Monday, December 20, 2010

On the 4th Day of Christmas the Internet Gave to Me...

...Four fun, Chistmas themed Youtube clips.

This year, my two favorite Christmas songs are not really Christmas songs. First, vloger Charlie McDonnell put out an album, that is very clever and entirely unique. It includes a fantastic song called The Absence of Christmas.[1]



Second, I have yet to write about mewithoutYou’s new album and concert a year later…primarily because I have surprisingly complicated feelings about the album. But A Carrot and A String may be the best Christmas song that isn’t a Christmas song written since Joy to the World. With all the pabulum that gets played on the airwaves this time of year, it would seem like an occasional descent new song would squeak in.



Amanda and I have struggled with Christmas traditions for years, and more so since we have had kids. We have decided that the American winter festival (which is extremely fun and most people participate in, in some form or another) can coexist in strained peace with the celebration of the incarnation without the former swallowing the latter up. But no one gets at the tension of all this better than Gaffigan:[2]



Finally, I can’t tell you why I like this clip. On one level, it casts the characters of the Christmas story as annoying Christian facebook stereotypes. But I do like it…unironically…so there that is.



I hope you and the people you care about have a great holiday, and if you are into the Jesus thing, I hope the mystery of the incarnation strikes you with new wonder in the coming weeks.

This post was posted while listening to Charlie McDonnall’s This is Me
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[1] The album is mostly goofy but has a couple really poignant moments….my favorite track is “Bread”. I have “In the Absence of Christmas” stuck in my head for a day…but it is a thankful reprieve from “Haley G Hoover” which was just creepy…but unfortunately really catchy.
[2] I have been taking Charis running (in the jogging stroller) through Davis neighborhoods at night to look at lights. It has been a fun daddy-daughter time and a good example of why living in California is cool. Amanda and I have been silent on the whole Santa thing hoping we could go one more year without her noticing – giving us 12 more months to decide how we want to negotiate this strange cultural artifact. I thought I had dodged it when we ran by a house with a blow up Homer Simpson in Santa gear and she said “that doggie has a hat…that’s so silly.” But during one of the runs she asked me “why do so many houses have elmo?” (apparently any cartoonish character clad in red is elmo). So we broke out the story of St Nicholas, a guy we have enormous affection, who saved girls from the sex trade - without the graphic details (one of our Christmas traditions is to donate to organizations that do the same in his honor). Now I just need to come up with a good reason that he would use a reindeer with a glowing nose to rescue girls from a life of forced prostitution.

2 comments:

Teresa said...

I feel strangly guilty/not guilty about laughing at the Rudolph-St.Nicholas-sex trade joke--well done. And good luck!

Corrie said...

I liked The Digital Story of the Nativity, too -- although that one was more cute/clever while I found the Facebook one more refreshing. Particularly the "23 people unfriended Joseph" part.