This lovely song is for anyone who’s feeling sad this Christmas-time.
Category: Christmas
Tree!
I was all set to resurrect last year’s minimalist white and gold decorations in my egg, but when I took them out and plugged them in none of the lights were working properly, and it all looked a bit sad. Elegantly understated only works when it – well, works.
So I ventured out in search of replacements and, without quite knowing what I was doing, found myself buying a real tree. This is the first real tree I’ve ever had of my own, so I think I must definitely be grown up now. It’s decorated with coloured lights and blue lametta and there isn’t really space for it in the front room, but I love it all the same.
(This photo was taken on the beloved’s phone, hence the slight abstract electro quality.)
Advent song for December 6
I had a short internal struggle over whether or not to give you the Kim Wilde and Mel Smith version of this song, but the Gladallover advent calendar is, when it comes down to it, all about the music, and Brenda Lee sings it much more prettily (sorry, Kim, I still think you’re lovely).
However, if you find you’re in the mood for a spot of Mel and Kim, you’ll find them here.
Advent song for December 5
I thought you might be in the mood for something partyish on the first Saturday of the month, so here are Kirsty and the Pogues doing their thing. True story: two Christmasses ago my friend S managed, accidentally, to invoke a setting on her phone which played “A Fairytale of New York” over the top of her recorded answerphone message, so that anyone who tried to call her had to listen to Shane wailing in the background while they waited to leave voicemail. It was all very odd.
Advent song for December 4
The lyrics of this song have nothing at all to do with Christmas, but it has a Christmas video and is on all the Christmas compilations, so it definitely counts. It’s also a great song. I do like a cheesy Christmas ballad (watch out for several more over the coming days!).
(My laptop is presently in the possession of a nice young man from Brixton who’s going to make it go faster and stop shutting down unexpectedly, so for the weekend’s advent song’s I’ll be experimenting with WordPress’s scheduled post functionality. If the songs for December 5 and 6 appear at the wrong time or not at all, you’ll know I got it wrong.)
PS
Do you like my snow? I tried to switch it on a couple of days ago and WordPress was having none of it, but it’s clearly decided that the time is now right for snow.
Advent song for December 3
I’ve just spent a happy quarter of an hour deciding which version of this song to use, but this one – recorded live as recently as 2004 – is as spine-tingling as any. If I could sing like Maddy Prior I’d never do anything else.
Advent song for December 2
I would have had this one last time around, but the official video is uncharitably protected by complicated copyright rules which mean I can’t embed it on the page. But while I was watching The Greatest Christmas Songs Ever last night (purely for research, you understand), I noticed that VH1 were showing this alternative, which is just as nice and freely available. Happy Christmas, Kyoko! Happy Christmas, Sean!
Advent song for December 1
This is a lovely song. The quality of this recording isn’t great, but it makes up for that with bags of charm. If the Christmas fairy were to grant me one wish, I might choose to be living in an age when primetime TV was given over to hour-long live performances by the popular singers of the day.
2009 advent calendar
I have pondered long and hard over whether to give this year’s advent calendar a theme or a twist to distinguish it from last year’s. I wondered about clips from my favourite musicals, or country and western Christmas songs, or just 24 Christmas songs by Ella Fitzgerald. But then I remembered how many favourites I had to leave out last year, and how agonizing it was choosing which ones to ditch, and I realised I would have more fun doing the same thing again than I would having to stick to a theme, or a meme, or any kind of scheme.
I promise not to include Mistletoe and Wine again. Not in the actual, official advent calendar, anyway. It’s still November, right?
Glad All Over 