TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2022 - CHRISTMAS SONGS - DAY 2

  TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2022 - CHRISTMAS SONGS - DAY 2

Yesterday, I looked at Christmas Songs - today some more Christmas Songs

Okay, I “have” to do Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

Grandma got run over by a reindeer
Walking home from our house Christmas eve
You can say there's no such thing as Santa
But as for me and grandpa we believe

She'd been drinking too much eggnog
And we begged her not to go
But she forgot her medication
And she staggered out the door into the snow

When we found her Christmas morning
At the scene of the attack
She had hoof-prints on her forehead
And incriminating Claus marks on her back

Grandma got run over by a reindeer
Walking home from our house Christmas eve
You can say there's no such thing as Santa
But as for me and grandpa we believe

Now we're all so proud of grandpa
He's been taking this so well
See him in there watching football
Drinking beer and playing cards with cousin Mel

It's not Christmas without Grandma
All the family's dressed in black
And we just can't help but wonder
Should we open up her gifts
Or send them back 

Grandma got run over by a reindeer
Walking home from our house Christmas eve
You can say there's no such thing as Santa
But as for me and grandpa we believe

Now the goose is on the table
And the pudding made of fig
And the blue and silver candles
That would just have matched the hair on grandma's wig

I've warned all my friends and neighbors
Better watch out for yourselves
They should never give a license
To a man who drives a sleigh
And plays with elves

Grandma got run over by a reindeer
Walking home from our house Christmas eve
You can say there's no such thing as Santa
But as for me and grandpa we believe

*****

So, grandma was drunk on eggnog and decided to go home.  I’m picturing that grandma and grandpa live next door to the family with the celebration. Circumspection evidence suggests it was a reindeer:

“She had hoof-prints on her forehead

And incriminating Claus marks on her back

(I’m not sure what “incriminating Claus marks” might be?)

And, I’m not sure what the relationship between grandma and grandpa is:

“See him in there watching football - Drinking beer and playing cards with cousin Mel. It seems like he is okay with her not being there!!!

Plus - a suggestion that Santa is a little weird (or a pervert) 

“They should never give a license To a man who drives a sleigh And plays with elves”

(But as a song for the season, it is silly and fun)

*****

And, another off-beat Christmas hit:

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
I don't want a doll, no dinky Tinkertoy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door
That's the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me too

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
A hippopotamus is all I want
Mom says the hippo would eat me up
But then teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
The kind I saw this summer at the zoo
There's lots of room for him in our two car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there
And give him his massage

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too

*****

I must be too practical.  How would you feed and take care of a hippo?  (Maybe you could have a personal zoo.)

Could you ride a hippopotamus to work or to school?  Would a hippo be like a guard dog?  Put a hippo in your front yard and post a sign “Guard Hippo”

*****

I want to think the hidden message in both of these songs is that Christmas is to be fun.  Being silly is a good thing for Christmas (and sometimes being silly is the best approach to serious things).

Scrooge, in Charles Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol” once was a fun person, in love - but became a miser, a hoarder, and a workaholic.  Were we ever fun people?  Were we ever able to dance and sing and LOVE abundantly?

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, © DECEMBER 6, 2022