twelve: days of christmas
Have you ever stopped to think about The Twelve Days of Christmas song?
Seriously, does anyone want their true love to give them so many birds? Between the partridge, turtle doves, French hens, calling birds, laying geese, and swimming swans, I’d say you’d really just end up with a whole lotta crap to clean up.
And I can’t help but think of a horrible musical with all those milking maids, dancing ladies, leaping lords, piping pipers, and drumming drummers. Cue mental image of men in tights wielding musical instruments and frolicking about with large-chested women. No thanks.
The only thing in the song my true love is even allowed to give me is (white) gold rings. But, in all honesty, who needs five? Certainly not me.
Is there a Christmas song you either totally love or totally hate? (Make sure you tell us why!)
Gotta love some Amy Grant original Christmas recording… which, I happened to have on record and tape :) My favorite song… Emmanuel… because every year for at least a dozen, I put on a “christmas show” to this tune, home made stage, mic, and all… lots of good memories
well look at you, showgirl!
@cassgirl says:
Well look at you Amy… I love Amy Grant’s classic.
Right now… One of my favorites is a newer song from last year.
Virgin’s lullaby…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zejJHadceZw
Hated song: Jingle Bells.. It’s just a stupid song.
Your Header is amazing!!! so magical.
i’d never heard that song before, heids. it’s beautiful…
@danielleH says:
that is way too many birds…and tights.
i greatly dislike santa baby.
i love third day’s o holy night and most anything by mannheim steamroller.
oh i’m totally with you on “santa baby”!
and i’m glad you concur on the birds and tights. ha!
Great post!
I despise that Christmas song by Paul McCartney that goes…..”Simply having a wonderful Christmas time”. When I hear the start of it, it’s like “UHG!!!!” Kev can testify that every time it comes on I say, “I hate this song!” and promptly turn the channel. He’s never quite understood why, and I don’t really know why either, but it just drives me nuts. Ick!
**Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! ha!
I guess I am on a roll……
I also can’t stand Manheim Steamroller! First of all, what kind of name is that? And second of all it makes me feel like gritting my teeth! Really…..I don’t like headbanging Christmas Songs! :)
**Stepping off soapbox now. :)
Sarah I agree 100% on both!!!!
My Favorite song is Oh Holy Night. I have always liked it but the version that Josh Groban did is just beautiful! It includes ALL the verses which are amazing praises to God. Go to youtube to find it, the words are very powerful. Good topic Alece!
sarah – i don’t even think i know that paul song… hmmm…
faith – i’ve heard groban’s version – gorgeous!
Your whole thing with the birds cracked me up … My favourite is O Holy Night too, LOVE it. A big part of it for me is the words, I just think it’s really adoring of God, I love that.
You’re hilarious.
Haha.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel…I love the image of God ransoming “captive Israel.” I also love the words Dayspring & Desire of Nations…that’s my Lord!
Least favorite: Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. ‘Nuf said.
Favorites: What Child is This? and
The Little Drummer Boy
I think because He’s the focus in both. They fill me with a sense of wonder and awe…. it’s like I can almost put myself in the place of gazing into the stable and SEEING.
The story of a child giving the best he had to give, a simple song laid before the King as his gift, his only focus the One he’s playing for…. this really moves me.
@traceepersiko says:
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire!
This song is the jam! It reminds me of the song that would play at the end of a movie when the happy ending has happened and someone’s walking around a snow covered street!
Retail stores this time of year are full of stupid christmas songs. My all time ” totally hate this christmas song” is the remix to the 12 days of christmas.. by Destinys Child. You gotta hear it.
Hi Alece, thanks for stopping by my blog!
I agree – birds are gross, and I had better NOT be getting any on any day of Christmas!
Personally, I don’t love The Little Drummer Boy. But I don’t know why. I think it’s just boring. And droning. Okay, so I know why. It’s boring and droning.
Okay, I like “Feliz Navidad” … you just can’t help but start dancing to that one. I have always loved Amy Grant’s “Grown Up Christmas List.” And, a ton of other favorites, but this year, it has to be Casting Crowns, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” It just speaks of amazing hope. Here it is …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7670CXvPX0
My favorite line in it is “God is not dead, nor does He sleep.” He will prevail!
By the way … I love this blog community. Ya’ll make me laugh and cry and just want to chat! Merry Christmas!
lisa — ha! i haven’t heard that one yet this year. and that’s OK with me!
amy joy — as if the song could get any worse? i’ll be on the lookout for it.
photo — well, i don’t think all bird are gross. i wouldn’t want my african grey parrot, starbucks, to think i’m a traitor! and those parumpapumpums do get a little old…
debra — an old friend used to sing it as “alece navidad”. it still makes me smile. and i LOVE this blog community, too! and you’re welcome to stick around and chat! brandy and heidi often do!
debra — i kid you not! “i heard the bells” by casting crowns JUST came on the radio. amazing!
My sister and I used to sing Mele Kalikimaka while hula dancing just to drive my mom nuts :)
Breath of Heaven is my favorite to sing, I posted a recording of it on Monday. And I love traditional ones… O Holy Night, O Come O Come Emmanuel, Carol of the Bells.
And anything Bing Crosby sings. I love Bing Crosby. And Baby It’s Cold Outside makes me happy.
And, as a side note, I want to be wherever that little girl in the header is. She’s intensely beautiful.
i wanna see you hula!
(indeed she is!)
I love “Mary Did You Know?”
It always makes me choke up thinking about Mary looking at her baby boy and having no clue what was in store for his future. Did she know? Probably not. None of us moms know what is in store for our kids, whether it be good or bad. It also chokes me up to know that even though he is LORD, he was still loved as a baby like I love my babies. She was the mother to Jesus. How awesome is THAT?!
As for a song I don’t like much…. “Santa Baby” always makes me cringe a little. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it either. haha!
that “mary did you know” song gets me, too!
@Brandy: I LOVE that song. I used to sing that at church too. Man, this is making me miss worshipping with my church community this time of year…
@alece… hula was a sight, let me tell you. my sister has about as much rhythm as a rock so we laughed a lot! there are some blessings to being in too much pain to move… one is that no one will ever see me hula again :)
“about as much rhythm as a rock” – sounds like me!
I really cringe hearing the “Christmas Shoes” song…yes, I’m a terrible person because I can’t stand it ;)
Feliz Navidad is just one I that I have to hear!
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra version of Carol of the Bells is one of the most amazing Christmas songs. I love it because of how bold it sounds. It’s great!
haha! When I posted before I didn’t read back to see that there are other Santa Baby naysayers. ;-) haha!
1….that voice annoys the carpe out of me.
2….nowhere does it mention the real reason for Christmas
3….she sure wants a lot of dang stuff!
heehee
Heidi: Hated song: Jingle Bells.. It
Gitz, you should post a recording of you singing “Mary…” next! I’d love to hear you sing it. ;-)
rindy — i think i’ve lived in africa too long. i don’t even know a ‘christmas shoes’ song!
raisin bran — carpe?! ha.
@tamhodge says:
i love Walking In A Winter Wonderland!
i think the melody and music sound…sexy.
yes. i said it.
sexy.
i aint ascurd to admit it.
sexy christmas songs are my favorite, too…
@cassgirl says:
@Bran
hun..it’s a stupid song. Who has bells hanging around. Jingling all the way!!!
The only thing that’s jingling at my house is my _____
Not going there. (laughing tho)
WHA?!?!
@heidi: jingle bells drives me NUTS, but I think you might be missing the point that the bells are on the SLEIGH…
:)
@cassgirl says:
Who drives a sleigh??
Especially in San Diego…
It’s just a song Gitz, that you hear all your life and it just doesn’t makes sense.
Hate: Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. Also My Grown Up Christmas List and Christmas Shoes. (There is one more of those sappy-make-you-cry songs that also belongs on the list but can’t think of it now.)
Love: All I Want for Christmas is You and most of Mariah Carey’s Christmas album. Also the Harry Connick Jr. Christmas album, oh, and Aaron Neville.
i seriously need to hear the “christmas shoes” song. if only for mocking purposes…
@cassgirl says:
The christmas shoe song is oh my gosh sweet..
I love it!!
One of my favorites is Trepek (from the Nutcracker Suite). It was just fun to play in band. :) And, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
On a side note, I always have to laugh when I hear Grandma God Run Over by a Reindeer. One of the middle school assistant principals hated that song and one year made the mistake of telling the band teacher that. From then on, until he left from his position there, it was tradition for the middle school band to play that (his son was in band, so he not only got to hear us practice for class, but at the concert, too).
Oops…. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer….
Our last chapel we had this old(ish) woman come up and sing Mary Did You Know.
But, she had problems controlling her vocal chords. It almost sounded like that kid on his batmitzvah in that one movie. (anyone? Anyone?)
So, the lyrics are great, but she kind of ruined the melody for me. Haha.
jen — oh dear!
becca — that scene’s one of my favorite parts of “keep the faith”!
Mary Did You Know…Da BOMB! LOVE IT!!!
Mary Did You Know and Welcome to our World are wonderful! I also love O Holy Night because I love the lines “Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.”
I also love O Come All Ye Faithful because it paints such a wonderful picture of those who were waiting for Christ to come.
And then a more recent song, I love I Celebrate the Day by Relient K.
I really like a lot of Christmas songs…
Christmas Shoes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7-NbXYkBik
Make sure you have a BOX of tissue handy. And don’t let Amy watch or hear it. She has kids. Makes it worse. Seriously. *sniff*
So as I was reading this I started thinking of our husbands in tights with all those rings trying to give us birds for Christmas. yeah…that would be a whole lot of crap.
@brandy: I don’t have Mary Did You Know recorded because I had always sang it with a piano and since I only had an hour in the studio I could only record with recorded background music. I did do Amazing Grace and Ave Maria a capella, but all other backgrounds were pre recorded. Sorry. I’ll sing it to you on the phone someday… HA!
sing it over SKYPE! ;-)
I only have the mic for skype though, no camera. ;-)
HR — i never really thought about those words before: “the Spirit felt its worth” – so powerful!
bran — CHEESY! (sorry! they got to me first!!!) but i did enjoy seeing rob lowe! ha.
applepie — i shudder at the thought!
Ooh, I like these questions!!
Favorite songs:
Amy does do some of the best, so since she has been mentioned for her classic CD, I’ll move on to “Breath of Heaven” & “Grown up Christmas list”, though I prefer the original recording by Bryan Duncan over Amy’s! “Mary Did you Know” by Michael Engish, “oh Come oh come Emmanuel” by Margret Becker, Michael W. Smith’s first Christmas CD is great, are two surprise entries:”Drummer Boy” by Bing Crosby & David Bowie, and then Donna Summer’s Christmas CD!!! Not to be cofused with her “car wash baby” cd!!! : )
I could go on way too long, but here are my classic favorite: “oh come all he faithful”, “Do you hear what I hear” “Noel”…
oh, laura, i’d forgotten about “do you hear what i hear” — i hate that song! (sorry friend!)
Aleeeeece! DANG GIRL! hahaha!! Seriously, not a tear? or a choke? NOTHING?! hahaha!!
And if you enjoy Rob Lowe, you should watch Brothers & Sisters on ABC on Sunday nights at 9. Not that I’m addicted….or anything. Nope.
HEIDI! did you see that? Alece thinks Christmas Shoes is CHEESY!!!
What are we going to do with this girl? ;-) heehee
@cassgirl says:
Brandi. I don’t think she know what the song is.
If she listens to the music I think she listens too. She would be bawling a Christmas shoes
@cassgirl says:
Man, that made no sense. ^^^
the point. I know Alece is sentimental
Christmas shoes is sentimental. I don’t think she’s ever heard it. hmmm let me go find it.
@cassgirl says:
here it is Bran,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpkI7GW2V34
bran posted it up there, too, and i went and watched it.
seriously… not a fan!
@cassgirl says:
I should have looked up.
That’s cool. I don’t like jingle bells
ha!
@cassgirl says:
I’d really would like the Christmas music to stop.
It’s all over the radio. ugh…
O Holy Night. My Fav
Heidi! You want the Christmas music to STOP?!
ahhh, just get a cd of it that you really like and listen to that. heehee ;-) I have my favorite one going all the time. There’s not a song on it I don’t like!
However, I am tired of the radio station here that plays the music….NONE of it is music about the REAL Christmas. It’s a lot of Jingle Bells and Santa Baby. ;-) blah.
bran — what’s your favorite CD that you’ve been playing?
@cassgirl says:
I love Christmas music Bran.. Don’t get me wrong. I have a Harry Conick CD that I love.
But sometimes I am not about in the Christmas music, I want a little Josh Radin or chili peppers or radiohead and definately some nickleback.
It’s hard working to songs like Do you what I hear or we wish you a merry christmas… just sayin
@moweezle says:
I LOVE Christmas songs, so I won’t even attempt to name my favorites…but I simply adore the version of Holy Night by Point of Grace. When I hear that I feel like its a little taste of heaven. Ahhhhh!
Heidi, I LOVE that you like chili peppers and nickleback!! LOVE them! haha!! I have NB’s for cd and I absolutely love #1 on it. LOVE IT!
Alece, my favorite Christmas CD is not one you can buy in stores. It’s from the church I grew up going to….. it’s ginormous and has many talented singers there. In fact, Seven Places came from that church. Anyway, one year a bunch of people got together and made a CD and it’s amazing. I love it. It’s my favorite. I never was very involved in that church, just because I was younger and shy….. for me, my home church is TRF (where Brent and Tam are at). But I still love this CD!
Correction
Heidi, I have NB’s FIRST cd. haha!
Oh, and Kutless. They came from that church/So.Oregon region too.
how special!
Love: I think I have to say O come O come Emmanuel. It’s a prayer for the people of Israel, and I love that it comes straight out of Scripture. It can be sung so … I want o say hauntingly, but … movingly? … beautiful. For a fun song, All I Want for Christmas. :)
Hate: pretty much any of the “Christmas” songs that get played at work. Some of them I’ve never heard before. Some are grating. I have to say, your break down of the 12 days here is wild. Yeah, I don’t like that song much. It’s very repetitious. It repeats itself. It says the same thing over and over again. And … hang on … let’s add one more thing … and sing it again! All on the same three notes. Yeah. I’m sure there are some I’m not thinking of. Hmph.
anneth — you made me giggle with all our repetitious complaints! ha.
@knights_lady says:
Hate Jingle Bells. But love it when Babe sings it like “Jingle Bells, batman smells, robin ran away” and then can’t remember the rest. I love predictable men.
jingle bells
batman smells
robin laid an egg
the batmobile
lost its wheel
and the joker got away
HEY!
@cassgirl says:
OKAY… you lost it!!!
This SONG IS SO STUPID… and guess what??
It’s playing RIGHT NOW on our radio station.
UGH! eew!!! TOTALLY BARF!!
the batman version is playing? or the real one?
i know both make you want to barf, so i just wasn’t sure…
@cassgirl says:
no the real one.
Iceman is really cute when he sings the batman one, i shut off the song in my head and just watch my son… k, you got a smile for that song.
cutie pie.
i don’t even have a response to the song question, i just wanted to say that you, mme alece are a hoot. done.
@gritandglory says:
i miss being called “mme alece”…