Merry Christmas (Eve), everyone!
Every year, right around Thanksgiving, radio stations start saturating the airwaves with Christmas music. Some people eat it up. Others get sick of it before Christmas Day even rolls around.
Over the years I’ve vacillated, and have landed somewhere around mild forbearance and occasional flickers of enjoyment. Some Christmas music just feels so vapid and asinine to me these days, though, that I have trouble recapturing anything near the pleasure felt in youth. Have you ever really listened to “Santa Baby?”
It’s become quite a cliched complaint – “Christmas has become too commercial.” It’s also become too secular. How many Christmas movies and songs these days completely leave out Christ? Many? Most?
Ironically, in voicing this observation it’s all too easy to sound the Grinch. I do think about this stuff a lot more now that I’m a dad, though. It’s not like I’m going to gatekeep everything my kids are exposed to, but I can certainly exert my influence. In fact I’d say it’s a parental duty.
Anyway, I’m not going to dwell on the bad right now. Instead, I’d like to share some renditions of a few of my favorite Christmas songs.
-Bushi
PC Bushi 
I love Christmas hymns, but not vapid pop music that guts what Christmas actually is…
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A man after my own heart.
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I love the classic hymns. However, I used to work at a grocery store that would start playing Christmas music after Thanksgiving and to this day cringe when I hear most Christmas songs. “Santa Baby” is particularly awful.
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I get really excited when the Christmas music hits on November 1 but I’m over it by the end of the month…
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Yeah, they really overdo it. That stuff plays everywhere for like 2 months.
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Beautiful hymns. You have good taste sir.
I’m not a parent so take my words with a grain of salt, but I have friends who already are and one nugget of advice they’ve given me regarding on how to shape your kids behavior, taste etc. is that ultimately children do what their parents do, not just what they say. If you tell them “don’t listen to this music” but never provide them with an alternative, they will listen to that music. If you tell them “don’t smoke” but then you yourself do that, they will also smoke. If you tell them “clean your room” but you never bother to clean the rest of the house, they won’t be compelled to either. And so on.
The important thing is to great an environment where they are not compelled or influenced by any of these bad behaviors. This is a bit of a simplistic approach of course, and doesn’t even take into account all the other factors that come later in life that will undoubtedly influence them, but I think it’s something important to consider.
Anyway, I wish you a Merry Christmas!
P.S. Only read the Turjan of Miir from the Dying Earth. Haven’t had time to read much of anything lately, since it’s close to New Year. What beautiful language! Takes a bit to get used to but once you do it’s wonderful. The setting reminds me a bit of Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique whereas the prose is a mix between Smith and P.G. Wodehouse. Definitely a distinct style that I haven’t encountered before. Also, just from this one story I can already see the massive influence Vance has had on SFF in any medium it appeared. Much respect to the guy.
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Thanks man! Merry Christmas to you, too!
I’m glad you’ve dipped a toe into Vance’s stuff and look forward to hearing your impressions as you read more. Zothique has been cited as an inspiration for Vance, and he was also a fan of Wodehouse, so you’re right on the mark! Interestingly he also was a fan of Baum’s stuff, I believe.
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