The corniest Christmas music ever...

Author Lisa Samson has her own ideas about the dumbest song line ever--which happens to be from a Christmas song. And I have to agree with her, that's a pretty dumb song line.

But apparently, when it comes to Christmas music, there's quite a bit of corn thrown in there with the holly and mistletoe.

On the way to work this morning, surfing through the radio dial, I heard one I hadn't even thought of in years: "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." Apparently it was recorded in 1953 by one Gail Peevey, and you can actually read trivia about it on this site. Some of the inspiring, Christmas-spirit-inducing lyrics:

"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy"

Ooh-kay.

My son Jonathan, who worked at a Franklin Covey store in a mall for a while, was subjected to all kinds of Christmas songs ad infinitum...and he's sort of a grinch when it comes to Christmas music anyway. He especially detested "Santa Baby" and "We Wish You the Merriest" (read his thoughts on Christmas music here.)

Anyway, thanks so much...

...to those of you who left their favorite Christmas music suggestions in my comment section. I'm going to read and digest them and of course, blog about them, within the next day or so.

And to you Evie fans...and you are legion...good news!

I got an e-mail today from a Sky Angel representative answering my query on how to get a hold of Evie Tornquist Karlsson. I hope to set up an interview with her soon. Won't that be cool? A hefty percentage of hits on both my website and my blog are from searches for info about her and/or her perennial Christmas favorite, "Come On Ring Those Bells." I'll let you know about it as soon as I know more.

And we're back from the wild, wild West...

It was indeed a whirlwind trip. We went to Casper, Wyoming to my sister Bev's house for Thanksgiving. We were joined by both my sisters and their families, my brother's wife and youngest daughter (my brother is in Amman, Jordan), and my mom. There were bittersweet moments because of the absence of my dad, but overall it was a wonderful time.

And we came back with a new addition to our family: a little black toy poodle puppy named Brandy. Right now she's more "puddle" than "poodle" as we try to potty-train her. But she's ridiculously cute. She looks like a Boyd's bear!

Hope everyone reading had a great holiday. Oh, and about the Thanksgiving forecast...that's not original to me. I got it in a e-mail a couple of years ago, and the author (as far as I know) is unknown.