Now bring us some figgy pudding...

I haven't really been ready to get in the Christmas spirit so far this season. I'm just not feeling it yet! But I'm getting there after I ran across the "lite" radio station here in Louisville that has already gone to ALL holiday songs! Today I heard a few favorites in a row...including John Denver and the Muppets singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". My favorite part is Animal in the background singing "won't go, won't go" and Scooter's snide comment about bacon. (Check out the YouTube link below--it's short!)

Matt bought this album on vinyl for me earlier this year for a quarter! I'm going to cue it up and get festive! Meantime... a few other recommendations....

1) Now That's What I Call Christmas (volume 1)

Two discs! Disc 1 covers your classics--Bing singing "White Christmas", Nat King Cole singing "The Christmas Song". Disc 2 you get your modern-day favorites (or 80's nuggets)--"Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid and "Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney.
A word of warning--it was released in 2001 so towards the end you suffer with Boys II Men and Britney Spears.

2) Ray Conniff and the Ray Conniff Singers We Wish You a Merry Christmas

I remember my mom had this record and would always play it at Christmas. Its original release was 1962. Six tracks of kitchy, retro glory!  I love the first track--Medley, Jolly Old St. Nick/The Little Drummer Boy. It takes me back! And you have to dig that foxy Santa outfit on the cover.

3) A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector 

Yes, yes, Phil Spector may have been convicted of murder. But before that he was a hell of a producer! Great girl group numbers from Darlene Love and The Ronettes---just don't get freaked out when Phil himself starts wishing you Happy Holidays on the last track.

The fundamental things apply, as time goes by...

I really want to pick up this book, Let's Bring Back! I've read about it several places (Vanity Fair, Country Living.) See below from the author's website. You'll get an idea of what it focuses on...Everything old is new again! What would you bring back? For me---manners and hats.

In the pages of Let’s Bring Back, you’ll rediscover the merits of many things, such as:
* Sealing wax, quill pens, and telegrams ...
* The old Orient Express and the grand Palm Beach sleeper ...
* Fainting couches, quizzing glasses, and zinc bars ...
* Top hats, liveried footmen, and the devilish French caricaturist “Sem” ...
* The barbed wit and deliciously vile bon mots of Algonquin Round Table legends Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woollcott, and Tallulah Bankhead ...
* The unapologetically eccentric styles of fashion icons Diana Vreeland, Isabella Blow, and the Marchesa Casasti ...
* Delectable ambrosia, Tipsy Parson, and star-gazey pie ...
... and much more.