Last night I went by one of my best friend’s parent’s house and saw that his dad decorated the house. The decorations have been roughly the same my entire life, and always instantly put me in the Christmas spirit. So I thought I would devote this week’s entry to the things I love about Christmas since I am brimming with holiday cheer! 

The Christmas season ‘tis upon us; Black Friday, Cyber Monday, work holiday party regret Saturday, and of course unpaid mortgage January are all in the cards. And with the season comes my favorite part — Christmas music. Some people like Christmas music, some people hate it, and some people couldn’t care less. I happen to love it. I love the classics, but at the same time, I love when modern bands do their own, or cover Christmas songs.  Over the years, thanks to file sharing, music pirating, and other naughty forms of illegally acquiring music, I have compiled a playlist of songs that would have been impossible to do 15 years ago. (Well, it was possible, but it would have cost a fortune and been a major pain in the arse) The list is all over the board, the classics, new songs, covers, with a wide array of bands featured.  Some that I really love are Billy Squier’s “Christmas Is the Time To Say I Love You”, Jackson 5’s “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause”, Pearl Jam’s “Let me Sleep Its Christmas”, and of course the Boss’s wonderful “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”. Elvis’ “Blue Christmas” may be a driving factor in the reason one of my buddies is now divorced — as he would sing it in an obnoxiously exaggerated Elvis voice and drive his wife nuts. I’m even going to admit that I love Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You“, I’m not joking, that’s a great Christmas song! But my favorite Christmas song is without a doubt Run-DMC’s immortal “Christmas In Hollis”. The sample (Clarence Carter’s “Back Door Santa”) is probably one of the best and most memorable in rap history. I could hear this song in July and instantly be in the Christmas spirit. I have never been to a holiday party where the place didn’t go nuts once that was played. Plus, I still think Run-DMC is the coolest, most iconic rap band to ever exist, and every time a white kid buys a rap album from anyone with a prefix of Lil’ or Ice, Run DMC should get some of that money. They were solely responsible for bringing rap into the mainstream and off the streets of Queens to the streets of the suburbs. (I had their song “It’s Tricky” in my head the first time I scored a point in an organized basketball in November of 1985 at age 9.)

They were also responsible for reviving the career of Aerosmith thanks to their remake of “Walk This Way”. Which I am not happy about because I can’t stand Aerosmith but what they did for them is similar to what Tarantino did for Travolta thanks to Pulp Fiction. He breathed life back into his career and even though Travolta has been in a million cheesy movies since, he gets lifetime immunity just for the fact that he was in Pulp Fiction. Everyone in that movie does, even the Gimp. I digress, but now that Christmas and the holidays are approaching, “Christmas In Hollis” will be bumping in my house keeping me in the Christmas spirit!

Another thing I love about Christmas is my family’s annual tradition of getting our photo with Santa Claus. Yes, I am 34 years old and have a 2-year-old son, but we still go as a family and get our picture with a department store Santa. My life since 1976 can be documented yearly thanks to these Santa pictures. My adorable baby years, my mischievous elementary school years, my pimply high school years, my half-assedly preppy college years, and my working stiff years since are all there to see. I have two sisters, Erin and Meghan, who are 32 and 29, and a brother Patrick (nicknamed Dees), who is 27. When we meet Santa, we always goof around now and ask for ponies, Barbie Dreamhouses, our dad to stop drinking, and other jokes that have been recycled over the years. All of us went through a pissed-off rebellious period during the teen years where we hated doing the picture. The only problem is that my brother still hasn’t shaken from that period. Hence, he has earned the Christmas nickname of “Ebedeeser Scrooge.” Hopefully, he softens up soon. It’s always been a nice time. Back in the ’80s we would hit Strawbridge’s in the Gallery in Philadelphia and have dinner at a restaurant in there. We no longer go over to Philadelphia, but we do still go to lunch or dinner. Now that my sister and I have children, it is a tradition I just cannot see ending, and I never want it to!

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