Yikes, brenda. Here's hoping the new person is too new to get it.

Dana did make me laugh, though!

Can you convince them you got the lead in the local Christmas pageant?

Good luck to your bro, Consuela.

Ha, Dana, that was great. I just kept playing until I got them all right.

Sending job~ma, Consuela. I hope he lands somewhere great.

Xmas shopping, oy vey! Must get on that.

Oy vey, brenda. Wow. I hope it's just a fleeting memory.

I love "O Holy Night" as well as "Carol of the Bells." I tend to gravitate towards the traditional, older carols. Think "The Holly and the Ivy," "Once in Royal David's City," and "Coventry Carol." My favorite Italian carols are "Tu scendi dalle stelle" and "Gesu bambino" (which is known in English as "When Blossoms Flowered 'mid the Snows.") I also love "Patapan."

I'm a big fan of Sinatra, Martin, Crosby, and the like for secular Christmas music.

Job~ma for your brother, 'suela. I vacillate as to whether I truly want that kind of visibility at work, and I hope it turns out well for him.

I called my faux-son to arrange dropping off his Christmas present. He told me they'd planned to invite me to their Thanksgiving, but I convinced him I enjoyed working. He asked what I was doing for Christmas, and I told him I was going to eat cheese and drink wine and watch movies and made sure to sound enthusiastic about it so he wouldn't try to invite me over. It's very kind, but it's not something we ever did before, and I don't want to be The Widow We Need To Make A Fuss Over. I need to make sure to go visit at less significant times of year.

I have to admit, I still think "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" is freaking hilarious. And Percy, the Puny Poinsettia is cute. Guess a 14 year-old boy still lives inside me. The Senor Santa song makes me cringe, though.

My favorites are "Silver Bells", "White Christmas", and "The Christmas Song."

I agree that the only acceptable versions of 12 Days are humor ones. The symphony has a version that does stuff like play the Marseillaise after "three french hens", Swan Lake after "seven swans", and so on.

And then there's this, which -t will get, and probably no one else.

[link]

re: comic books. I've heard good things about the Iron Man reboot, but I'm not sure if I should go digital or start building a pile of paper in the house. What are people's preferences? And are digital subscriptions the same price as paper issues?

When we were scarcely more than newlyweds, far from home and family in Germany at Christmas time, H put together mix tapes of every Christmastime related song you could think of. One inclusion he was always proud of was the Shepherd's Chorus from Amahl and the Night Visitors, since one of the Amahls had been a classmate of mine.

"Olives and quinces, apples and raisins, nutmeg and myrtle, medlars and chestnuts, this is all we shepherds can offer you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you kindly, Thank you, thank you, thank you kindly, too."

We gave StE a few commercial Christmas CDs when he moved out. He wasn't mollified. "It's not Christmas unless Ernie Ford sings the Star Carol!"

And are digital subscriptions the same price as paper issues?

Typically, the digital editions are priced the same as the paper editions when they first come out, but some publishers will drop the digital price after a few weeks.