Boston Charlie, Partridges in Pear Trees and Me

This is the season of jingle bells and mistletoe, cyber sales and glitter bows. Evergreen festoons and plastic reindeer strung above our streets remind us that Christmas is coming.

America’s holiday season is in session.

I was out, legally masked, for Black Friday shopping.

More accurately, I was out shopping on Black Friday. I got gas and groceries, neither of which qualify as holiday purchases.

Picking up yogurt and coffee reminded me of Walt Kelly’s rewrite of “Deck the Halls.” How or why that routine reminded me, I don’t know.

Or maybe the words emerging from memory had more to do with Advent’s imminent advent than pushing a shopping cart.

Either way, I’m still working on my ‘starting Advent’ post. It’s somewhat serious. What I’m doing here isn’t.

Yesteryear’s Peace, Light and Decking

Let us remember, as shopping days dwindle and holiday anxieties grow, these words from days gone by:

“Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla walla, Wash., an’ Kalamazoo!
Nora’s freezin’ on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alla-garoo!…”
(Walt Kelly (1948 or thereabouts)

A Dozen Days and Uncle Ben

Some folks prefer more conventional traditions.

Let us therefore also recall a musical celebration of geese a-laying, leaping lords and pipers piping.

“…On the twelfth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a milking….”

And let us not forget Yogi Yorgesson’s holiday ballad.

Now, perhaps more than ever, these words resonate with the holiday experience:

“…Back in the corner the radio is playing
And over the racket Gabriel Heater is saying
‘Peace on earth everybody and good will toward men’
And yust at that moment someone slugs Uncle Ben….”
(“I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas,” Y. Yorgesson (1949))

Then again, maybe not.

Posts of Christmas past:

• “12 Days of Christmas, Plus 1”
  (January 4, 2020)
• “Advent, Luke, and Good Advice”
  (December 7, 2018)
• “Bah! Humbug?”
  (December 24, 2017)
• “Rejoicing Anyway”
  (December 17, 2017)
• “Advent: Our Long Watch”
  (December 3, 2017)