SHP Forums

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, and a fantastic new year to come.

In honour (?) of the season, here is a short song I penned a day or two ago...

(to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas")

The twelve things this Christmas of which I've had enough...
Every shop has Santa,
Acting like I'm happy,*
Crass commercialism,
No one mentions Jesus,
Self-important shoppers,
Bloody Christmas traffic,
Toy of the season,
BLAND CHRISTMAS TUUUUUNES!!!
Over-consumption,
"Twelve Days of Christmas",
Fat spoiled kids,
and advertising for stuff!

___________________________________
* I don't have kids, so the endless Christmas cheer bores me. It's even worse when I have to be happy all the time, just to fit in. Bleh.

Haha I'm sure you can find SOMETHING to be happy about! Right, Mr. Grinch??

Meh, Christmas is okay. Since I don't celebrate it, I don't have to worry about buying a tree, buying presents, making a big meal etc.

On the other hand, when I go grocery shopping etc., I have to put up with endless repeats of dreck like "Last Christmas I gave you my heart" by Wham!, or "All I want for Christmas is you" by Mariah Carey. Sheesh! Thousands of years and tens of thousands of songs to choose from, and the shops choose to put those two songs on endless loop. Ugh. (These two are what I mean by "bland Christmas tunes" - compared to these two, even "Jingle Bells" is fine).

As for music... how about Bruckner's gorgeous "Ave Maria", or Rachmaninoff's stunning "Bogoroditse Devo"? Christmas has so much to offer, musically and otherwise, and it makes me sad that, on a daily basis, people have to settle for the lowest common denominator.

Oh well... I've lectured enough! Sorry

P.S. "Bloody Christmas traffic"...? I tried getting parking this morning, so I could go grocery shopping. I found the last parking space, and was just taking off my seat belt when some angry woman wrenched open the driver's-side door to harangue me about "How dare you take the last parking spot, I was here first" etc. I was stunned, so I just grabbed the door and slammed it shut - but apparently not hard enough, because she wrenched it open again and kept yelling about how I was so rude, etc. This time, I slammed the door shut and locked all the doors. Sheesh! I'm sorry you didn't get a parking spot, lady, but that's no reason to start yelling at people.

Well, for those that do celebrate the holidays - Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays!

Same to all of Sierra Help forums.

Rath Darkblade wrote:Meh, Christmas is okay. Since I don't celebrate it, I don't have to worry about buying a tree, buying presents, making a big meal etc.

On the other hand, when I go grocery shopping etc., I have to put up with endless repeats of dreck like "Last Christmas I gave you my heart" by Wham!, or "All I want for Christmas is you" by Mariah Carey. Sheesh! Thousands of years and tens of thousands of songs to choose from, and the shops choose to put those two songs on endless loop. Ugh. (These two are what I mean by "bland Christmas tunes" - compared to these two, even "Jingle Bells" is fine).

As for music... how about Bruckner's gorgeous "Ave Maria", or Rachmaninoff's stunning "Bogoroditse Devo"? Christmas has so much to offer, musically and otherwise, and it makes me sad that, on a daily basis, people have to settle for the lowest common denominator.

Oh well... I've lectured enough! Sorry

P.S. "Bloody Christmas traffic"...? I tried getting parking this morning, so I could go grocery shopping. I found the last parking space, and was just taking off my seat belt when some angry woman wrenched open the driver's-side door to harangue me about "How dare you take the last parking spot, I was here first" etc. I was stunned, so I just grabbed the door and slammed it shut - but apparently not hard enough, because she wrenched it open again and kept yelling about how I was so rude, etc. This time, I slammed the door shut and locked all the doors. Sheesh! I'm sorry you didn't get a parking spot, lady, but that's no reason to start yelling at people.

It's Ok Christmas is not for everybody. Man that sucks you had to deal with Scrooge type person.

Rath? You still haven't thrown away your idiot magnet?

Oh boy do I feel your pain about those two songs... in fact about anything with sleigh bells annoys me to no end. But I do very much appreciate some carols, like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and the Dutch Midden In De Winternacht. And Holiday Lemmings and the Santa Rockstar series.

Maybe they'll show Home Alone 2 again this Christmas...

BBP wrote:Rath? You still haven't thrown away your idiot magnet?

Oh boy do I feel your pain about those two songs... in fact about anything with sleigh bells annoys me to no end. But I do very much appreciate some carols, like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and the Dutch Midden In De Winternacht. And Holiday Lemmings and the Santa Rockstar series.

Maybe they'll show Home Alone 2 again this Christmas...

Yeah, I really can't stand those two songs either. And it doesn't help that "Last Christmas" has *3* different covers (4 versions total) that get constant airplay. We have a classical music station that plays some nice stuff. "The Nutcracker". Orchestral arrangements of classic carols are always nice. I just heard an orchestral version of the Chipmunk's Christmas song which was surprisingly good. I don't even particularly like the original.

BBP wrote:Rath? You still haven't thrown away your idiot magnet?

I've tried. *shrug* Must be the kryptonite in my pocket. Heavy metals attract magnets, y'know.

Seriously, though... my part of Australia seems to be swarming with idiots, particularly around Christmas time. Some of the stories I could tell... Some of these people are very odd, but harmless. Others, though... yikes! Watch out.

BBP wrote:Oh boy do I feel your pain about those two songs... in fact about anything with sleigh bells annoys me to no end. But I do very much appreciate some carols, like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and the Dutch Midden In De Winternacht. And Holiday Lemmings and the Santa Rockstar series.

Maybe they'll show Home Alone 2 again this Christmas...

I agree. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is fine. I haven't heard Midden In De Winternacht before... *listens on youtube* Catchy! Heh, I don't know Dutch at all but I can guess that "Christus is geboren" means "Christ is born"?

I'm a little tired of Christmas movies here in Aussieland. For the past few years they figured that they couldn't keep repeating Yes Virginia etc., so they've put Sister Act and Sister Act 2 on endless repeats. All right, they were fine the first couple of times, but sheesh. I'd prefer to watch The Sound of Music again, even if I already know all the words - or perhaps Oliver! (for Ron Moody's performance as Fagin) or My Fair Lady (for Rex Harrison's performance as Prof. Higgins).

Can't say that's my favourite version... it's too slow for a start...
Here's a nice one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChJWlOhZIew
I love how the pace of the song changes in the chorus.
You'd be correct about Christus is geboren!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have an enjoyable holiday season

BBP wrote:Can't say that's my favourite version... it's too slow for a start...
Here's a nice one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChJWlOhZIew
I love how the pace of the song changes in the chorus.
You'd be correct about Christus is geboren!

Thanks BBP! That cheered me up and helped me get into the holiday spirit. So...

Hoe D'oh Snow! Berry Christmas Hairy Christmas! *scatters assorted berries and cherries for the forum, giggles madly, and runs away*

I don't typically 'do' Christmas. It's kitsch and full of bells, pine, christianity and other things that make me itch.
2018 was a pretty big year for me though, since I got a new job. And in the canteen, they have a radio. Which plays Christmas songs all the time. Now I liked Slade's Christmas song but hearing it twice a day...
And then there's the company Christmas party...
Which was totally awesome - at the Evoluon, my beloved UFO-shaped building, with a circus theme and great spare-ribs. Could've stayed there forever!

Like some other members of my family, I'm a bit impulsive, but I'm also timid, that does curb my spontaneity. Yesterday I did something highly impulsive.
As I was cycling home from work, I noticed a sign that said "Free (couldn't read)." This peaked my interest, after all, I'm Dutch, so I walked over, bicycle in hand, to see what was free.

It was Christmas trees! We always used to have one, but back in 2007 the combination of high prices and my worsening pine allergy made us stop getting them, so now we have two little plastic things to keep things sort of Christmas-y. In a split second decision I decided to salvage the poor tree that would otherwise have been burnt, laid it on my bicycle and walked home.

Dad was a bit dumbfounded, he hadn't expected me to come home with a tree, but he directed me to the tree stand, and brought the decoration boxes from the attic.
All the baubles are there, from the newest one I got at work to the old aluminum baubles that my father made because mini-BBP loved to squeeze them. The newer lights break all the time but the oldest lightbulb ones that were in the tree when I was tiny are still there. The wooden figurines, the disco-ball, the elegant purple pendants, the beautiful mat purple baubles, the old silver baubles that are older than me, the paper angel I made aeons ago, the pompon balls we bought at the christmas market when I was in elementary school... It's a jumble of different colours and textures but all baubles are welcome here. For the first time in years, I feel the Christmas spirit. Not the tacky stuff from the movies, but a nostalgic spirit of the good ol' days when Christmas was worstenbroodjes and free from school, sleighing at Grandma's and gazing at the beautiful tree.

Unfortunately the tree toppled today, I hope it'll stay up this time... and that after Christmas is over, we can put him in the yard.

I wish you all very happy holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I had a fine Christmas this year. Not bad at all. I participated in three Christmas concerts with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic (Choir and Orchestra), the Australian Children's Choir, a pipe organist and a marching bagpipes band. Tiring, but exciting! But by the end of those, I needed an aspirin as big as my head.

Hope you all have a peaceful and joyous Christmas.

So sweet about your tree, BBP! I bet it looks cute.

Merry Christmas to everyone! As many things we can be unhappy with that are not to our liking, we should find some sliver of happiness or gratitude because that's what it's all about. I just got over a cold, the grocery store is full, Valentine's decor are out on the shelves already.. but you know what? I'm just happy to have a warm home spending time with my family I haven't gotten to see for a long time.

You live every day but you only die once. So live it up!!