- Log Channel
- Good King Wenceslas
- The Little Drummer Boy, particularly the Crosby/Bowie video version
- The calm of Christmas Eve/Christmas/Boxing Day after the shopping storm
- Family dinners
- The aura of goodwill
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- It's a Wonderful Life
- The late 80s Superman story from a "Christmas with the Super-Heroes" special
- Lights and glitter
- The renewal of hope and the possibility of a better tomorrow.
None of this in any particular order. I may get curmudgeonly about certain aspects of Christmas sometimes (rampant consumerism, chiefly), but any even that gets people to think about kindness to others and peace on earth...well, that's an event worth celebrating.
I love the ritual of Christmas Mass, but I guess we are keeping things secular. I like the Junior Hockey playoffs, however that's not even on your radar.
ReplyDeleteIn honour of the play-offs, I have taken your 11 items, and created a playoff structure for them. Unfortunately, with 11 slots, there had to be a bye, so I picked #11 as the "home team", as it's the most positive.
PLAYOFFS:
1vs2, 1 wins. Log beats Wenceslaus. What has the good king done for us lately? Log is now in HD.
3vs4, 3 wins. TLDB is eclipsed by Jingle Bells as one of the hardest Xmas songs to sing with style, although you can't ever EVER go wrong with Sinatra. Frankie Blue Eyes kicks the crap outta Boxing Day or any day of the week.
5vs6, 5 wins. Turkey trumps aura. Besides, 6 is an awful lot like 11.
7vs8, 7 wins. IAWL?! One of those movies that gets worse every time you watch it. Charlie Brown was an incredibly cheap Christmas, tons of limited animation and re-uses, mumbled dialogue, robotic expressions and acting. Without the genius of Vince Guaraldi, we wouldn't be talking about this. Vince wins this one, God bless his soul.
9vs10, 10 wins. Superheroes and Christmas make an uneasy mix, especially after that comic Ron found a year or two ago with Supes & Batman. I honestly can say that pretty much did me in for both characters at X-mas. Give me The Tick Loves Santa any day.
11 is the home team, gets a bye.
The semi-finalists are: 1,3,5,7,10,11.
SEMIS:
1vs3, 1 wins. Sorry, Frankie, but Drummer Boy is too dour to last past the first round. If only you had sung "Blue Christmas" for the Avatar soundtrack...
5vs7, 5 wins. The ritual of a beautiful family dinner far outweighs 22 minutes of so-so animation interrupted by 8 minutes of frantic sales pitches.
10vs11, 11 wins. How can mere glitter compete against the glowing warmth of the human heart? Just ask Tiger Woods.
The finalists are: 1,5,11. 11 takes the bye.
FINAL:
1vs5, 5 wins. My greatest fondest wish would be to have a great family dinner once more. I got my wish on my parents' 40th anniverasary three years ago, but since then, Mom has been too sick. Fortunately, close friends and family appreciate my cooking, and that's a blessing.
CHAMPIONSHIP:
5 versus 11 in a bareknuckle brawl for Christmas supremacy. 5 WINS!!! 5 WINS!!! 5 WINS!!!
In matters of the heart, I gotta go with my stomach, especially if the bird was basted with butter and sake every 15 minutes, there is Mundare sausage on the table, and mounds and mounds of peroghies. Not to mention, we are all at the table for another Christmas - that's a treasure beyond price right there.
Happy Holidays, Earl's Blog Readers!