Tis the Season

So it’s December and most of us are getting into the holiday spirit. I’m trying to this year but I gotta be honest I’m having a tough time with it this year, it’s been a rough time so far. I’m not gonna be Danny Downer though, no this post is about Christmas/Hanukkah. I’m gonna post some of my favorite holiday songs and see if I can jump start my holiday spirits.

Since it’s Hanukkah as I write this let’s start with one of the few Hanukkah songs I know. I’m sure most of you know this one too, if not please to enjoy four plus minutes of Adam Sandler singing about Hanukkah!

You know, I did a search on YouTube for Hanukkah songs, not a whole lotta choices! So since I’m not really Jewish and I couldn’t really find any other songs that I know or really inspire me to post them I’m gonna move on. No offense Jewish readers.

I’m gonna start with one of my favorite holiday specials ever. This one usually puts me in the mood but when you watch it for the first time in November it kind of kills the mood. Regardless of that I still love this one, even if it is forty something years old.

You know I tried to find the actual clip from the cartoon but the only one I could find was a crappy version that some had recorded from a camcorder and uploaded. The one above is the best one I could find. (And I watched a LOT of them!) There’s something about Thurl Ravencroft’s voice that’s soothing though, I could listen to that song over and over again. Oh wait I did!

Since we’re on the subject of the Grinch

I can’t believe how hard it is to find the original clips from the cartoon! This was the best I could find for this song too! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot over? Oh well I guess it’s the song that really matters right? Right??

How can you do an article about Christmas songs and not have a clip of Rudolph? I gotta admit, there are a ton of memorable songs from Rudolph, I’m gonna restrain myself and just post a few of them.

I gotta admit, I have a love/hate relationship with this song. Because my last name is in the song every Christmas guess what I heard?

Last one from Rudolph, I promise. What’s that? No Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? I can’t do Christmas songs without including that one? But..but…it’s my blog! Okay, fine! You win!

I knew if I didn’t include that one, some of you would track me down and lynch me. I gotta admit, I may have watched this one when I was a kid but I don’t remember it as fondly as some of you do.I gotta give it to the Rankin-Bass people, they did a heck of a job for what they had back in the day.

Okay I know this isn’t technically a Christmas song but come on, who doesn’t think of this at Christmas time? I actually remember aluminum Christmas trees. Thank Jeebus they didn’t last very long, they were pretty hideous. Off topic for a second, one of my favorite childhood memories is my Dad selling Christmas trees outside the firehouse. He wasn’t exactly a “people person” but he could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo if he wanted to.

Anyway, back on topic, I’m going waaaay back with this one. This is another one everyone should know, maybe not the cartoon but the source material.

From a Golden Oldie to something a little more modern.

I know this probably isn’t gonna win me a whole lotta geek points or improve my street cred any but I was never a big fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas. I don’t know why, it combines Halloween (my favorite Holiday) with Christmas. You’d think that’d be instant win but it just didn’t do it for me.  I know a lot of my readers are fans though so that’s why I included it.

I struggled with this next song. Not because of the content, but because it was so hard to choose between this one and his other “Christmas” song. I went with this one purely on seniority, not because I like it better.

You know what? You guys guilted me into posting Rudolph so I think I should get to post another one of my choices by default!

You know, on that note I think I’ll wrap this post up. I hope the songs and clips helped put you in the holiday spirit. If not then your just a grinch!

Thanks for (still) reading!

Dan

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