The 12 Days of [Christmas songs before] Christmas is a semester break special borrowing from the traditional 12 Days of Christmas (that occur after December 25th). The point is to get you into the spirit of the season by recommending one song per day leading up to Christmas. Members of Camp Realist couldn’t decide whether to go iconic, popular, memorable, or classic. So we narrowed the list down to a bit of each.
Comments are always welcomed. If you have a better version of the song, let me know. Do enjoy and sing along if you’d like! Or if any special memory is associated with the song, feel free to leave a reply.
6 Days before Christmas:
As a younger, less mature individual, I could care less for the melody and I didn’t give a hoot for the lyrics. Now, a bit older, not necessarily wiser, but certainly with more experiences in life, I’ve come to appreciate the simplicity of the lyrics. Where else would I want to be for Christmas if not home or with family? I am blessed to say that I’ve been home for every Christmas. For better or for worse. I pause to think of the many individuals that will not be home or don’t have a place to call home this holiday. Or any holiday. Or any day.
This semester, like others, I’ve had students share their personal stories of misery and success. All stories have a common theme: misery stems from these individuals feeling or being alone in the world and success stems from individuals feeling like or being a contributing member of a family.
If you could ask Perry Como, I’m pretty sure he’d agree.He came from a decent family and went on to have a good one himself. Almost 60 years after it was first recorded, the lyrics still hold true. “If you want to be happy in a million ways, For the holidays, You can’t beat home, sweet home.”
The Harold Lounge 