12 Days of Christmas - Day 10: wake me when it's over

'Twas the night before the night before Christmas and all though metro northwest Boston not a creature was stirring....unless you count the hordes of last-minute shoppers clogging the surface roads and making the simple task of picking up a 12-pack of Dr. Pepper and some trashbags from Target a maddening ordeal.

At this point I'd be content to just flop down on the bed and snooze straight through to Boxing Day. ("But Americans don't celebrate Boxing Day," I hear some of you saying. My point exactly.)

John Baker - Christmas Commercial (from BBC Radiophonic Music, 2002) - An interesting rendition of "O, Come All Ye Faithful" that concisely and uncomfortably captures the contemporary essence of the holiday. It's a product of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a now-defunct branch of the government-funded broadcasting firm whose other pioneering work in the field of synth and electronic music included the legendary Dr. Who theme (a Ron Grainer composition "realized" by Delia Derbyshire).

Milton DeLugg - Horray for Santa Claus (from The Golden Turkey Album, 1985) - Some of you will recognise this as the theme to Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, the 1964 film that set the precedent for other cinematic holiday treats such as Santa Claus: The Movie, Jingle All the Way, and Fred Claus. Milton DeLugg, besides being the man responsible for this aggressively chirpy ditty, was an industry veteran who produced Buddy Holly's immortal classic, "Rave On" and served as the bandleader (and an occasional comedic foil) on The Gong Show.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3: la imagen pública se limitó

I've said it a couple times already, but I haven't been really feeling the holiday spirit this year. It's not from a lack of trying or some halfhearted salvo in the War on Christmas (which seems to only exist in the heads of attention-starved culture warriors); it simply is, without any reason apart from these past weeks being so aflutter with other issues that I haven't had the time to stop and smell the balsam.

Maybe I should whip up batch of gingerbread and queue up a playlist of some perennial holiday favorites -- like today's featured track, a festive little number which combines equal parts Jose Feliciano and John Lydon to excellent effect...

El Vez - Feliz Navidad (from Merry MeX-Mas, 1994)