Editor’s Note: If you want to learn more about the 12 days of Christmas, you can also visit this link – https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/12daysofchristmas.shtml#:~:text=The%2012%20Days%20of%20Christmas%201%20%2825th%20December%29%3A,of%20Jesus%27s%20Disciples%20and%20friends%29%20More%20items…%20
From Michael E. Bird
Tallassee
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The twelve days of Christmas begins on December 25 and ends on the Epiphany January 6, so we’re smack-dab in the middle of the “real” Christmas season (even though the rest of the world thinks it starts in October and ends before Santa Claus can even warm up the sleigh).
Before it’s all over with, I submit my own personal must-watch, must-listen list for the Christmas season. Some of these are easy to find; others seem to be fading away.
12. “HOLIDAY INN” and/or “WHITE CHRISTMAS” (Netflix) – these movies both star Bing Crosby and feature the bestselling record of all time; their plots are similar. One features Fred Astaire and the other Danny Kaye. But if you can find these entertaining films, watch them – they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
11. “HOME ALONE” (Disney+) – One of the most successful movies of the ‘90s, the hilarious original (and its totally preposterous but equally funny sequel) is sure to tickle anyone’s funny bone. While Macaulay Culkin was a great child actor, the “wet bandits,” Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, carry the whole show and withstand more physical abuse than Pesci doled out in “GoodFellas”.
10. “I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS” (Decca Records) – Maybe it’s Bing Crosby’s delivery on his 1943 recording, or maybe it’s the subject matter of a soldier off at war during the holidays. But this song about missing family and friends allows the listener into the heart of a person far away, with the concluding words ‘I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.’
9. CHRISTMAS EPISODE OF “THE BRADY BUNCH” (Paramount+) – Carol Brady is set to sing Christmas Eve at church, but is besieged by laryngitis for days. Miraculously, her voice returns just in time to sing praises. Similarly, the 1988 TV-movie “A Very Brady Christmas” found Mike Brady pinned inside a collapsed building on Christmas; the Brady brood prays him to safety.
8. “CHRISTMAS (BABY PLEASE COME HOME)” (Philles Records) — Dave Letterman helped popularize this classic by inviting Darlene Love to perform on his show every year from 1986-2015. Ms. Love belts out this Phil Spector “wall of sound” tune with such fiery intensity, especially the last line, it’s hard not to believe that she REALLY wants her baby to come home!
7. GARY OWENS PREPARATION H COMMERCIAL (YouTube) – This famous outtake by one of the greatest voices of all time (you may recall his work on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” from Beautiful Downtown Burbank). Owens, who actually wanted to be a cartoonist and attended a Charles Schulz workshop as a teenager – see #1 on this list- is reading a radio spot about the wonderful season of Christmas, but gets to the sponsor’s tag line and laughs so hard, he completely loses control.
6. “AVE MARIA” (Columbia Records) – There are two versions: the Bach-Gounod and the Schubert. The Bach-Gounod version, as performed by classical violinist Isaac Stern with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (whoever they were), is my favorite.
5. PAUL HARVEY’S “THE MAN AND THE BIRDS” (ABC Radio Network) – This one has faded from memory, but masterful storyteller Paul Harvey wrings meaning from every word in his annual retelling of this modern parable, in which the main character doesn’t believe in the Christmas story of a baby born in a feed trough in the desert — until he tries to shepherd a lost flock of birds into his warm lighted barn on Christmas Eve, and the church bells begin to ring “Adeste Fideles.”
4. “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE” (Amazon Prime) – Who could not be affected by the look on Jimmy Stewart’s face when his uncle loses $8,000 and he is forced to sell his soul to mean old Mr. Potter? Our heretofore selfless protagonist proceeds to attack his loving wife and family, then thinking his existence is worthless, heads to a bridge to commit suicide. Angel-second-class Clarence happens to be there to save George Bailey from himself, and lets him see what Bedford Falls would have been like had George never lived. It was never really about money: Harry Bailey (who would have died as a young boy if he hadn’t been rescued by George), raises a glass at the end of the film and says, “A toast to my big brother George: the richest man in town.”
3. “NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION” (HBOMax)– The crude side of Christmas gets its due with Chevy Chase’s hapless Clark Griswold on his eternal search for the perfect family Christmas, complete with crazy relatives, spiked egg nog, a subscription to the jelly of the month club, faulty power strips, raw sewage, and a burning Christmas tree. And perhaps the most hilariously profane meltdown in PG-13 history.
2. “A CHRISTMAS CAROL” (Hulu) – The story is always good. But having seen the Alastair Sim, Patrick Stewart, Jim Carrey, and Muppets versions (theirs featuring Michael Caine), in my humble opinion, the hands-down best Ebenezer Scrooge has to be George C. Scott in the 1984 TV-movie. He epitomizes cold, bitter meanness; yet, when he is seen begging the spirit to give him another chance, his display of true humanity is palpable – and unforgettable.
1. “A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS” (AppleTV+)– We can’t make it through the season without the classics “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” among many others. But if I had to choose just one animated special to keep forever, this would be the one: Vince Guaraldi’s jazzy score sets the tone for this downbeat favorite, in which perennial loser Charlie Brown searches for the true meaning of Christmas when he is asked to direct the school Christmas pageant. His so-called friends have their own materialistic ideas of what the holiday is about, but best buddy Linus captures it all with an impromptu recitation of the birth of Jesus story from Luke’s gospel.
As Tiny Tim said: “God bless us, every one.”
Tallassee High School
Michael Bird, M.Ed.
Choir | Band | Tallassee High School
