Songs to Get You into the Spirit of the Season
Anyone with a name like "Bing" must have something going for him and if you don't have a few of his tunes in your listening library, then we need to have a serious talk. He has several Christmas albums to choose from, but I knew I wanted The Voice of Christmas because I didn't want to have to choose; I wanted everything Christmasy he'd ever done.
This is his complete holiday songbook and it hasn't let me down once since I bought it over a decade and a half ago. .I love how many less common songs are on it, like O Fir Tree Dark, Marshmallow World, and Poppa Santa Claus (just to name a few). My two favorite songs, however, are Snow and Mele Kalikimaka, both found in movies I'll soon be featuring.
Can you guess which ones?
An Activity to Add to the Jolly Atmosphere
Get thee into the kitchen, throw on your most festive apron and whip up some holiday treats today! Whether baking, candy-making, nut-spicing, or snack-creating is your thing (or even all of them), spend some time cooking up something delicious to share with your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors this season.I'm still fine-tuning my list, but so far I know I'll be making my delicious and easy coconut-milk caramels, yearly standards like spiced nuts, eggnog cheesecake and tarts, Christmas cookies and an assortment of dips, as well as trying a few new recipes (I'm planning to modify this one and this one, for starters.) Let me know if you want the recipes for any of them before next year.
Some Reading Sure to Garner a Great Response
What I enjoyed most about this picture book as I read it to Gv is that I learned something new. In all the books focusing on Christmas traditions around the world, I'd never read about the posadas in Mexico before. It's easy to see why this book was a Caldecott Medal winner and especially interesting to find out that it was first published back in 1959.
A Movie to Get You in a Merry Mood
Holiday Inn is one of my all-time favorite movies. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, in one picture? Fabulousness, complete with singing and dancing, as well as a battle over a girl.
I love the whole premise of the movie - Bing's quitting the showbiz world to get some peace and quiet out in the country, only to wind up in a sanitarium from all the work. Ha, too funny. I love the exploding preserves, the catchy song-and-dance numbers, and the "short-cut to the short-cut." This movie is actually where the song White Christmas debuted.
The only thing I wonder about each year when I watch it is how some of the parts like the housekeeper and Lincoln's birthday number are taken by others today. I tend to have the same conversation with my friends and family each year, discussing whether my sensitivity to movies like this one, Gone with the Wind, The Jazz Singer, or the original Amos and Andy Show are shared by others, or whether they're just labeled differently because of when they were made.
Do you have any opinions on this subject? I'd love it if you (respectfully) shared them. .
Faith Focus to Put You in a Festive Frame of Mind
If
you haven't downloaded them already, make sure to grab your free coordinating printables to go along with this portion of the series.
Day 18 - Jonah
Add your big fish sticker to the tree to serve as a reminder for today's verses.
What will you be doing to observe this eighteenth day of Advent? Do you have any specific food treats that you make every year? I'd love to hear! Leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.
Join me throughout the rest of this season for more great ideas to incorporate into your family traditions to help celebrate this special time of year. Be sure to pin the series landing page so you can find every post, or better yet, sign up for free updates so you don't miss a single suggestion and to get your free printables!