Thoughts On Thanksgiving

How do you do.

  I will admit that three of my favorite holidays happen in the autumn season: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Thanksgiving is the middle of the three is one of the few holidays, other than Independence Day, which Americans can safely call "our holiday."

  The reason to why we call it is summed up by Linus of Peanuts: "Ours was the first country in the world to make a national holiday to give thanks" (A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving). In the history of Christianity, giving thanks is traditional, largely done during church. The idea of a holiday selected just to give thanks is completely novel.

  A few things are needed to understand with Thanksgiving. Despite the common name we have on the story of it, the first Thanksgiving wasn't really done by the Pilgrims in Plymouth. There were, in fact, acts of thanksgiving done on this continent prior to 1621. The very first was done by Spanish explorers in another part of the continent. In 1610, the settlers in Jamestown Colony, now in Virginia, had their own Thanksgiving celebration. There was also one done by English settlers at Berkeley Hundred a few years later and it celebrated it until it was destroyed by the 1622 massacre and abandoned. The one done in Plymouth in 1621 is most famous and because the Pilgrims' plight matches with the American myth of leaving the Old World for freedom in the New, people consider this to be the first. It was Alexander Young who labeled it thus in 1841.

  A second thing to bring up: I am using "Pilgrims" on purpose but the Pilgrims were in fact Puritans, though not the same sort who settled in what is now Boston. Puritans existed longer, a remnant of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century England. In the website, ushistoryscene.com, the basic information of the Puritans is this:

 Puritans strove to be honest and godly in every aspect of their lives, from conducting their business in the city to running their country estates. They thrived on constant community with other Puritans, with two sermons on Sunday and multiple weekday meetings where they could parse sermons, pray, debate and discuss passages from the Bible. Puritans believed in predestination, which meant that eons before the world was created, God decided the fate of every person who would ever live on Earth, whether they would be saved by his grace or damned by their sin. Nothing could be done to change this judgment.

  They are considered a product of the reign of Queen Mary, who earned the nickname "Blood Mary" for executing anyone who suspected of being Protestant or was a Protestant. The nightmares of her reign, which consisted of people being burned at stake, is responsible for the Anti-Catholic nature of the Puritans and when Queen Mary died, they rejoiced. They flocked to London and welcomed the Protestant Queen Elizabeth. However, they felt she wasn't doing enough in removing the Papal influences in the renamed Anglican Church. Thus they branched off and became the Puritans who waged a holy war on the Church which climaxed with the English Civil War and the appearance of the Commonwealth. There were disagreements within the Puritans, some who would like to purify the Church from the inside out. Others, however, decided that the Church cannot be purified and it was best to start over. That was how the Puritans we now call Pilgrims came to be.
   What they were doing was considered treason in England. During the times from when King Henry divorced Catherine of Aragon England witnessed religious persecution and oppression. Someone who dared to celebrate a certain way that the King or Queen did not approve was executed in horrible fashions. In this kind of atmosphere, religion had in what skeptics consider a tool for the powers that be and anyone who didn't fit in was destroyed. If one wasn't killed, he disappeared in the dungeons, walked the streets of London with disfigured faces, or was not allowed to walk among polite society.
   Given this kind of world, it is no wonder the Pilgrims wanted to leave England. The Pilgrims fled to Holland and then to America. They were originally going to Jamestown which had been founded twenty years prior but were diverted to Massachusetts as it was closer after the Mayflower took some beating from sea storms.

   One other thing to add on the Pilgrims, or Puritans, or whatever, is that not all of those people in black coats with tall hats who spoke like characters out of Shakespeare while seeing all things as sorcery that we see in the paints and school plays were Pilgrims. Some of the men on the Mayflower were men of fortune like Captain Myles Standish. Others included indentured servants, people who are given a free passage across the Atlantic in return for a set number of years of servitude. There were also crewmen of the ship itself, led by Captain Christopher Jones.

  We celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November but history does not record the exact date that the Pilgrims did theirs. It apparently is sometime between September 21 and November 11, which coincides with the abandoned celebration of Michaelmas back in England (they were English, after all, not Americans). Since Michaelmas had not been celebrated in England since King Henry VIII severed ties from Rome, it is doubtful the Pilgrims put it there because of it. A more plausible reason to the time was due to the period of the harvest happening between those dates. Two eyewitnesses of the event recorded their words into their diaries, Governor William Bradford and Edward Winslow, both of whom are cited as primary sources in any research on the matter. You can look up "Of Plymouth Plantation" by Bradford and "Mourt's Relation" by Winslow for their testimonies. In the years prior to American independence, each individual colony had its own date of Thanksgiving. Then, in 1777, the Second Continental Congress declared two days of the year to be appointed as the Thanksgiving days, one of which was in honor of the victory at Saratoga. After the War of American Independence, Thanksgiving was mostly proclaimed by presidents, such as Washington, Adams, and Madison. These were not done in the fall but tend to happen after something grand, like with Madison's case being the end of the War of 1812. However, New Hampshire and Massachusetts set aside November 14 and November 28, respectively, as Thanksgiving day a year later. Both dates happened on a Thursday which started the tradition of it being on a Thursday. It was, however, in the middle of the Civil War that Thanksgiving was declared to be on the final Thursday, after a proclamation of President Lincoln. Apart from the time in 1939-41 when President Roosevelt moved it around to boost sales, it has been that way ever since.


  Another thing to know is it wasn't the first of a series of land grabs as commonly believed. In fact, when looking into the story of "First Thanksgiving", it actually comes out peaceful. The Pilgrims wanted to be free of religious persecution and found a spot to reside in their exile. They did get the permission to reside in the spot they set up in a land that was also claimed by England. However, the common depiction of it as a family affair is romanticized. Most of those attending were men. According to Robert Krulwich, what was going on was the celebration of the alliance between the Pilgrims and Chief Massasoit. The women who partook in this were doing the cooking (and given the number of men involved that was alot of mouths to feed). It still appears as the one time in a history of genocide and feuding that two groups of people come together and had a peaceful celebration.

  One thing people can find in the news of Thanksgiving is how it effects Native Americans, basically that it is a celebration of genocide. In reality, the only American Indian tribe involved with Thanksgiving was the Wampanoag. Everyone else had nothing to do with the event itself. One thing I learned with the celebration was that there was a tradition done by the Wampanoag that people living with them were to tribute the harvest to the main village. Since the Pilgrims were living along side them and England was far away, they had to give tribute to them. One could say the Pilgrims heeded the command: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars, and unto God the things that are God's."

  So all this became connected in our culture as a massive feast, with the common expected items as turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, and cranberry sauce. The Thanksgiving done in Plymouth didn't have any of those things: pies were hard to cook with a lack of ovens and there were records of other sorts of birds hunted and used for meats. Some places in the US will have variants. My home state has people who replace the turkey with ham, pumpkin pies for lemon, and cranberry sauce for turnip greens. So don't be like Peppermint Patty at every Thanksgiving dinner. While women still cook up the dinner, these days, the entire family will pitch in, be it the daughter who lathers the bird, the son who sets up the table, or the husband who handles the oven. The Thanksgiving in Massachusetts had men do activities with guns whereas today men are satisfied with watching football. In fact, since the early 20th Century, the Thanksgiving Parade has been added to the tradition. Yet Thanksgiving can be a different day from what is commonly expected.

  But the best thing I think about with Thanksgiving is the fascinating story of it. Once they got to America, the Pilgrims had only God to answer to and they prayed for Him to provide them during the cold winter. Many of those Pilgrims died from diseases and the cold while they stayed. Then God answered their prayers through Squanto. Squanto was a man whose people died when he was taken away. He returned to his home as an orphan and was allowed to live among Massasoit and his people. Squanto helped the Pilgrims in farming and hunting (using techniques like trapping animals with booby traps and using fish as fertilizer) and this led to a bountiful harvest. From that harvest, a community was born and, for a brief time, there was peace between two different peoples.

  Thanksgiving is more than just food, football, parades, and dog shows, and a history of bad deeds. It is about people of different backgrounds coming together at the table and break bread together. It is a fitting tribute seeing people come together and be peaceful to one another, be they European American, African American, Asian American, Hispanic, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Wiccan, secularist, feminist, young, old, male, female, everyone of different skin color, different faith, different creed, different political stance, different preference, different sex, different age, all sharing in the banquet. As a Catholic, I find it comparable in minor terms to the Eucharist, where all those who followed Christ are invited to partake in the Last Supper. If we can be like the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags, and learn to put aside our differences and help each other in the worst of times and gather to feast in the best of times, then perhaps, that would be the greatest Thanksgiving feast of all, one where there is peace on earth and good will to men.

Food For Thought: Non-Christmas Music

   How do you do.

   By this time, you may be turning on the radio and hearing Christmas music playing on the radio. It does seem early but it could be worse. But what this blog entry is about is the songs that I've seen Feminist critics list as creepiest and the ones that people like to think of during the holiday season as Christmas music. Of course, these critics have failed to address the bigger issue on the fact that some of the songs they attack cannot be considered Christmas songs. Wikipedia would list these as "Adopted Christmas music", though a more accurate name for them would be "Winter songs" or "Holiday songs" (the terms most people use for Christmas music in general for the sake of political correctness). There are also other songs that are listed as Christmas music despite the fact they are of different topics.

  Before we explore, there are three things required of a song to be considered "Christmas music." 

1. Song has center on the Birth of Christ (Nativity), or at least make reference to it.
2. Have the original intent for Christmas and not for anything else (Yule, Advent, etc).
3. Song needs at least one mention of the word "Christmas" and have a character associated with Christmas.

  Any song may lack a requirement and still be called Christmas music but to lack two or more, especially both the first two requirements, will render it as simply a "Winter Song." For this post, I have listed about 25 songs that you may have heard on the radio, seen a feminist critique of, or are just plain familiar with and show how they are not Christmas music as they would fail to meet all three requirements, or even just two.

1. Jingle Bells.

  I start with the most popular of the songs done in Christmas, the American song "Jingle Bells." The song was written by Massachusetts song writer, James Lord Pierpont, who is said to have become a church organist in a church in Savannah, Georgia at the time he wrote the song (this sounds like the genesis of the song "Dixie" which also has a Northern born author). Most people are familiar with the chorus of the song, plus the first verse. In neither case do we hear of the word Christmas. In fact, Pierpont did not really intend it to be a Christmas song. According to common belief, his song was mostly for Thanksgiving (which technically makes this an Autumn song instead of Winter). The reason why it is done for Christmas is the wintery image it presents: the snow. 

   If you take the lyrics aside and read them, you see that not a single instance does anything of Christmas show up. No mention of the Nativity, no word of Christmas, and don't bother looking for it in your church hymn books because it ain't there. From the looks of it, the song is more about a guy who takes a ride his one horse open sleigh in the first verse, took his sweetheart for a ride in the second verse which ended in badly, then got mocked by a rival, and tells men to try his luck with a faster horse (would make a plot for a Christmas movie, maybe). 

   At the time of the song's composition, it was common for Northerners to dust off the sleigh and ride in them during the snowy days of winter -- between December and March when it snows the most (Indeed, it is foreign to me as it rarely snows in the same time frame where I come from, and when it does it is never deep enough for sleigh rides). In a time before cars were around, a horse drawn sleigh was the only way one could take a ride, if you didn't want to "walk fifteen miles through the snow", to quote Grandpa Lou of Rugrats. It was also one way of taking a girl out for courting, fellas. The jingling of bells is the sound little bells make on the bridle, which is perfect is letting people know you are coming; sometimes, that white snow can blind you.

  The horse was described as "lean and lank" which both have the same meaning. The horse is skin and bones at this point. I wouldn't say malnourished as Going Rampant did but I am willing to say whoever owned that horse needed to feed him more. Unless, of course, the horse is product of a famine. This theory can be contestable since the 1850s were a prosperous time for the US. That fact alone can explain why people call it a case of animal abuse, especially since they still use the poor animal to pull a sleigh. This last can be explained by the fact that not all horse owners could afford to feed the horse on oats and grains. Instead, the horse was grass fed, which doesn't provide enough nourishment for the animal in the winter. In that same time period, food tends to be hard to come by during winters (there are plenty of stories of people starving between Christmas and the Vernal Equinox), thus that fat the animal built up during the harvest season has burned of by that point. Also, in this time when people needed horses for transport, the horse would still be employed even if he were skinny. What's worse, the horse appears to have stumbled somewhere, possibly breaking some bones while getting his passengers in the snow. If the horse was badly hurt in the accident, the only solution would be to put the animal out of his misery, which we don't hear in the song. Instead, the singer advises young men to get a faster horse and "go it while your young." 

   So, for "Jingle Bells", the verdict is it is not a Christmas song, even if it has a catchy tune.

2. Winter Wonderland

   "Over the ground lies a mantle of white 
   "A heaven of diamonds shines through the night

   "Two hearts are thrillin' in spite of the chillin' weather.

   "Love knows no season, love knows no clime 
   "Romance can blossom any old time.

   "Here, in the open, we are walking and hopin' together."

   Thus opens the delightful song "Winter Wonderland." When you look at the song's lyrics, it fails to be a Christmas song because it lacks the mention of it. Instead, we are given an image of a young couple in love strolling through the center of town, or somewhere out in the countryside, in an old fashioned courtship ritual. In the days when even calling it a date was never an option, a stroll through the lanes was a method of courting for men and women, where they would talk on a few topics (filled with wit though always G-rated). On a good day, such couples would walk a few miles in this fashion, stop by the pharmacy for a coke or even eat in a restaurant, sit for a tit-a-tat on a park bench, and pick some flowers. During winter, making snowmen replaces flower picking.
   The idea of using the child's game of make believe in romance was not unheard of at the time. It is fun to be a little boy and a little girl again. This explains the line "In the meadow we can build a snowman / And pretend that he is (insert what they want him to be)." The most well known verse with the line has the couple pretend that he is Parson Brown. There's an interesting thing that happens in the northern states, where parsons would travel around (almost never finding a spot to settle) and would be in town for a day. One of the things a parson would do is marry a couple. Parsons are protestant ministers (I am sure if Dick Smith were Catholic, the couple would have pretended he was Father Brown instead). This bridge concludes with a kind of honeymoon by the fire.
   During the 1950's people actually thought the line wasn't appropriate for children so another set of lyrics added as an alternative. This time, the people walking pretend the snowman is a circus clown. They have "lot's of fun with Mr. Snowman / Until the other kiddies knock him down." While Bing Crosby's take doesn't include them, this one will often precede this coda: "When it snows, ain't it thrillin' / Though your nose gets a chillin' / We'll frolic and play the Eskimo way / Walking in a winter wonderland." Of course, recent political correctness either wants to replace Eskimo with Inuit or just remove the lyrics all together.
  "Winter Wonderland" is a delightful song to be sung from December to March but it is not a Christmas song. It's just a winter song. Now it can be sung on St. Valentine's Day as well as Christmas, due to the romantic image of the people strolling down the lane during winter and all.

3. Let It Snow

  Another song played in Christmas with hints of romance. The song is highly suggestive: who knows what the couple will do since "there's no place to go" and "the lights are turned way down low." However, the male singer, I'll use male in this instance, could be singing about how he'll miss the warmth of his lover's love, and the fire, as he goes outside to clear away the snow or some other action. However way you describe it, it's a fine song to sing in the winter. In fact, my mother told me a few times that it was on the radio, starting in the Christmas season and it kept airing on the radio all through St. Valentine's Day. The word Christmas is not uttered, there is nothing about Christmas of any manner or form, nor is there anything about the Nativity. "Let It Snow", even if it's popular in Christmas, is not a Christmas song. 

4. Baby, It's Cold Outside

   Each November and December, I turn on the radio for the Christmas station and hear Dean Martin sing this with his Ding-a-lings, sometimes with Martina McBride. There are times I do dream of being able to sing it in a duet with a lady. However, it is not a Christmas song because it fails to meet any of the qualifications. Like "Winter Wonderland" and "Let It Snow", the song is only played in December because of its winter theme, which is not really a good reason.
   One thing that is pointed out by websites and videos is that there is a dark side to the song, which can be summed up as a man wanting his girl to stay home to wade out the storm and yet the girl wants to leave, prompting the man to tell her how cold it is, that the weather is bad, and finally that she is hurting his pride. Critics of today have considered "Baby, It's Cold Outside" to be a date rape scenario. At one point, the woman asks "Say, what's in this drink?" Of course, in the second verse, she does say "the answer is no", yet she gradually decides to stay the night in the house. What happens next depends on the man, who is called the Wolf in the lyrics. If he's ethical, he'll just provide the woman a place to sleep, even have her sleep in his bed while he takes the couch. He may even find a way to call up her family and let them know she's safe, assuming the phones are working. However, if he is unethical, and most people make him out to be, he'll take advantage of her.
   At the same time, the fact it was written by Mister Loessner with his wife suggests it was originally just be a playful thing between them. Not only that, a few values dissonance are brought to mind. People actually expected girls to be chaste and modest, thus would always be ready to turn down any offer the man throws her way or play hard to get if she is interested in him. The men, on the other hand, were encouraged to be persistent. If a man backed off, that implied he didn't see her as good enough for him. However, this didn't mean there were no stalkers around, who could just hear the word no so much that they start disregarding it. Today, in this casual hook up culture, men are expected to be eager for sex and yet respect a woman for saying "no", and if the woman didn't like the sex she could call it rape.
   For these reasons, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" shouldn't be labeled a Christmas song. Even if, in this current culture where people have condoms in their pockets, ready to sleep with someone at the drop of the hat, unless the girl says no, the song is still a good song to sing now and then. Besides, the wolf doesn't have to be the guy. There are some performances where the roles are reversed. I'm sure since everyone wants same-sex marriage there could be a same-sex performance of this song as well.

5. Deck the Halls

   I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, "whoa whoa, slow down! Wait just a minute! This is a Christmas freaking carol, sir knight! Why is it on the list?" I'll explain by the fact the song fails on the third qualification (lack of the word Christmas mentioned) and it fails on the second as well as the first. "Deck the Halls" actually centers on the pagan holiday called Yule.

6. Sleigh Ride

   This song is "Jingle Bells" moved into the 20th Century. Leroy Anderson never stated this to be a Christmas song, yet it is played frequently during the season. Apart from the The Carpenter version, there is not a single time the word Christmas gets uttered, nor does the song mention any Christmas tradition. The party that the singer mentions is actually a birthday party, though one wonders why would anyone want to stop at a birthday party when he is not invited. 

7. What Are You Doing In New Years Eve

  Good question. Unfortunately, I do not have an answer yet. Now if the question was "is this a Christmas song" then the answer is rightly forthcoming: "no." This is brought into the mix due to The Carpenters singing it in their Christmas album. The song is more about the singer who talks with someone (a friend or lover, I don't know), and asking what is he / she doing on this night. Because it covers New Years, it is not a Christmas song.

8. Auld Lang Syne

   This is a Scottish song that is often sung on New Years. Here in the United States, we sing it in Christmas as well as New Years (which explains why it is sung at the end of It's a Wonderful Life). Because of that usage, it has become listed as a Christmas song. In actuality, it belongs in New Years, even if the whole phrase is "Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years."

9. The Messiah

  There are parts of this composition of George Handel that fit one of the qualifications. That is mostly in the early parts of it. However, Handel didn't actually write The Messiah for Christmas. It was actually for Easter. You should also look at the libretto and you will notice most of the performance centers on the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. The only part of the Nativity that is included is the Annunciation to the Shepherds. The famous "Hallelujah Chorus" doesn't even happen in this part, but at the end of the Second Part, which features the Passion.

10. Frosty the Snowman

   The Littlest Angel, the Little Drummer Boy, Ebenezer Scrooge, Santa Claus, Old Man Winter, Jack Frost, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Saint Lucy, Yule Cat, and the Nutcracker Prince. All these characters are associated with Christmas in our society and in the 1950s, they were added by a walking, talking snowman named Frosty. However, the song cannot be considered a Christmas song because it fails on all qualifications (the animated special produced by Rankin / Bass changes the final line to "I'll be back on Christmas day", but that does not count).
  The song is instead about Frosty, being made by a group of kids, who are provided a magical hat, but the song doesn't say where it came from, and it made him come to life. The children love the living snowman but Frosty sees it's a warm day and decides to have some fun with them. The song ends a vague manner but from what we know, he may have walked out into the street, stopped on command of the traffic cop, and was hit by a car, just as he was melting (and this is why they tell you to look both ways before crossing, kids). The song doesn't tell us so, largely to not scare anyone or traumatize kids that their favorite snowman dies on the road. Instead, he may have made it to the other side only to melt away and before doing so, "he waved good bye saying 'don't you cry, I'll be again someday.'" Some singers make more by adding "because" as a bridge between the final verse and the cop saying "stop."
   If anything, it's a good song about something coming to life and a reminder to people, in the gentlest ways, that life is short and should be enjoyed. Of course, with Frosty being a snowman, one can ignore what could be interpreted as an implied reincarnation event in the last line. One last thing to add: the special titled Frosty the Snowman is Christmas, the song on which it is based on is not.

11. Good King Wenceslas

   For the eleventh entry, this was tough as it is a Christmas Carol, which means it should be added to the canon. However, because it doesn't center on the Nativity, nor does the word Christmas get uttered, the song has to be listed. As a Catholic, I view Christmas not as a day but as a season, starting on Christmas Eve and lasting until the Epiphany (January 6). The story of the song takes place on the Feast of St. Stephen, which is the day after Christmas Day (a fitting location on the calendar for Christianity's first martyr). However, the United States is not a Catholic country, thus Americans will always see Christmas as just one day. Not only that, because it doesn't take place in the Nativity, nor on Christmas day, it is erroneous to call it a "Christmas song."

12. The Bells of St. Mary's

   I will say that I enjoy the movie, as it is a classic, and, so far, the only time I have seen Bing Crosby with Igrid Bergman. The movie is considered a Christmas classic for only one scene, which is when Father O'Malley (Bing) and Sister Benedict (Bergman) over see a pageant by first graders. Apart from that, the movie is just a melodrama of a priest and a nun overseeing a school that is in need of a new building yet a stingy business man owns that new building.
  In the same token, there is no mention of Christmas in the song. Instead, "The Bells of St. Mary's" is more like a school song. It is sung by Father O'Malley with the nuns in one scene after Sister Benedict and the others have learned that they are going to have new school building. Despite the reference to Mary, the song doesn't belong in Christmas, just as the Ave Maria can be played or sung at any time of year and not just December.

13. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

   I'll admit I haven't heard this one yet but I can tell it fails to meet the qualifications. The song is apparently about the singer saying that he doesn't need much to keep warm, just love. It kind of goes on par with "All You Need Is Love". At no point is Christmas mentioned nor is it about it, though the word December is mentioned in one line. Once again, the winter setting is what confused many people and make them think of it as a Christmas song.

14. Linus and Lucy

  This ought to be the theme song to "Peanuts". Of course, we don't seem to have the lyrics to it which explains why it is hard to list it as Christmas. The only reason why they list it is because it was played in "A Charlie Brown Christmas", and like "Bells of Saint Mary's", the one scene is why people treat as such. "Linus and Lucy" can be heard in other "Peanuts" specials, especially Halloween and Thanksgiving. By popular logic, that should make it Halloween music or Thanksgiving as well.

15. Little Altar Boy

  Altar boy is an old school name for altar servers (with girls taking role in it, the Church got a little PC in one spot). If you attend Mass -- should a church actually have altar servers -- you would see them by the white robes they wear, they would be as young as seven and as old as sixteen, one of them would be holding the cross. They lead the procession to the altar at the start, then take their place at a different spot of the altar. They would hold the book for the priest as he reads, bring up the gifts, wave the incense, (in more traditional churches, they would ring bells as the priest consecrates the Host and the Chalice). Taking that aside, the song is actually consisting of the singer asking the Altar boy to pray for him / her. My guess, the singer has just taken Confession, or has some problem with sin, and with no one else to ask, the singer asks the altar boy. At no point is there any mention of Christmas or anything on Christmas.

16. Count Your Blessings

  Since White Christmas is a Christmas themed romance, the rule is that any song sung in it has to be Christmas. However, the only song that fits in that category is "White Christmas." The rest are just entertainment songs. This is one of them. By that logic, that makes "Tropical Heat Wave", "Blue Skies", "Mandy", and "Snow" as Christmas songs. If anything, "Count Your Blessings" is a better lullaby than a Christmas song.

17. Suzy Snowflake

  "Suzy Snowflake" uses the same key as "Frosty the Snowman", to a point that the notes sound the same. As with "Frosty the Snowman", "Suzy Snowflake" has no reference to Christmas. It's basically a feminine element like Jack Frost who drops by for the winter and doesn't stay long. Of course, Suzy proves to be creative in the few lines: "If you want to build a snowman / I can make one, two, three / If you want to go for a sleight ride / The ride's on me." What would be a creative idea for a Christmas song would be a meeting of Frosty the Snowman and Suzy Snowflake on Christmas.

18. Jingle Bell Rock

  With the film, Mean Girls now ten years old, I must bring this up, since it appears in the film, during the politically correct version of a Christmas show scene. Watch this if you want to see how the Plastics translate that song.

   A rock 'n roll version of "Jingle Bells", which uses the same themes but updated tones. Like most rock 'n roll songs, "Jingle Bell Rock" contains nonsensical lines and the use of the word rock. It even contains a reference to another song called "Rock Around the Clock." Would be useful in a 1950's themed winter party but it still doesn't make it a Christmas song. So the radio can still play it after Christmas.

19. Walking In the Air

   In the 1980's, the children's book The Snowman is made into an animated movie, which lasts only twenty-seven minutes, with almost no dialogue, save for the introduction, yet features this song sung by Peter Auty while the Snowman and the boy fly to the North Pole. Despite the song happening in a Christmas film, it has none of the qualifications of a Christmas song (I have noticed Chloe Agnew opened the first Celtic Woman concert with it but not the Christmas concerts).
   The story The Snowman is something like "Frosty the Snowman", minus Frosty. A boy makes a snowman on a winter's night, which implies to be Christmas Eve, and he comes to life without the use of a magic hat. They explore various things until the Snowman decides to fly to the North Pole with the boy and they encounter a land of snowmen and Santa Claus. The song is played as the two fly. At no point is Christmas mentioned. Like "The Windmills of Your Mind", the song feels more like a flying song and the singer reacting, or rather expressing the boy's reaction, to the flight. The only way it would be a Christmas song would be if it had some kind of intro verse.

20. A Spaceman Came Traveling

  An artistic reinterpretation of the Nativity in which a space alien visits Bethlehem and his visit causes a stir. That, and that it fails on the other two qualifications, is why I have it on this list.
   The Divinity of the Nativity is non-existent in the song. In "Silent Night" we know who the "mother and child" are which is something that this song does not. One would have to look into the notes to see. In some way, it implies the spaceman visited a different mother and child and everyone mistook it for Christ. The child is not even given much in the song but the use of baby is symbolic in  the song for other purposes. The visitor then announces that he must leave and will return in two thousand years, Earth time.
   As a Christian, I am reserved about the idea of shepherds and townspeople mistaking an alien spaceship for the Star of Bethlehem and the music of his space ship for the choir of angels, and thinking it to be a sign from God. Say what you will about primitive people reacting to the sight of a technologically advanced visitor but the idea that ET (and I like the movie about him, too) dropped by to see Christ and people used his visit to inspire the Nativity story undermines the beauty of the story and it denies the Divinity of Christ.
   The song can be good to sing on any other time of the year, and Lisa Lambe's take gives it a bounce, just don't sing it in a church.

21. Home For the Holidays

  Again, a song that is played during the Christmas season. When you look at the lyrics, you note there is no reference to Christmas. Instead, it's "the holidays." It's a vague term because the song can mean home for anything: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Memorial Day, Independence Day, or Labor Day. Since the words mention pumpkin pies, the holidays are in the winter and fall category, since most people tend to eat it in that time frame. If there is anything remotely Christmas of "Home For the Holidays" it would be the image of warmth of family and friends you know in a siege of an icy winter's chill. With travel costs, most will prefer to stay home, but that is often why people buy tickets weeks or months in advance. 

22. Over the River and Through the Woods

  This song was played in an episode of Shining Time Station, courtesy of the Jukebox Band. This, along with "Jingle Bells", was heard as most people expected it to be played on Christmas, though I cannot find any reason why. The song was originally a poem by Lynda Maria Child, where she was going to her grandfather's house for Thanksgiving. Evidence of this is the lines "We would not stop for doll or top / For 'tis Thanksgiving Day" and "Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!" The word Christmas is not in the original poem. Even though some people put it in in lines mentioned, it still doesn't make it a Christmas song because of its original intent. The only reason people would include it is the reference to snow. Historically, New England at the time was experience the Little Ice Age which made snowfalls earlier then than now. It does make a symbolic journey of hardships that we face, as evidenced by the river and the woods the singer goes through, until we come upon our home and are greeted with warmth and a banquet. In short, a journey into Heaven.

23. A Marshmallow World

  Hearing this song used in a Target commercial where a little girl pretends she's a modern day Alice going through Target Wonderland encouraged me to add this. The song is lovely, the kind that can really melt in your mouth the way actual marshmallows do. However, to call it a Christmas song is like calling a coke with high fructose corn syrup a sugary drink. It doesn't meet any of the qualifications of a Christmas song. It mostly is just the singer commenting on the snow filled landscape, how it resembles that soft white sweet that one toasts over fire at camp, often to make s'mores with. Never once is Christmas mentioned in the song.

24. Happy Holidays

  Yeah, I know. People are going to greet me with "Happy Holidays" anyway. In fact, long before I was born, Irving Berlin wrote a song with it. However, the song is not Christmas. Happy Holidays is a vague greeting that, by any respect, can be said on any holiday. However, most people don't wish it on Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Jr Day, or Easter. So why should Christmas be an exception? I don't know. That can be on another blog entry. As to the song, the song is short: though Andy Williams turned it into medley with "It's a Holiday Season" which mentions Santa on a few occasions. When looking over the lyrics of the song from the film Holiday Inn, the song is actually an advertising song for the inn that the film's plot centers on. Of course, advertising is common now in Christmas but that still doesn't make "Happy Holidays" a Christmas song.

25. My Favorite Things

  I'll end with "My Favorite Things". I do not know how this became a Christmas song since the song did not come from a Christmas play. The Sound of Music doesn't even take place on Christmas, but in the summer. The only reason "My Favorite Things" is associated with Christmas might be because of this lines, "Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eye lashes / Silver white winters that melt into springs..." For the most part, the song is about Maria listing a few things that make her happy in times of trouble, none of which include Christmas. Instead, it's treated as a folk song sung to the Mother Abbess, who joins in, and then Maria sings as she goes to the chateau to meet the Van Trapps. In the movie, she sings this to calm the children down in the thunderstorm. As delightful as the song is, "My Favorite Things" is not and will never be a Christmas song.