It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
Nothing says Christmas more than the annual barrage of Christmas carols that show up around Thanksgiving time and then quickly vanish on Boxing Day, Dec. 26. What, you don’t celebrate Boxing Day? Why, it’s a national holiday in England and Canada so you can put away all those empty boxes sitting next to the Christmas tree.
And speaking of empty boxes, I’m pretty sure we still own every empty Christmas box from the beginning of our marriage, 47 years ago, and they’re all stuffed onto the top shelf of our bedroom closet, here at Motley Manor. Occasionally, one or more of them tumbles onto my head whenever I go in there to retrieve a shirt or jacket.
Anyhoo, getting back to Christmas carols, no sooner than the Thanksgiving turkey has been properly basted and placed into the oven, the annual barrage of Christmas carols on the radio has already begun. Nothing gets me in the mood for Christmas more than Johnny Mathis’ Merry Christmas LP. This album, which made its debut in 1959, gets dragged out of my record closet and dusted off for regular rotation on the phonograph around this time every year. What, you don’t have a phonograph, let alone a record closet? Well, just as sure the missus has a Christmas box closet I have my very own record closet containing every single vinyl record I’ve owned since day one, which I dust off and listen to quite frequently.
After much careful thought and consideration, I’ve developed a list of my Top 10 Favorite Christmas Carols. Heading-up this year’s list is “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas,” as performed by Johnny Mathis.
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go. Take a look at the five and ten, glistening once again with candy canes and silver lanes aglow. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, toys in every store, but the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own front door.”
Next, in descending order, are the rest of my choices: # 2 “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole; #3 “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” by Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders; #4 “Feliz Navidad” by Jose Feliciano; #5 “Happy Christmas/War Is Over” by John Lennon & Yoko Ono; #6 Hark The Herald Angels Sing” by Peter Shu; # 7 “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” by Tony Bennett; #8 “Mele Kalikimaka (Means Merry Christmas To You)” by Jimmy Buffet; #9 “Sleigh Ride” by The Ronettes and last, but not least, # 10 “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms.
“Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock, jingle bell chime in jingle bell time. Dancin’ and prancin’ in Jingle Bell Square, in the frosty air. What a bright time, it’s the right time to rock the night away. Jingle bell time is a swell time to go glidin’ in a one-horse open sleigh.”
Keep it flyin’, Uncle Mott