple.
Favorite Christmas song (contempory): I’m very surprised that no one (Sarah) picked Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. I mean, it’s The Boss and also the first rocking Christmas song I ever heard. Of course it’s my favorite.
Favorite Christmas tradition: We weren’t allowed to wake my parents up too early but as we were always up at the crack of dawn or before we were allowed to take our stockings to our rooms and open them very quietly. I have very fond memories of opening everything in my stocking then “sneaking” into my sisters’ rooms to compare. Then we would all go and jump on my parent’s bed to wake them up and get the “real” present giving/getting rolling. The other thing I always loved about Christmas as a kid was the fact that it was the only day of the year that my parents closed the store all day and we got to spend it as a family, we even all ate together, which NEVER happened when the store was open.
Ah, Marlene, it was a hard choice, and I did have qualms about not picking the Boss. One of my all-time best concert moments was seeing him play “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” live, at my first-ever Springsteen show. It was the final song of the encore and everyone got so into it. Fantastic!
And Shannon, your house doesn’t have stairs.
Oh I know that!!
My FIRST house, before the red one in Nisky, had stairs! When we moved into the ranch, we just had to stay in our rooms, like my kids have to do now.
Sheesh…split hairs why don’t you?
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