5 Xmas Songs I Love. 5 Other* Xmas Songs

*Should Never Have Been Written, Sung, Re-made, or Re-mixed

5 Christmas Songs I Love (in no particular order):

3) Little Drummer Boy

This is a great song for a multitude of reasons. It was written by Katherine Davis, a schoolteacher, in 1941 and was originally called 'Carol of the Drum' (I wish that was what it was still called today). And it was first recorded by The Trapp Family Singers...as in the Von Trapp Family of Sound of Music fame. These are facts I learned later from Wikipedia. My original love of the song came from the TV Special of the same name. It's one of those stop motion movies like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Santa Clause is Comin' to Town. This was the first movie I ever remember crying in (if you haven't seen it...it's on youtube). If you read my previous post about John Williams you'll see how the "drum" aspect of the song appeals to me (see how I draw you in new reader!? now you have to go read my other posts so you don't feel left out!) This song has been successfully re-made by numerous artists including Bing Crosby, Johnny Cash, Andy Williams, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, the Brady Bunch, New Kids on the Block, Alicia Keys, Destiny's Child, Josh Groban, and most recently the cast of Glee. Every version unique while holding on to the magic of the original.

1) All I Want for Christmas

Nothing says Christmas to me like the first time I hear this modern classic from Mariah Carey played on my local radio station. When that music box opening starts be it on the radio, in a bar, a dingy discoteque, or my iPod (rest in piece) my heart leaps for joy and the 10 year old still living in my soul squeals with pure delight. With the vast anthology of classic christmas music out there it has been hard for modern era artists to break into the christmas genre with something truly smashing and original. Mariah Carey is that exception (Britney Spears came close with her hit 'My Only Wish'). Mariah's (I call her that cause I feel so connected through her music) song speaks to all hearts at Christmas time man, woman, and child. Who of us hasn't belted out every line of this Christmas tune...dare I say ballad? It speaks to the magic of Christmas that though we live in a material world (1%?) all we really need...all we really want...is each other (dramatic!)

5) Rockin Around the Christmas Tree

Ultimate decorating song. I love decorating for Christmas. I go Christmas Chray-zay! But decorating is exhausting and even the most tried of all hall deckers can hit a wall. It could be a too tangled string of garland or a wreath full of burnt out lights but every festooning decorator faces their Everest. And I have found the best way to tackle that summit is to blast Rockin Around the Christmas Tree (Brenda Lee version).

2) Feliz Navidad

I didn't include this song just to show how culturally aware I am (but I am). It's an awesome song that reminds us to look at Christmas around the world. My favorite days in Spanish class always revolved around holidays (first of all because it usually involved food). Dia de Los Muertos, Semana Santa, and Navidad. My cultural awareness of Christmas also allows me to celebrate all the way up til the Feast of the Epiphany (look it up if ya dont know).

4) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Silent Night is a beautiful Christmas song...and so is HYMLC. Perhaps the most poignant (for me...it's my blog) performance is Judy Garland's in Meet Me in St. Louis. The first time it snows I always want to go outside and listen to this on my iPod (RIP...I guess I'll be listening on my discman this year)...if I could sing well I'd sing it...and if I had a cloak like Judy G I'd wear it. Maybe this year I'll do it.

Important lyric from HYMLC to remember when you're sad about being a grown up:

Through the years we all will be together.

5 Other* (they are all labeled as 0 because they stink)

0) Santa Baby

Creepy (especially when Madonna sings it)

0) I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause

How dare someone accuse Santa of adultery, stupid child!

0) 12 Days of Christmas (Redneck Christmas)

Original is kind of agitating...this is just stupid. A complete waste of everyone's time.

0) The Chipmunk Song

The Chipmunks are annoying...why do they want a hula-hoop so bad?

0) Grandma Got Run-Over by a Reindeer

Mean...and also completely unrealistic...a reindeer would never run anyone over...especially not a grandmother.

Look for my petition in your emails, forward it 2 all ur friendz!

Airplane Observations

I've been doing a lot of flying around recently due to work, Notre Dame games, and holidays. As a result I have made some personal observations.

Personal Observations:

1) People Watching

It is common knowledge that the airport is hands down the best people watching place in the world. On one of my recent trips I spotted the oft whispered about but rarely seen...hipster* dad. Imagine, a slightly bearded, six foot two-ish, brooding sort of gentleman, adorned in his faithful flannel, with a messenger bag bought at a military surplus store artfully draped 'cross his shoulders. But this hipster is different than most for gripped in his hand is not a well worn copy of Jack Kerouac's The Road but the tiny hand of his three year old protégé...wearing Ray-Bans (Wayfarers). Not all people watching expeditions are as joyous, to get to something as inspiring as the hipster dad many episodes of the 6 year old tantrum, the very loud business man/lady talking on their bluetooth (dumb), the person sitting too close to you in the terminal with the really wretched cough (please note that I am aware that sometimes I am the one with the wretched cough so I tend to give people with colds a break...but it doesn't mean its an enjoyable experience), and finally "that guy" who is SO aggravated that the flight is delayed that he can't even talk, he can only make those grunting grunts and sighing sighs, because it's SO much more inconvenient for him than everyone else. But it's moments like the old couple holding hands, the "love actually terminal" scenes, the military guys getting handshakes from 5 year olds, and the hipster dad moments that make it all worth while.

Now because I am such an avid people watcher I realize that I too may one day fall under the equally as avid (if not more so) gaze of a contemporary. Which is why I always buy a copy of the New York Times...and stick my gossip rag betwixt it's pages ;)

*this observation is based upon my own definition of a hipster

2) Airport Security

In many airports these days security lines have been sectioned off according to your traveling "style." What many of you may not know is that this new sectioning is referred to by TSA as the BLACK DIAMOND SELF SELECT LANES. The green lanes are for families, the blue lanes are for "casual travelers," and the black lanes for the EXPERT TRAVELER. After my freshman year at ND I earned my stripes (or diamonds for those in the "know") and have been an Expert Traveler ever since. That scene in Up In the Air where George Clooney gives his schpeel about efficient traveling...that's my jam. And there is absolutely NOTHING more aggravating than a casual traveler (a loser) straying into the expert traveler (a winner) lane. Because inevitably the casual traveler is traveling with his other casual friends, lolly-gagging their way through the security check point, taking out their ID when they get to the agent instead of having it ready 4 people back, complaining about having to take their shoes off (it's your fault you didnt wear socks!) and forgetting to remove their belt when they go through the metal detector. Don't even get me started on the liquids situations. So there I stand, fuming, with my boots and tiny bag of 3 oz (or smaller) liquids in one hand and my laptop in the other, watching these bafoons fumble through security. But one of the rules of being an expert traveler is always keep your cool (it's in the handbook...that I'm writing), so I fume and I stew and I shoot lasers out my eyes at the casual travelers and give a knowing nod of my head to the TSA agents shaking their heads at the x-ray machine because Casual Traveler Z thought it'd be cool if he just shoved his 3/4 full bottle of Dasani into his backpack because god forbid he waste that $1.50 and drink out of the water fountain or even worse wait 45 minutes and get all the GD water he wants from the in-flight beverage service. Needless to say...don't mess with me when it comes to security.

3) Airport Dining

I LOVE AIRPORT FOOD. I love getting to the airport with enough time to grab a treat to enjoy while I read the entertainment section of the NYT (I can abbreviate it because I buy it so much). I get more anxious about not having enough time to eat than I do about missing my flight. The worst is when you have a layover that's only enough time for you to get from gate to gate. But while you go from "gate to gate" you pass the BEST food spots. And then you spend that entire flight thinking about all the wonders you are missing. What constitutes great airport dining? Not sit down restaurants...if I have time to sit down and order at a menu I start to get antsy...I'm talkin 30 minutes before pre-board kinda dining. This includes but is not limited to...all bagel shoppes, Dunkin Donuts (egg n' cheese croissant), Auntie Anne's (so far seen at BWI and DWF), TCBY, that city's food specialty (aka Gold Star Chili Cheese Fries), Nuts on Clark, Potbelly's, and Johnny Rockets Milkshakes.

Here shall follow a list of airports with excellent dining options (in no particular order):

Chicago-Midway (MDW)

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG)

Denver (DEN)

Detroit (DTW)

Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)

Charlotte (CLT)

Airports with mediocre dining options that I expect to get better with time and renovation:

Atlanta (ATL)

Raleigh (RDU)

Westchester County Airport aka White Plains (HPN)

Boston-Logan (BOS)

Orlando (MCO)

Airports with absolutely horrendous dining options (in order):

South Bend (SBN)

4) I'm not a nervous flyer but...

I have a really bad habit of biting my nails. I bite my nails when I'm bored, upset, anxious, nervous, thoughtful, pondering, scared, focused, confused, distressed, jealous, plotting, planning, imagining, etc. I bite my nails all the time. People who know me tend to know what I'm feeling when they see me biting my nails. If I was biting them during class...bored...during finals...distressed (about finals or about Sporcle)...during a movie...could be a multitude of emotions. When I'm on a plane I'm usually biting my nails because I'm reading a book and am very engrossed or because I'm listening to my music and telling myself stories. However the person sitting next to me always thinks it's because I hate flying...and they always comment. I realize it's a pretty gross habit and when people call my attention to it I try to stop...but the thing is when people on planes think I'm biting my nails because I have a fear of man-made flight they try to ease my "fear" by telling me something they think is "scarier." I've had a guy tell me about the time his house was robbed and a lady tell me that what I should really be afraid of is the day I won't be able to fly anymore (still biting my nails over that one). Over six times I have been given that statistic (with varying numbers...1 in 100, 2 in 5) about how you're more likely to die in a car crash than in a plane crash...so I just wind up biting my nails on the drive home because I am legitimately concerned about my odds of arriving at my destination in one piece. All the same I appreciate these co-passangers of mine trying to ease my nerves...even if its mostly out of disgust of my nasty habit more so than genuine concern...and then as a sign of my appreciation...I offer them a section of the NYT.

Some of the Things I Do (Or Wish I Did) as told by John Williams' Songs

Wouldn't it be great if everyone said their birthday's the way we say America's? United States of America born of blood, sweat and tears on the Fourth of July Seventeen Hundred and Seventy Six. I like to think of The Declaration of Independence as America's birth certificate. And the Revolutionary War was like her really tumultuous adolescence that only added to her character later in life. When was I born? The Twenty Third of August Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Nine! I would say whilst jumping to stand on some higher level platform (be it chair, step, or table) while the Olympic Fanfare was playing subtly to a leaping crescendo in the background. And since I like to keep a small supply of firecrackers on me (where legal) and tiny but spectacular festival of pops and flashes.

Whenever I do any grand domestic activities like clean my apartment, make (microwave) dinner, fold my laundry, etc. I like to listen to the Indiana Jones theme song (from Raiders of the Lost Ark to be specific). I become the great crusader of trendily small lofts in the urban metropolis that is Saint Louis. I hate doing chores. Hate. It. So literally the only way for me to accomplish any household task without quitting to go on Wikipedia to try to find historical inaccuracies is to set my chores to some adventurous, powerful, orchestral ballad. Yes it takes me exponentially longer to scrub my bathroom. Yes, I will ignore your phone call because if I stopped conducting with my spatula to answer the band wouldn't know what to do and then the song would be ruined. Yes sometimes I get caught up and daringly jump from arm chair to couch to retrieve five half drunk (drank? drinked?) diet sodas from my side table. But you turn on Theme from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark and tell me you wouldn't do the same thing...or something similar. That tune is so good that I am pretty confident if I listened to it while I was running...on repeat...I might accidentally run a marathon. Fortunately my iPod's battery doesn't last that long...so there's no risk in unlocking that hidden potential.

The Facebook News Feed. It's a dangerous vortex. You can "accidentally" wind up stalking someone you haven't seen in three years, or have only seen that one time, or are afraid to friend request but they have an unusually open profile so you HAVE to do it. All of a sudden its 10 PM at night and you're like how did I get here?! I was supposed to be doing my chores! Who turned off Indiana Jones?! Who am I?! It's not my fault, if you change your profile picture, update your status, and become friends with four of my other friends...Ima have to see what's goin on. And now the latest version of the FBNF lets you scroll down FOREVER...it has become that black hole in the universe that Stephen Hawking keeps talking about. And what about the "people you may know." The worst is when you have 56 mutual friends with Blah Blah and you have NO IDEA who that is...that's why you call them Blah Blah. How do 56 of my friends know Blah Blah and I don't?! And then you have a crisis of self.

Well I definitely can't delete my Facebook (because I'm too important and it would cause people to worry) so what's a girl to do? Scroll through the FBNF but ONLY when listening to the Star Wars Opening Credits Theme. Start at the top annnndddd cue stream of consciousness...

Okay (deep breath) here we go, whadda we got today. 48 people changed their profile pictures. Awesome! John Smith wrote "Happy Birthday Liz" on Liz Dawgs wall. Crap! Thank God I saw that...scramble scramble (this is the scrambly bit of the song) type type type. And were back to the NF (friendship intact). A bunch of Seniors uploaded pictures from Finnys. That's mean. I hate them. Delete from NF. Somebody posted a new Dom Mazzetti video. Like. New post from Cool Material about filling out Customs forms when astronauts return from the moon. Hilarious. Like. See another Facebook app that threatens to show "Who's been looking at your profile." Panic. Confirm it is not legit. Emo status update with too many emoticons. Wish there was a dislike button. Delete from NF. Whoa! 1 new notification? Joy! I love that little red notey thing. Horrors! Incredibly unflattering picture uploaded by so called "friend" (in comes Darth Vadery part of song). Scramble scramble to de-tag. Too complicated with new FB. Remember that your pictures are invisible. Relief. Text friend to delete photo JIC. And then the song is over so you have to get off the FBNF.

I find the insignificant things in life that are sort of significant to me are a whole lot better when you set them to a little JW. And be wary of forgetting my birthday. Because if you have to ask...I've got a whole show lined up.

I Think. Therefore I Drink. Therefore. I have a Job.

This is a blog about nothing in particular. I had a blog (a xanga) when I was a teen and though when I read it now it's rather wretched (I would like to delete it but I cant...because I made it with a fake AOL email address) it offers a hilarious insight into who I was at 15 and 16...the majority of who I still am today minus the obsession with quoting Wedding Crashers and the unneccessary use of emoticons (which I now scorn with a passion and only use when being ironic ;)

I just graduated from THE best school in the universe and am very fortunate to be employed at a company with whom I share a common interest. But even though I'm in my 20s (ew!) I still desperately hope that one day I will open up my closet door and get transported on a magical adventure to a faraway place not even on Google maps, learn how to ride a horse, fight in a battle or two, destroy the One Ring, vanquish Lord Voldemort, master the Force, fly past that second star on the right, all whilst sporadically breaking out into various choreographed song and dance routines.

I really dont like scary movies or overly zealous evil villains becase they often creep their way into my dreams and RUIN them. Whenever I really psyche myself out (which happens a lot because I have a really powerful imaginaton...even on my off days) and am 98% positive that the aliens from Signs are hiding in my shower or that my apartment building is haunted by disgruntled spice traders from the 1800s or that I forgot to lock my door and the scary government workers in white suits from E.T. are definitely waiting to grab me from around the corner...I always find comfort in the fact that even if that scary, outlandish villain from my nightmares existed and did really come to take me from this life I would only be 93% really scared because the other 7% of me would be excited to know that the extraordinary isn't so out of the ordinary...or even better, that I am a part of the extraordinary. Thus thwarting their dastardly plan for me (at least partially). Therefore, as in all great stories, good (me) triumphs over evil (aliens, malevolent ghosts, and misdirected government employees).

I have another theory I apply to most things that scare me. For everything I am afraid of I try to think of their benevolent counterpart. Not all aliens want to blow up the earth...some just want to go home. Most ghosts are just misunderstood (thank you Haley Joel Osment and Bruce Willis...and M. Night Shamylan). Captain Hook and other angry pirates are mostly funny...and probably just need a good drink (am I right Capn' Morgan...and Jack Sparrow). The evil witch in Snow White is scary as hell but I don't eat apples so I think I'm okay on that front. I had a little trouble with Lord Voldemort at first but Deathly Hallows showed us that Voldy's one true weakness is his inability to understand the power of love where as my one true strength is my great ability to understand the power of love (thank you Jesus and Celine Dion). And also as alluded to above...if Lord Voldemort came leering around the corner tomorrow to Avada Kedavra me to a metaphorical Kings Cross I would have two dying thoughts...the first, YES, I knew the Wizarding World existed....and second, WHY THE F did I not receive a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And then just before I could come to the conclusion that my letter DID (just as I have always suspected) get lost in that god damned muggle mail service...I would be dead.

I'm also afraid of the Devil...specifically from the Bible...as portrayed in The Passion of the Christ and Dante's Inferno. That one I'm still working on...but I generally try to live by my Grandmother's advice, "Be good to each other...and don't fall in with evil companions."