We definitely don't do Santa and not because I have a heart three sizes too small and am being tyrannical about having the kid believe in magic. No, it's because the lesson of "stranger danger" has firmly taken root in the kid and he does not want to be anywhere near Santa and he certainly wants no part of accepting anything that old fat strange man in the red suit has to offer.
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Another thing we do is play Christmas music, of course. Thanks to parents who insisted my sister and I celebrate Christmas and know about all its ins and outs (more than people who, you know, who are Christians so to speak and actually have reason to celebrate it), as well as several years of school assemblies and pageants in England, not to mention Christmas masses attended (again at insistence of parents), I have more knowledge of Christmas carols and hymns and songs than I think any one human should. Chances are I, at the very least, know the tune of every blessed one, if not a good portion of the words as well.
My favorite hymn one has always been the one below. It's not hard to see why; first of all, it is written in the A minor key, one of my favorites, and second of all, it has the word Satan in it, which seems rather, well, naughty for a Christmas hymn.
L. always says he has no favorites. I suspect the ten years he spent as an altar boy (ages 8-18), handling Polish mass (especially during Christmas) has left him too scarred to really enjoy anything that could be traced back to those times. (Those 10 years had two benefits: they got him out of class at different times, for special somethings or anothers, and they made an atheist out of him, which worked in his favor when it came to us getting together.) I told him just to pick one that came to mind first, last night, and he picked 'We Three Kings', because that was what was playing (cover by Sting.) And, as it happens, there is a cover that, well, covers both so here you go (the kid did not quite endorse this, but that's because he'd rather sing a mashed up version of Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman, both of which he learned at school.)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings - Barenaked Ladies with Sarah Mclachlan
Oh, wait, the kid really likes this one (actually we all do) which gets a lot of airplay on XPN during the kids' hour come the holidays.
The Christians and The Pagans - Dar Williams
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Actually, we're mostly playing the same four CDs over and over-- two of which are L's, one which is mine, and the last is mine as well, but the kid has taken to calling it his CD, so we'll go with that. I hope the imeem playlist plays all the songs in their entirety and not cut them off. In any case, the songs are from the albums Christmas Grass (Various Artists); Go Tell It on the Mountain (Blind Boys of Alabama); Christmas Cheer (The Boxmasters); and A Very Special Christmas 3 (Various Artists).
Christmas Sampler 2008
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Tomorrow we'll watch A Christmas Story or, rather, have it on in the background all day, if TNT plays it commercial free for 24 hours like the past couple of years. Although I suspect we will have to watch a couple of the kid's favorite scenes from the Christmas movies he is willing sit down and watch. The scenes he really likes best have music in them, and after having been asked to play them specifically every other days for the last six weeks, I hope he'll give us a break!
Hot Chocolate! - Tom Hanks (from the movie The Polar Express)
Baby It's Cold Outside - Zoey Deschanel and Will Ferrell (from the movie Elf)
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