Twelve Days Of Christmas

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" has to be the most monotonous Christmas song ever. I don't mind truncated versions, but the whole enchilada ... definitely not great. I'm listening to Connie Francis' version and she did the whole thing.

As far as Christmas songs that are so overlooked, and it makes you wonder what ever happened to them, the biggest one that comes to mind is the one that says, "There's a song in the air, there's a star in the sky, there's a mother's sweet prayer, and a baby's low cry." What is it about that song, that you can go the whole, entire Christmas season without hearing it once.

It seems like we used to do it for church programs or maybe in school. But it's one that dwells at the edges of existence. I've heard several Christmas songs dozens of times this year but not that one!

No More Days To Wait

Christmas Eve is that day in the song where they say, "No more days to wait. But now an even longer wait begins," meaning the wait between tonight when I go to bed and tomorrow when I wake up.

I never considered it much of a wait, though, as long as I could get to sleep. Because once you're asleep, it's over. The night speeds by.

Then Santa Claus came and worked his magic, eating all our candy and drinking our milk.

I have a tape, recorded evidence, that Santa visited us. We didn't have a fireplace but you can hear him rattling up through the furnace grate. And he talks on there about each of us kids and says "ho, ho, ho" a few times, I believe. It was recorded in 1959.

The voice sounds vaguely familiar, a lot like my late father.

A Couple Good Bing Crosby Songs

These are good ones. I've had them for years but never listened to them today, on a 45 record.

"A Time To Be Jolly" and "And The Bells Rang." Both are very cheerful and pleasant. Bing was in great form.

My record is crystal clear on these. Very nice and lively.

Trying To Rip Christmas CDs

I have a box of Christmas CDs and I was trying to rip them. It turns out it's not as easy as it sounds.

For any semi-obscure Christmas CD, the odds of Freedb finding it in their database isn't good. I had three in a row. A couple of them I thoroughly expected it. Because lots of local groups, gospel groups, performers who go church to church, have their own CDs. And somehow they don't end up in the databases.

Plus, I like to get the tags and titles right. And it seems like there's so many flaky ones in the databases. To get them right is a long and dreary task.

Several made it, of course, big sellers, like Carpenters' "Christmas Portrait" and Bob Dylan's new Christmas album. I'm listening to the Carpenters MP3s. I love Karen Carpenter's crystal clear voice. Very pretty. Antiseptically pretty.

My Christmas Expenses

I dropped $225 for some gift cards for Christmas today and I'm barely started.

I still have around $450 to go, approximately. Christmas is an expensive holiday.

Bah humbug is about right.

The Next Month

It seems like it was just yesterday that it was Halloween. But of course it's been an entire month. Time flies.

A month from today will also come, at least for those who are still living when it gets here. If history is any guide, I will also be here. Even though it's true I could be hit by a train, a car, a flying bullet or something and not be here. If I'm not here, thinking how the last nine billion years of history simply flew by, future time will fly by even faster than it does with me here.

December's always a hugely busy month for me, with Christmas and everything associated with it. We'll be traveling some -- that's busy. Staying here, staying there, in a motel, eating in restaurants, etc. Very busy stuff.

By the time a month from today gets here I won't be done with it yet. Because some of my traveling will also be on New Year's Eve. So I'll only be almost done, not entirely done.

What a lot there is that I have to do in the next month! And it's going to fly by and for a lot of it I'm going to be flying by the seat of my pants. But all this, too, shall pass.

Candy Cane Sugary Plum

I just heard a Christmas song in July, "Candy Cane Sugary Plum" as recorded by Danny & the Juniors.

It's a cheerful little thing with some Chipmunks effects in the mix, and singing in rounds to boot. I don't know that I'll make it part of my normal holiday playlist, but could be.

For a hot day in July, though, it sounded good ... and out of place.