#232 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Monday December 27)
Musings Beyond the Bunker #232 (Monday December 27)
Happy Holiday Recovery Period!
Now begins the “lost week” between Christmas and New Year’s. Before those memories (all of them I hope, happy) fade into memory, a few thoughts on this time of year. And because this is a holiday period, I’ll try to keep this short!
As indicated in my earlier Christmas messages, this is a wonderful time of year, filled with good cheer and good feeling. That this period follows the Winter Solstice by several days seems more than mere coincidence. After the shortest day of the year, we emerge toward longer days and the promise of warmer weather. For our friends in the East and the Midwest, I understand this is a long way off but here in California, it’s just around the corner.
I was recounting with a Jewish friend last week that when we were kids we sang all the Christmas songs in choir, including the most clearly religious. It didn’t affect us any more than I suspect it affects Muslim children. And it shouldn’t affect us that Kwanzaa is commemorated in our schools. It seems to me that, rather than the study of the grievances of different cultures against a government and a society that was less than welcoming, the focus of our efforts in education should be in the celebration of other cultures. I’m not saying there isn’t a place for the study of the inequities of the past. I’m just suggesting that we all consider the culture, celebrations and contributions of each other more. Part of that is the Christian culture that predominates, particularly in this season.
Along these lines of celebrating a culture different from ones’ own, Skip Kessler sent me a great reprint of an article from Tablet of the top ten Christmas songs composed by Jewish composers and/or lyricists. It’s worth a look. What’s interesting is how they are all something of a secularization of the greater Christmas theme. It is as if these immigrant songwriters were suggesting “meet us half way.” Or maybe, “we can be part of the celebration with you.” Our culture is both a collection of individual peoples with different stories and a melting pot. E pluribus unum. Out of many, one!
10. “The Christmas Waltz,” by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne
9. “Silver Bells,” by Jay Livinston and Ray Evans (they also wrote Nat King Cole’s “Mona Lisa”)
8. “Winter Wonderland,” by Felix Bernard
7. “Santa Baby,” by John Ellen Javitz and Philip Springer
6. “Sleigh Ride,” by Mitchell Parish (they also wrote Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust”)
5. “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” by Buck Ram and Walter Kent
4. “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” by Irving Berlin (okay, technically a year-round song…)
3. “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow,” by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne (remember the end of Die Hard?)
2. “The Christmas Song,” by Mel Torme and Bob Wells (this is the “chestnuts roasting on the open fire” song…oh, and Bob Wells attended USC)
1. “White Christmas,” by Irving Berlin
WHO WROTE ‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS?
Apparently it might have been Henry Livingston. Alan Rosenbach, set on bursting yet another bubble, cites the work of MacDonald P. Jackson that analyzes word usage and phrasing between Moore and Jackson, concluding that we have the attribution wrong. Next, Alan is going to suggest Abner Doubleday didn’t invent baseball or that George Washington didn’t toss a silver dollar across the Potomac…
Have a great day of recovery from all the sugar. And remember, the new year, and its promise of resolutions to exercise more and eat healthier, is just a few days away!
A CHRISTMAS FEAST
From the Brindley family, “As good Christians celebrating the holiday, our Christmas Day meal is from Brent’s Deli in the Valley so we have a great blend that includes awesome LA traditions across the spectrum of the season’s celebrations.”
Cheers, Glenn