[I once posted a Christmas-themed piece of (exactly – count them!) 100 word flash fiction – The First Coming – and thought I’d try it again.]
The reindeer had let him down: after too much Christmas spirit tasting they were donnered and blitzened. It’s why Rudolph’s nose is red – like Alex Ferguson’s.
He only worked one night a year: this could get him sacked! Without reindeer he was going to have to charter loads of flights. He managed to make bookings, and after taking the park’n’ride (200 miles away from the airport) his CheapoAir flight awaited.
Then he saw the huge guy at the desk, menacingly flexing a pair of latex gloves: “Did you pack these bags yourself, sir?”
In my post on Tuesday – A Not Very Extreme Makeover – I promised to do what I did last year, by sharing here the songs which I have been posting on Twitter and Facebook for my #ChristmasSongOfTheDay. As we’ve now had almost a week of these this seems as good a time as any to start the snowball rolling. In my ordered mind there seems no other place to begin other than the beginning, so here’s what I posted on 1st December (last Sunday, if you’ve already lost the plot this month!):
Being a creature of habit, I have begun with that one for all of the five years that I’ve been celebrating Christmas songs in this way. It dates back to 1975, when I was 22 and in my first permanent employment after uni, and always brings back memories for me. The song has become a Christmas standard over the years and is still, in my view, one of the best Christmas hits we’ve ever seen in the pop charts. I don’t feature many ‘hits’ in my choices, because my taste in music is wider (better?) than the dross that seems to sell by the bucketload, but there are a very few honourable exceptions.
For Monday 2nd I shared a folk music version of a traditional carol. Many of you will know of Maddy Prior as being the long-time vocalist with Steeleye Span, but I suspect fewer will know of her in that role with the Carnival Band, who regularly tour at Christmas with a show of seasonal music. You can see from this video how much fun they have doing this – it’s joyous:
Tuesday saw the return of another of my favourites. The Dropkick Murphys are an American band with Irish roots, as their name suggests. Their take on the Christmas family gathering is wonderful, and there is so much to enjoy in this video. If it doesn’t make you smile, at least, I think you might need an operation to reverse your sense of humour bypass:
Having begun the month with three older favourites I thought I’d share a few first timers in my selection, and the past three have all been new to my choices for you. The first of these, from Wednesday 4th, is actually very new. It is the lead track from Bryan Adams’ recent EP of songs for the season, imaginatively entitled Christmas. This was only released last week, and offers a modern day retelling of the nativity story. I’ve long been a fan of his, and he has produced some great records over the past 35 years or so. This one might not quite be up there with his best, though it’s fun. But I think he might possibly have been upstaged in the video by the three ‘wise men,’ who appear to have dropped in from Wayne’s World:
Having originally been released in 1967, yesterday’s choice has taken a while to reach my selections. It was a novelty hit in Australia and New Zealand, but not in the US or the UK. I chose it because it carries a good message about the spirit of friendship to all, which I think is especially appropriate for Christmas. The video is fun, too:
Today’s choice completed my current trio of first timers (more are on the way), though again it is an oldie – dating from 1979. I’m rather breaking my own rule here, as this one actually spent five weeks in the UK charts, peaking at no.28. I don’t imagine that many at the time would have foreseen a collaboration between Thin Lizzy and two of the Sex Pistols but, under the name of The Greedies, this is their take on a couple of well known Christmas songs. They seem to be having fun with them, too:
That would have been a wrap for my first round up, apart from an extra one: today I also shared a bonus #Christmas video. This advert for a local hardware store has taken the country by storm, with coverage on national tv and in the press. It just shows what can be done with a budget of £100, love and a beautiful song. No need for strange dragons here. You may already have seen this but, if not, prepare yourself for two minutes of utter delightfulness:
I hope you’ve found something to enjoy amongst this rather mixed bag. You can follow me on Twitter or my Facebook blog page if you want to see these every day as they appear, and don’t forget my less than standard approach to an Advent Calendar on Instagram. Links to all are in the column to the right.
I know I said yesterday that I would be concentrating on ‘fun’ posts this month, but something was said to me that reminded me of this post, originally written on 25 November 2018. Given that we have recently had another incident in this country which was supposedly in the name of religion, what I said in this post does, I think, bear re-reading. My apologies if you have seen this before, but I think the message I gave – of tolerance of, and enjoyment in, each others’ beliefs – is too important to be ignored.
I expect many of us learned that little rhyme when we were children, which harks back to a bygone age in which Christmas was still relatively innocent, and less swamped by today’s rampant commercialism. The ha’penny referred to is in fact the old British pre-decimal halfpenny coin, which ceased to be legal tender in 1969, and the rhyme pre-dates that by centuries. As I picked up my iPad to download my digital newspaper (yes, I move with the times!) I noticed that today is the 25th November, exactly one month till Christmas, and this got me thinking about what the big day means. As I have said before, I veer towards agnosticism rather than any particular religion, but I respect the fact that this is a Christian celebration: Christ Mass, Jesus’ birthday. I also respect the fact that for those of other faiths this is probably not a day on which you…
©️ as shown 
