The Christmas Thread
 

Just 12 days until Christmas. Tis the season, as they say! The music has started playing, the decorations are going up and the shops are bustling. If you're lucky you'll have snow where you are right now!

Use this thread to get in the mood! Post songs, lyrics, carols, gift ideas, pictures of your Christmas area, favorite Christmas films, weird traditions etc. Anything you can think of that's Christmassy. Much like the Halloween thread back in October.

We have a couple of strange Christmas traditions in my house, although one of the most obscure is that we always get Lime Cordial around Christmas time.

Some of my favorite Christmastime films--these are good and bad, I like both types!

Scrooge aka A Christmas Carol (1951--with Alastair Sim)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Christmas in Monkeyland
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
A Christmas Wish aka The Great Rupert
Scrooge's Rock 'n' Roll Christmas

One that should never be watched is "Babes in Toyland" with Keanu Reeves and Drew Barrymore. There was some kind of curse on that production!

I also wanted to mention that I always watch zombie movies for Christmas, because nuthin' says Christmas like zombies! Happy Holidays, folks!

We have pretty much shunned "Christmas-y" stuff for the last few years now.
Like most "holidays" of this type, I find that it's largely lost it's significance to be replaced by commercialism. BUY BUY BUY SHIT. Breeds bad habits.
So we just don't "do" Christmas.

We have a gathering at which there is much food not on, but "around" Christmas...sit around talking, sharing our time, cooking together, eating and drinking and using the occasion when everyone generally has the free time to do as such. We'll just have a relaxing day, and maybe throw on some movies and music throughout.
Our gifts to eachother are food based, eg - everyone brings/makes something they enjoy preparing, we don't even stick to the Christmas theme with that.
Friends, *some* family, free time spent together without worrying about the rest of the world - This is what "Christmas" would have been like, in my opinion, before it lost it's way.

Of course, when I have a child - I'll allow for a little while some Christmas-type crap, but in all honesty I'm not going to mislead another child to suffer the eventual disappointment of the shallowness of the Christmas/Santa myth...they'll know from a early enough age to comprehend the "real" story of Christmas vs the misrepresentation of today.
I'll just say "some people do gifts", ask them what they want at the end of the year and see if I can get it for 'em.

I always watch the Ray Bolger and Annette Funicello version.

Christmas is what you make it man, if you get caught up in that shit then that's what Christmas becomes. I LOOOOVE Christmas, always have and I hope I always will.

Gotta agree with Despare......it's all what you make of it. But I also agree with cheebs on the commercialism.....it tends to get out of hand.

Having said that I shall post my fav Christmas pic

http://marklipinskisblog.files.wordp...runk-santa.jpg

For sure, I can't disagree there.

Decades ago, Stan Freberg said it best with his "Green Chri$tma$" record...

http://mymerrychristmas.com/2006/greenchristmas.shtml

Some Christmas traditions at my house are:

we go out to eat on Christmas Eve....normally Denny's,since there the only place open.

we normally get to open 1 gift Christmas Eve also

That's all the traditions I can really think of

Some movies I like to try and watch around this season

A Christmas Story, all time classic in my house it's constantly being watched

It's a Wonderful Life, I actually just watched it all the way through at once for the first time this year.Previous years I only saw parts of it.

and basically any Christmas themed movie.

I watch Christmas Evil every year - crazy film..

Having a party Xmas eve too with lots of food and drink..

my wife, son and i started a tradition a few years ago of going to a movie on christmas day.

this year it'll be The New Sherlock Holmes flick.

Finished making my Xmas cards and Envelopes:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...sCard-2009.jpg

Its meant to be a piss take of those ppl who send cards with pictures of their kids on the front.....

Working on my Xmas Podcast at the moment too...

Goint to Watch ome of the M. R. James' Ghost Stories for Christmas prolly on Xmas day (I love this series - any one else a fan)...

I watch Die Hard. I'll be seeing Sherlock Holmes at midnight most likely.

since its that time of year again ...

i posted this before but here it is again ...


the nativity scene i made :


http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a1/...s/DSC02418.jpg

Haha, love the nativity scene, Urge. That thing should be a permanent deature at your house at Christmas.

Awesome. :D

Excellent - urgeok2's...

this is the only place where people saw it and didnt immediately think i was crazy :D

seemed natural to me !

Is that supposed to be Baby Sinclair?

is that the baby from the TV show ?

no - its just a random dino - poking its head out of an egg

Yeah, from the TV show. The arms and legs looked similar but I couldn't tell by the face.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7Qi4E99mXw...bySinclair.jpg

I have some good traditions.

We have people read out loud;

It was a night before christmas
The birth of Jesus Christ out of the bible
The legend of the candy cane

One christmas tradition that we made was to play the recording of my grandfather who died of cancer. He use to have the whole story night before christmas memorialized.

I really like that idea, bringing him to the gathering even after he passed away. Kinda keeps the family complete.

Reminds me of the Nativity scene in the mall in Mr. Bean's Christmas haha.

I'm just going to throw all the great (or not so great) Christmas videos in here.

:cool:

WOW I ddin't know THE SONICS had an Xmas song..

Damn i miseed that formy podcast.

More variety in holiday & anti-holiday music than you can shake a stick at can of course be heard on NeverEndingWonder Radio.

It joins our regularly irregular mix for now. On the 20th we'll flip to all holiday.

does anyone know where those poems we did that year at christmas are ?

i did that stupid version of Twas the Night Before Xmas ... thought it would be good for a laugh to see it again but i cant find it

BLUE VALENTINE is my favorite TW album.

nice !

there's still some parts that make me laugh

This one might not matter much to the US folk.

X factor (the show which replaced Pop Idol) have claimed the Christmas number one for the last four years. And last year it wasn't even an original song (it was yet another cover of Halleluhia). This year it was yet another cover...The Climb by Miley Cyrus (sung now by Joe McElderry.

Fed up of the talent competition and Simon Cowell's grasp on the Christmas Number one a campaign started. People realized that a Christmas song was unlikely to hit the top spot, although George Michael did try. Instead, just to rub it in Simon Cowell's face, the song chosen for the campaign was Killing in the Name by Rage Against The Machine.

Today, around 15 minutes ago it was announced. Rage Against the Machine won. This is truly a step forward. Now the rebellion is out there, maybe next year it can be a real Christmas song. Perhaps Wizzard's I Wish it could be Christmas Everyday which only reached number 4 all those years ago.

Here it is, the 2009 Christmas Number one single.

:)

Mom keeps saying she's making Christmas in the house.

I've had this in my head quite a bit this week lol.

On top of the fact that I love that song, Bing Crosby was [likely, we're not 100% on this] my Great Grandad's cousin/ second cousin.

But that one always gets me in the Christmas mood.