Favorite Christmas Songs:: Non-Traditional

Again, there are just so many to pick from. But with a lot of careful thinking, here are my top five:

5. "Last Christmas" by Wham!-- I know, I know, this song is so cheesy, but I absolutley love it and end up singing right along with it. I think the song was permanetly endeared to me when a few years ago on New Year's Eve our friends Reed and Nikki as well as Mike and I ended up choreographing the chorus together. I recall laughing hysterically. "Last Christmas, you gave me your heart, but the very next day you gave it away...."

4. "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee-- Bring on the sounds of the 1950's! I love it! Makes me want to hang some tinsel strands on my tree, put on my good pearls (really I have none) and serve cookies to my guests in a starched dress and high heels. I love that decade!

3. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" by Bing Crosby-- Gotta have a song by Bing Crosby on here. Such a classic song sung by a classic voice. To get the full effect, you must listen to this song after all children are in bed while sitting next to a fire with the only other light being the glow of the lights on the Christmas tree. Ahhhhh.....

2. "I Celebrate the Day" by Relient K-- Well, after haning out in the 40's and 50's, jump with me if you will to today! I absolutely love the lyrics to this song. "And the first time, that you opened your eyes, did you realize that you would be my savior?, and the first breath that left your lips, did you know that it would change this world forever?....","And I celebrate the day, that you were born to die, so I might one day pray to you to save my life." Good, good stuff.

1. "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"by Gayla Peevy-- Surprised? I guess I'm a sucker for songs written in the 1950's cause I love everything about this one! It is funny, sweet and will stick in your head all day after you hear it! It's also cool that the song has an Oklahoma City connection. The ten year old girl who sings this song is from OKC, and in 1953, after the song grew in popularity, she was actually presented with a real baby hippopotamus which she then donated to the Oklahoma City Zoo. The hippo was named Matilda, and she lived a long life here, passing away just a few years ago in 2003. My girls LOVE this song too. I think the three of us danced around to it several times the other day. I would really recommend that.
So for your listening pleasure, here is my favorite non-traditional Christmas song.....

Favorite Christmas Songs:: Traditional

My sweet girls after they finished decorating our tree

First off, I posted a comment with the answers to yesterday's Christmas Carol Brain Teasers. So check back if you just couldn't figure out what song features a "light brown explosive." =)

I figure while I'm on the topic of Christmas Carols, I'm going to milk it for all it's worth. And what better way than to do a "top five" list! I think I'll do one list for my favorite traditional Christmas carols and then tomorrow list my top five non-traditional songs. Then I promise to change the subject!

I've been thinking about my top five traditional Christmas carols all day today. It's been harder than I thought narrowing it down to just five, but it appears that I like songs with the word "O" in it. I also considered which songs I've loved to sing since I was young as well as songs that have only recently become my favorite.

Ok, here we go!

5. O Come All Ye Faithful-- I love this song simply because it is so happy and joyful sounding. It even says so right in the song: O come all ye faithful, JOYFUL and TRIUMPHANT!

4. Angels We Have Heard on High-- My favorite part is trying to sing "Glooooooooria" in a really operatic voice. I've been doing this lately and my girls have been telling me to stop.

3. We Three Kings-- For some reason, I have loved this song since I was a little girl. I remember a conversation I had with my mom while we were riding in the car one time: "Mom, what is an 'orientare'? Mom: "It's not a thing, it's a place-- the Orient." I was still confused at the time, but eventually I figured it out. I've always loved the chorus, "Star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright! Westward leading, still proceeding...."

2. O Holy Night-- this one is just plain beautiful. Beautiful lyrics with a beautiful melody. I just wish I could get my voice to go high enough to hit some of the high notes.

And my number one favorite Christmas carol is.......

1. O Come, O Come Emmanuel-- I've always liked this one, but it was only in the last five years or so that the idea of just how much the Old Testament and New Testament are connected has really started to sink in for me. I think, like most people, I always saw the Bible as a series of stories, with Jesus being the most important story. But as I've grown in my faith, I can clearly see that the Bible is really one big story. My Bible study leader last year would always say, "The New Testament is concealed in the Old, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New." Last year I studied the life of Moses, and through reading his story, and the story of the birth of the nation of Israel, I can see how much we needed a Savior! I can almost hear the Hebrew slaves in Egypt crying out, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel!!" And even though Moses or any of those Israelites didn't live long enough to see it-- Emmanuel came! Emmanuel literally means "God with us." Oh, I'm so glad he came. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to thee, O Israel!"

What are some of your favorite carols?

A Christmas Brain Teaser

One of my favorite things about Christmas is singing & listening to Christmas Carols. There's a radio station down here that plays them non-stop from Thanksgiving Day to New Year's Eve, and I look forward to it every year. When I was teaching, the day before Christmas break I always gave my students a Christmas carol word puzzle to work on. They had to come up with the title of the Christmas carol that matched each "clue". In honor of my teaching days, here are some for you to work on (I think my worksheet had about 25 of these!). Leave your guesses, and I'll give the answers tomorrow! =)

1. Buxom maniacs toasting over an uncovered flame
2. Metallic ding-a-lings
3. Crimson proboscis precipitaion darling
4. Listen, the heavenly beings are speaking!
5. Light Brown Explosive
6. Shout the news from a high place

Relaxation 101

Tundra's tips for a night of relaxation:

1. Eat until you are incredibly full (preferably out of a bowl placed on the ground)
2. Grab a quick drink from the sink (you must locate a human to turn on the faucet first)
3. Find a comfortable spot at the foot of the bed
4. Roll on your back, extending front and back legs as far as they can comfortably be stretched
5. Drift off into dreamland

I tell ya, this girl knows how to relax.

Saturday Night Lights

Gee, I wonder what kind of Christmas Light displays are in the Oklahoma City area this season?

To anyone with this pressing question on the minds today, I will soon dazzle you with an array of Christmas Light pictures that will put that thought to rest. You see, this past Saturday night, Mike and I and our kids and my parents all loaded up in our Pathfinder to partake in an affordable (in other words FREE) Christmas activity-- looking at lights! We decided to make an evening out of it by inviting my parents over for dinner. Afterwards all of us helped decorate our Christmas tree while we listened to some classic carols (and occasionally checked the Florida/Alabama game). The girls had a lot of fun hanging up ornaments this year, especially when they came across one that they had made in years past. When all the ornaments were hung, we put the girls in their pajamas, brushed their teeth, then loaded up and went to hit three Christmas light hot spots. Starting with....

Automobile Alley near downtown Oklahoma City. I had read that on these few city blocks lights were strung literally from top to bottom of the buildings. And it did not dissapoint.
We cruised this strip up and down a few times admiring all the "stripes" of Christmas lights.
Next up was a trip to Chesapeake Energy Corporation on 63rd and Western. Chesapeake has a huge campus there and we had heard that the trees all over that campus were just spectacular. I loved the beautiful, psychodelic, Candyland-type atmosphere these lights created. Pretty cool, huh?

And finally, we drove by a house in a pretty, upscale neighborhood called Nichols Hills. We had actually happened upon this house the night before as we had driven home from grabbing a quick bite out for dinner. The girls and I wanted to show Grandma and Papa our "find."

There really is a house back there behind all of those crazy lights! I wonder what their electric bill is going to be this month? Oh and while we were driving in this area, we passed a pick-up truck with twinkling icicle Christmas lights wrapped around it and a large, decorated Christmas tree standing up in the back!

And you know what? After all the anticipation the girls had had that day, they fell asleep about ten minutes after being in the car! We woke them up to see the lights on Automobile Alley and Chesapeake, but then just let them sleep the rest of the way. Poor things! Have you seen any neat Christmas lights lately?

Picture of the Week

When you have two older sisters, being covered in My Little Ponies is a common thing.

HAVE A WONDERFUL SUNDAY!

Hot Chocolate

What to do while waiting for a steaming mug of hot chocolate to cool? Well, grab two willing participants to practice using your camera's self timer, of course! During this time you will be able to perfect the art of expressing different emotions such as.....

HAPPY

SILLY

SAD

SURPRISED

and ANGRY

Oh yes, with time and practice, you too can become a master at expressing emotions as well as a master at using your self-timer. And last but not least, you will have two perfectly not-too-hot mugs of hot chocolate that will taste delicious on a chilly evening. I promise.