Awesome Idea!

One of the families in our ward gave this to us yesterday and I thought it was a great idea...

Due to the photo quality, you probably can't tell right away what it is. It's an Advent Candle. How cool is that? Every day you burn the candle down to the next line and wait again for the next day. I like this idea a lot better than the candy advent calendars, and not just because I have pyromaniacal tendencies. I may have to try this with a bigger candle  :)

'Tis the Season...

A friend on facebook posted this video and I had to pass it along. When you see stories like this, it tends to renew your faith in "peace on earth, good will towards men"...

What's more shocking? The fact she pepper sprayed roughly 20 other shoppers to get an XBox 360 for half-price? Or that other customers were so focused on getting the same deal, this woman managed to take one, pay for it at the register, and leave the store without being apprehended? When she got home, did she include the part about spraying other customers when she tells everyone what a great deal she got? Little Dudley can proudly tell his friends, "My mum sprayed 20 people to get this for me."

When the wisemen brought their gifts to Mary and the young Jesus, I'm sure this isn't what they had in mind as an end result of the tradition they started. 

Some of My Favorites

It's time to put up some of my favorite Christmas songs. I'm not going to put them in any specific order because it's hard for me to quantify things I really like. It's like asking me to decide between my favorite foods...

Were You There - Jon Schmidt 

I'm a Jon Schmidt fan. I'm a sucker for a good piano arrangement, and when you add great vocals I'm hooked. The first time I heard this song was in Grade 11 when our seminary class went carolling to a senior's center and a few of the girls sang this (being 16 at the time, I only really remember one of them, but I'm sure there were others with her). I want my Christmas music to move me, and this song does it every time.

Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains

I remember being in the car with the family, I'm not sure if we were just driving around to look at Christmas lights or just happened to be singing Christmas songs at the time, but I remember wanting to sing this one.

O Holy Night

Josh Groban singing O Holy Night, can't go wrong there...

I have other favorites, but I keep getting sidetracked on YouTube. Maybe I'll post a follow-up if I manage to find more without being distracted...

My Top 10 Least Favorite Christmas Songs

I figure if the Christmas tree is up already, it must be safe to do a Christmas post. I got in trouble last year for not having a Christmas post, so this year I'll do a couple extra to make up for it. I'm going to start with my Top 10 absolute least favorite "Christmas" songs of all time. Let me first start off with a disclaimer; there is probably a better-than-even chance I'll end up listing one or more of your favorites, so as delicately as I can say it, I extend to you a heart-felt "Get over it!"

Every year I dread the Christmas productions, school plays, etc. because the music really annoys me. And for the record, putting the word "Christmas" into the lyrics doesn't necessarily make it a Christmas song. I submit George Michael's "Last Christmas" (and all subsequent covers/remixes) as Exhibit A.

10. Anything, and I do mean anything, by Dolly & Kenny

Granted, I'm not a country music fan to begin with, but they could be singing Handel's Messiah and it would still make me want to stick my head in the oven and crank it up. The warbling, the country twang (which is SO endearing at the best of times)... it's just too much for me.

9. The Twelve Days of Christmas

For a song which so repeatedly mentions Christmas, this one really has nothing to do with it. I side with The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes on this one when they wrote, "that the[se] lines survive today... [is] an irreligious travesty."

8. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

It started out as a country song, so right away loses points in my book.

7. Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Or, "The Stalker Song". Encouraging children to behave because an old man can see them when they sleep or while they're awake. In today's society, that's borderline pedophilia.

6. Jingle Bells

Do you know why this traditional Christmas song has no mention of Christmas at all in any of its five verses? Because it was originally written for Thanksgiving. A minister named James Pierpoint wrote the song in 1857 for the children in his Boston Sunday School's Thanksgiving celebration. Let's give this one back to Thanksgiving, shall we? Granted, it has as much to do with Thanksgiving as it does with Christmas.

5. Jingle Bell Rock

This one is even more annoying. Is it any wonder why the spirit and meaning of Christmas is being lost when so many of the songs associated with the holiday actually have nothing to do with it??

4. Deck the Halls

At least this one hints around Christmas by mentioning the Yule tide carols and season. Aside from the fleeting reference, it seems devoid of any other redeeming qualities.

3. Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer

An American advertising executive wrote a poem for the department store Santa to give away to kids in the mid- to late 1940's. It turned out to be a big success and was later put to music and recorded by Gene Autry. It mentions Christmas Eve, but somehow singing about a picked-on mutant reindeer doesn't put me in the Christmas spirit.

2. Frosty the Snowman

I challenge anyone to tell me why this should be a Christmas song. Go ahead... I dare you. This one was actually written after the success of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, trying to cash in on some of Rudolf's popularity. Sadly, it worked and now we have intentionally commercialized "Christmas" songs which have nothing to do with Christmas.

1. Winter Wonderland

This one probably bugs me the most, as it combines my hatred of winter with my contempt for non-Christmas Christmas songs. Why is it even considered a Christmas song? It talks about snow, building snowmen, and freezing your nose. What does that have to do with Christmas?! Freezing my nose (or anything else) doesn't put me in the Christmas spirit. I'd be ecstatic with the opportunity to celebrate Christmas in a warmer climate.