Every year since 2010 I’ve done a series of December diaries (which you can find via the #seasonal tag) focusing on a variety of seasonal topics ranging from music to food to ugly sweaters. Full disclosure: I did ONE Seasonal diary in 2008, and 2009 was the first December K2 was with us so I was a little distracted :-). I can’t believe we landed in the United States with him twelve years ago yesterday!
It’s 2021 and everything is back to normal we’re still lead actors in the Greek (letter) Tragedy known as Pandemic, but let’s get seasonal anyway! Don’t worry if Christmas isn’t your thing- while my personal December perspective is primarily secular but culturally Christian-based with a vibrant dose of earth-centered Winter Solstice mixed in thanks to almost a quarter century of Unitarian Universalism, these diaries are for everyone! In other words, if there’s a holiday this time of year that makes you happy, that you mark differently than all the other days, that involves negotiating about who brings what food and whether or not everyone did their rapid-antigen test… or even if there isn’t... this is a place for you!
For me, the time between Santa appearing at the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade and New Year’s Day is the Time When Christmas Music May Be Played. Those are the rules, I don’t make them, and I enjoy every hour of that time. My list of favorites is long, and recently I had it playing one evening after dinner. In walked Mr. Brillig, who frowned and said “Thanks — I just lost the LDB Challenge”
Wait, what?
For those who are lost simply with ‘LDB Challenge’, let me elaborate: The Little Drummer Boy Challenge is game in which participants try to avoid hearing the song by that name between 12:01am Black Friday and midnight Christmas Eve. If you do, no matter how inadvertently (think grocery shopping, the mall, or in Mr. Brillig’s case his own kitchen because I had no freeking clue after 30 years together that it EVER would be a Thing in our house, you are supposed to post on social media that you’re out of the game for the year.
Not to be outdone, a similar challege involving the song Last Christmas triggers Whamageddon.
I made a post on social media about my thoughts on these challenges, and… well. Let’s just say that my friends have Very Strong Opinions about these games and their place in society. Also, they’re not fans of the song, which I like because (a) percussion; and (b) some really excellent covers (see below, and no I will not embed video links thus accidentally triggering your worst fears, if you’re a player).
For the record: I don’t care if you play such games, really. But the point at which YOU get mad at ME because I chose to play a song on MY playlist that I like and YOU didn’t… well, take your Whamageddodrumapocalyse and find yourself some noise-cancelling headphones.
I do have holiday songs that I’d be perfectly happy never hearing again:
Santa Baby, whether it be the original Eartha Kitt version or any of the covers. It has an interesting history but the high-pitched groveling for expensive gifts epitomizes so much of today’s materialistic world that it turns me off.
Do They Know It's Christmas? Yes, I know it was an incredible collaboration of talent whose purpose (on the original and two of the three later re-recordings) was to raise money for famine relief in various regions on the African continent. It forever cemented Western images of the utterly beautiful country of Ethiopia and its people as emaciated famine victims. But what truly gets me is the very line “Do they know it's Christmas time at all?” I can absolutely assure you that yes, they do. The Ethiopian Orthodox and Protestant Christian people don’t mark the Westernized giftapalooza that we do. They mark the birth of Christ. It’s a line that galls me even as a non-Christian, and I tend to change the station when it’s on.
And lastly, The Christmas Shoes. Just the mood-killer every holiday needs.
Those are my three least favorites. What songs could you do without hearing, challenge or no challenge? Let us know in the comments!
Before we head to tonight’s Tops, I promised you some of my favorite Little Drummer Boy covers:
My favorite Little Drummer Boy version ever is that done by Boston a capella band Five O’Clock Shadow. Yes, I like this 1000x more than the Pentatonix version.
My next favorite is by King & Country, a band singlehandedly responsible for my fifth-most popular genre in this year’s Spotify Wrapped list — Christian Music, which I did NOT see coming given my other four were Indie Folk, Neo Mellow, Indie Pop and Indie Rock.
And of course, the Bowie/Crosby mashup.
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
TOP COMMENTS
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down. Please remember that comment inclusion in Top Comments does not constitute support or endorsement by diarist, formatter, Top Comments writers or DailyKos. Questions, complaints or comments? Contact brillig.
From MarcKyle64:
Top Commenting this one by Fletch17C, from Walter Einenkel’s Convicted insurrectionist headed to prison seems to thinks she’s going on an extended yoga retreat.
From Paul A:
From last night's Overnight News Digest I was taken by David Pepper's tweet contained in Jeff Y's comment. This (unfortunately) sounds exactly like the new Supreme Court's mantra.
And a highlight:
Observerinvancouver highlighted one by Colorado Blue, in Rebekah Sager’s Feds bust dozens in 'modern-day slavery' operation, migrants held at gunpoint on Georgia farms
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, December 5th 2021, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES
Top Pictures for yesterday, December 5th 2021. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you to the wonderful dKos staff who made it possible to continue this feature in memory of jotter!
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Top Mojo that would have been in Sunday’s diary:
Top Pictures that would have been in Sunday’s diary: