Wednesday, December 2, 2009

I wanna do more than whistle under the mistletoe!

Okay, I admit it - I am a Christmas Carol junkie.

I LOVE Christmas music. And I love ALL of it - from the most sacred hymns to the secular goofy songs, down to and including anything by the Muppets.

There is room on my iPod for "O Holy Night" and "Jingle Bell Rock." And I'll sing both at the top of my lungs.

But as a child, my favorite Christmas songs all came from my four album set of Lawrence Welk Christmas Classics. You see, no one told me that Lawrence Welk was for old-timers and senior citizens back then -- I thought the champagne singers were the cat's pajamas!

My favorite tune? A little ditty called "I Wanna Do More Than Whistle" - it's a keeper, with classic lyrics like:

"My jingle bell heart is beating, it's time that our lips were meeting, come give me my season's greeting...under the mistletoe!

"Start kissing and please don't tarry, 'cause kissing is customary, soon it will be January...under the mistletoe!"

Catchy, huh?

I also loved the Peggy Lee hit "Don't Forget to Feed the Reindeer" - with its winsome words:

"So don't forget to feed the reindeer
Angels are friends of the reindeer too
And if you are a good little angel
Santa Claus will be good to you!"

Either one of these songs can instantly transport me back to my Dad's den, circa 1979, with the albums playing on the big stereo...

A few years ago, my sister found the Lawrence Welk albums on Ebay and gave them to me for Christmas - I almost cried I was so happy!

It was all there -- Guy, Ralna, Towering Tom Netherton, Mary Lou, even the Champagne Lady herself, Norma Zimmer, singing "Ave Maria."

One of the very best parts of the holiday season is reliving old memories and creating new ones - I can hardly wait to see what new memories will be added to the Christmas arsenal this year!

And now, if you'll excuse me, my husband's out of the house this evening and I'm going to fire up the ole phonograph...





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