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Two new decorations: Candles in the window:

Window wreath:

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I swear to Blog,* Maurice is who I learned to do a French accent from in English. Well, it could have been La Le Beau on "Hogan's Heroes."

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Considered a Christmas song, "2000 Miles" was not about what you think it was.

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That one is on my top 25 Christmas songs.  It's about overcoming the dread around this time of year and getting oneself "in the mood. "

I rarely hear that sort of song anymore. What I hear in stores are variations on Christmas classics sung by warbling divas who think they're doing the next "version" of the National Anthem.

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"These wonderful things are the things we remember all through our lives"

That recording is 50 years old and still I never tire of it. I associate it with those great Firestone and Goodyear Christmas albums from the 1960's that my parents would play on the console stereo this time of year. Plus there's something about the singers' chemistry and counter-melody duet.

Gormé was quite a looker in her day:

She passed away just last year. Her husband, Steve Lawrence, wrote:

Eydie has been my partner on stage and in my life for more than 55 years. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and even more the first time I heard her sing. While my personal loss is unimaginable, the world has lost one of the greatest pop vocalists of all time. Link

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I was shopping tonight at Trader Joe's and a cover version of that song came on. I held down the record button on my iPhone voice recorder and held it up to the speaker long enough to make a note. I forget whose version it was -- everybody has covered it -- even Bob Dylan tried to "uncover" it.

The song, originally the B-side of "White Christmas," was written in 1942 as a nod to soldiers who couldn't be home, but, more universally, to anyone who wanted to be home.

Merry Christmas... Again

'Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer' like I've never heard it before, in Latin.

Reno erat Rudolphus

Sing Hosanna, Hallelujah!

This one is my mother's favorite.  I adore it too--what's not to like? The song features a banjo, that greatest of American instruments. It also has a complexity which many Christmas Carols lack.

The New Christy Minstrels spawned the likes of Barry McGuire* (Eve of Destruction), Gene Clark (The Byrds), Kim Carnes (Bette Davis Eyes), and the Kenny Rogers. The NCM belonged to that wonderful but brief period of American music between the death of Buddy Holly and the invasion of The Beatles.
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*His growling voice appears briefly at the 1 min 44 sec mark.