Book Review: Christmas TV Memories

For most of us, fond memories of the Christmas season are inseparable from TV’s holiday presentations. The world loves everything from iconic cartoons like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas to the ground-breaking Julia sitcom segment, “I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas,” Christmas in Rockefeller Center, and the 1992 TV-remake of Christmas in Connecticut directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Christmas TV Memories: Nostalgic Holiday Favorites of the Small Screen embraces it all, offering a tinsel-decked traipse down memory lane and chronicling animated classics, variety shows, made-for-TV features, and holiday-specific episodes of series like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. With a Foreword by best-selling Free to Be You and Me author and That Girl star Marlo Thomas, along with commentary from other celebrities, historical quotes, and insights from entertainment journalists and archivists, Christmas TV Memories serves as the go-to companion to the small screen’s most cherished holiday programs.

A Very Special Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you, my blog readers. Today (December 25th) also happens to be the fifty-seventh birthday of Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics.

In 1987, the first of what has turned into a sporadic series of A Very Special Christmas albums was released. The series, created by music producer Jimmy Iovine, takes popular music artists of the time and has them sing holiday favorites. The album sales go to benefit the Special Olympics charity. Each cover has been designed by artist Keith Haring.

The Beach Boys' Christmas Album

Welcome to another edition of Sixties Saturday, a very special Christmas Eve edition to boot.

In 1963, the California based rock band the Beach Boys released a holiday track. The song did so well that the following year they put out a full album of Christmas tunes. The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album reached number 6 on the US Billboard Christmas album charts in 1964 and eventually became a gold seller. The record contained a mix of original songs and holiday standards.

Brian Setzer Orchestra - Boogie Woogie Christmas

Brian Setzer got his musical start as part of the Stray Cats, a rockabilly band in the early 1980’s. Having grown up playing the baritone horn in his school band, he always had a love for the big band orchestra styles. When the Cats split, he created a new group in 1990 filled with trumpets, trombones, saxophones as well as a rhythm section and dubbed it the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Playing a mix of swing, jump blues, and jazz, they were part of the swing revival of the mid-1990’s.

In 2002, the Brian Setzer Orchestra put out their fifth album, the holiday tune filled Boogie Woogie Christmas. They applied their unique musical style to holiday standards and some original tracks, resulting in a swinging, fun Christmas record.

Carpenters - Christmas Portrait

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

Back when I was a kid growing up in the 1970’s, we only had three network channels on television. When the holiday seasons rolled around in December each year, it was always magical to enjoy the various specials that came on each night. Yes, we had the many animated classics that still survive today but we also got to enjoy brand new variety show specials that were headlined by popular musical acts. One of those acts that did just that was the Carpenters.

Spinning out of specials from 1976 and 1977, siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter decided to put out an album of holiday songs. The result was 1978’s Christmas Portrait which led to another special that December. The record, a mix of popular and secular holiday songs, sold over one million copies.

Twisted Sister - A Twisted Christmas

I decided to take a break from Soundtrack Sunday for a few weeks so that I could present some more holiday albums for the season.

In 2006, Dee Snider and his fellow band mates of Twisted Sister decided to put out a CD of holiday songs entitled A Twisted Christmas. Given the band's musical slant, the album, of course, delivers holiday standards in a heavy metal style. The album sold very well commercially, reaching number 147 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 27 on the Billboard Holiday charts.

A Partridge Family Christmas Card

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday. Seeing as Christmas is just a few weeks away, I thought I would start to sprinkle in a few holiday albums for the season.

In December of 1971, the Partridge Family TV show was going strong in its second season on the ABC network. It is no surprise either the thirteenth episode which aired December that year would include a holiday themed offering. "Don't Bring Your Guns To Town, Santa" was the story of how the family's bus breaks down in a ghost town in the middle of nowhere which forces them to miss Christmas. I remember this episode fondly from the years the show ran in syndication locally during the late 70's; it was especially a favorite around the holiday times.

Novella: A Winter Discovery by Michael Baron

In an earlier work When You Went Away, author Michael Baron introduced the Rubato family. Father Gerry had lost his wife shortly after the birth of their second child son Reese. Since that time he has found new love with Ally whom Reese and college-aged daughter Tanya call “Millie”. This short story A Winter Discovery follows the family as they prepare to celebrate Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I am hoping that everyone has a safe, wonderful Christmas - whether you're home nestled all warm with your family or travelling across state/country to visit the ones you love.

For us, we've had two of our three Christmas celebrations so far.

The first was on Saturday. We drove 2 1/2 hours each way to visit my parents and brother for the day. While the visit was short, we did have time for two meals together, some exchanging of gifts, and a chance to just sit and talk.

The second was for our immediate household of three last night. After a wonderful dinner made by my wife, we went to the 9pm Christmas Vigil at the church. When we got home, it was time to open a few presents - that way our 12 year old wouldn't have us up at the crack of dawn to see what was under the tree. That was a lot of fun.

This afternoon, it is a short drive twenty minutes to my inlaws' house. There we'll do dinner and a few more presents.

So take time today and this holiday season to remember what is important to you. Spend that time with family and good friends.

Company Christmas Cruise

Last night we had to do a company Christmas party - it was for my wife's company, not mine. The party was a dinner cruise on nearby Lake Norman. Now, normally that would have been fun - especially if the warmer weather had stayed with us. No such luck. It was cold (in the 30's) and rainy. So we spent most of the time inside the two-tiered boat or on the covered deck outside.

Still, it was a fun party. Dinner was very late (it was like 8:30 before we got fed - an hour into the trip). Good thing we stopped for a burger on the way to tide us over. The food was okay - typical buffet items of salmon, turkey, chicken, corn, rice with beans and a choice of two deserts (key-lime pie and cheesecake).

There was a cash-bar so naturally there was some drinking. As designated-driver, I had water. That made it interesting to watch and observe the others around me who did imbibe. Saw some interesting things(!). And, of course, since I don't work with these people or know who's who, it made it like people-watching of strangers.

Still, it was a nice night out - to get dressed up and have adult conversations around dinner with other couples.

The Joy of Catalogs

Okay, I know this'll put me in the "old fogey" category (as if my other interests haven't already), but this time of year gets me to thinking about catalogs. Now, I'm not talking about those twenty page fliers for clothing and such that inevitablly you get any time you sign up at a retailer with your name and address. Sure those are okay, but that's not what I'm thinking about.

I'm thinking about those thick, square bound ones that came in the mail or your parents picked up at the store. You know what I'm talking about. The Sears Wishbook, or the JCPenney holiday catalog or the Montgomery Wards book. The front cover would have some nice family scene under the Christmas tree. Everyone would be smiling. The kids would be in green and red.

And what did we do? We skipped that whole front part - skipped the clothes for women and men, barely stopped for a few moments on the kids clothing (unless you were looking for that real cool Superman t-shirt or Hot Wheels pajamas). You skimmed past the hardware and home furnishing sections. No, your goal was in those 300 or 400 page sections. You, my friend, wanted to see the toys!

It was like magic, seeing all those things in full color. You wished you were that kid going down that slide, or that you had the complete set of Star Wars action figures. You wondered what pictures were on those Viewmaster reels. You couldn't wait to build something as cool with your Legos. It was such a thrill and it would keep you enthralled for hours on end. You would even go back and look at the book again and again as November turned into December.

As a kid, I would get out a sheet of notebook paper and start making a list for my parents. I'd note which book and what page the items were on. If it had an item number, I'd list it with the description and the price. If it had different choices, like with action figures, I'd carefully list which ones I was interested in. I mean, really, who's mother actually could tell the difference between R2-D2 and R5-D4? Mine couldn't. And I would prioritize items as well - just so they'd know which items were top choices and which were secondary.

Kids today don't get that joy any more. Most of the big retailers who did catalogs like that either are out of business or just don't put out the books like they used to. It's an internet-age. You can pretty much do the same thing on Amazon.com with a quick click of the button to put items into your 'wish list'. I use those functions as an adult to earmark things I'd like - but it's just not the same.