Everywhere It's Christmas
On Christmas day you can't get sore
Your fellow man you must adore
There's time to rob him all the more
The other three-hundred and sixty-four
Tom Lehrer
I'm not really in the "Christmas spirit" this year. Thinking about what happened in Newtown, Connecticut ten days ago, that on top of things too numerous to mention, I really am in a bit of a funk this year. I feel a bit like Charlie Brown in that classic television special from 1965, wondering if someone - anyone - will come along and explain to him the true meaning of Christmas. Where are you when I need you most, Linus, you thumb-sucking, blanket-bearing little swine? Bleak. Too bleak.
"And lo, the
angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them and they were sure afraid. And the angel said unto them: fear
not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be
a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of
the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward all people."
The Gospel according to St.Luke
Chapter 2, verses 9:14
from the King James Bible
The Gospel according to St.Luke
Chapter 2, verses 9:14
from the King James Bible
Message received. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who've made this little weekly tirade of mine part of your reading habit this year and in years past. Having this forum as a means of venting for the last six-and-a-half years has made me more psychologically healthy if nothing else. It's also a lot of fun. As long a we can laugh, we are healthy.
So enjoy yourselves and your families. Drink a toast, make merry - and for the love of Mike - go easy on the figgy pudding, alright?
I don't believe in wishing people a "merry" Christmas. Drunks and drug addicts are often quite merry but they are seldom, if ever, "happy". Like Doctor Winston O'Boogie said nearly forty-years-ago:
And so Happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young!
Have a grand time, folks!
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
AFTERTHOUGHT:
The photograph at the top of this page is the cover of the Percy Faith Orchestra's "Music of Christmas" LP. It is my earliest memory of holiday music - and I still love it fifty years later! Here's a track:
Cheers!
UPDATE, Christmas Day 2012:
Here's something to leave you with that I wrote five years ago that's more in the "Christmas spirit" so to speak:
"Keep your eyes open for the miracles all around you. And remember the
simple truth that there is more music to be found in the laughter of a
single child than can be found in all of the symphonies ever composed by
all of the composers who ever lived."
That's more like it.
SUGGESTED LISTENING:
The Beatles Christmas Collection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFg4BWHEE_I
Every year at Christmastime, the Beatles would send out a little 7 inch flexi-disc to the members of their fan club all over the earth. Here's the entire collection - 1963 to 1969. It's a lot of fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFg4BWHEE_I
Every year at Christmastime, the Beatles would send out a little 7 inch flexi-disc to the members of their fan club all over the earth. Here's the entire collection - 1963 to 1969. It's a lot of fun!
posted by Tom Degan @ 1:46 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Thanks Tom and a very Merry Christmas to you and to yours!!
p.s. I miss Perry Como's Christmas specials on t.v. They were, very special.
Amen, Anonymous. Perry was something special. This one is for you, pal:
Love in a Home by Perry Como
Happy Christmas!
Tom Degan
We had that album when I was growing up, too!
Happy Christmas!
Tom, it has been a great year for the Rant. Congratulations on a job well done and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season for you.
It's been cool'mon.
Later . . .
Thanks, Charles. You've been reading this stuff since the beginning. I must say that I admire your strong stomach!
Cheers!
Tom
Hoping for a year with fewer fools, have a good holiday.
Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world.
Thomas Merton
Merry Christmas everyone!
Hi Tom,
I want to thank you for all the humor you painted in the political happenings in Washington and across the nation. That picture foor a pessimist and cynic such as myself, would have been bleak most certainly. I feel fortunate to have survived the Romney run for the White House! Again and again I would find myself wondering, did I really see that...did I really see that? With your help and take on things, I'm still here and what's left of my brain has not turned to mush or even worse turned into a little grease spot dribbling down to the floor. In all seriousness, I came through it, all things considered, quite well! So Happy Christmas and a Merry New year! The current list of political woes sadly includes the GOP and their refusal to admit they lost the election. They don't appear to understand they hold no cards in the budget negotiations. Now Speaker Boehner wants the deal he was offered in the summer of 2011. Reaaaaly? Of course that's off the table now much to his Cheeto-orange dismay! Ring-Around-The-Rosie comes to mind or even better, Pop-Goes-The-Weasel...
All the best to ye this holidays, Tom! And don't feel too bleak, for there are many of us who read your blog and feel relief for a voice of reason in a sometimes crazy, bleak world. Thanks for that! Here's to hope for for a safer, saner, better world in 2013!
Cheers,
Brett in MN
Thanks for the kind words, folks. Much appreciated. We do live in interesting times - no doubt about it!
Cheers!
Sal,
You are correct, the GOP has no hand. Everything that happens from now on is Obama and his supporters responsibility.
Elections have consequences. The majority of voters said they were ok with the past four years and wanted same for the next four years.
Enjoy!
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