On this episode, we’ll learn of Befana, the Italian Christmas witch. We’ll also get a good cry on with the 5 saddest Christmas songs, get some encouraging news about Christmas movies, and find a way to sneak a little Christmas into your next meal (and it’s not a recipe). Speaking of eating, we’re kicking off a new, year long feature: the Road to the Christmas Bowl!
00:00 – 01:41 Intro
01:41 – 02:53 We Need a Little Christmas Now
02:53 – 10:25 Five Golden Things (Sad Christmas songs)
10:25 – 13:13 All I Want For Christmas is News
13:13 – 17:43 Befana the Italian Christmas Witch
17:43 – 19:23 Road to the Christmas Bowl
19:23 – 21:27 Wrap Up
21:27 – 23:04 Outtakes
“We Wish You A Merry Christmas” United States Marine Band
“Jingle Bells” Performed by Kristen Nowicki
(The embedded player for the episode is bellow the links)
People Who Watch Christmas Movies Throughout The Year Are Smarter And Happier! (Article)
https://read.innersplendor.com/christmas-movies-people-who-watch-throughout-year-happier-smarter-experts?fbclid=IwAR2-FStDIUUq7mwWQtIJ4eU_iSABFuZQGAYS9Nc8EbchSbQAAK8hktVo8LA
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Hello, and thanks for another great show! I completely agree with your assessment that “Christmas shoes is an evil son and doesn’t belong on any Christmas list. There is another song that should be considered for the saddest Christmas song, Toby Keith’s “Santa I’m Right Here”. The song is a bit ambiguous about what happens to the family, However, if you watch Toby’s video (see link below) for the song it has a happier ending than you might expect. Thanks for all you do for the show, I look forward to it every month.
Thanks and Merry Early Christmas. 😉
Sherri
https://youtu.be/rZqYUiW5wEY
My husband says on of his top sad Christmas songs would be: “ celestial navigation: the train”
https://youtu.be/Q5XKdf-YRSc
I’m relatively new to the show – been listening to mousetalgia for a few years and loved when you were on the show. We actually met at the 2015 D23 Mousetalgia meet up. Finally made it over here in October, and I listened to every episode by november. I’m a huge fan of Christmas and this show, and really of you!
Nominees for the bowl are: pumpkin pie, stuffing, cookies, mashed potatoes. turkey.
Keep up the great work
Funny that Little Drummer Boy got mention
Been going down a West Wing rabbit hole recently and found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqLIH2UiPXg
Like many of the commenters, I got teary eyed. Boys choir and kickass acting from Richard Schiff
First CWFC of the year is on my birthday… hooray me and Xmas+30 days!
Great show! My number one Christmas dish is… well actually it’s EggNog. Not a dish, but something I can’t wait for the Christmas season to bring my way!
Keep up the good work.
Happy Christmas
PS Last Christmas I made Eggnog cookies for the first time and my wife said I wasn’t allowed to make any more till next Christmas. She said this after eating 4 of them in one evening…
Your Mother sounds wonderful! I’ll bet she loves your show and Christmas cookies. I personally love Christmas cookies–especially decorated ones. My absolute FAV is cookie parties where we exchange cookies and we all get to take home a variety of delicious cookies.
As for saddest song, when I was very young my 8 brothers and sisters and I would sing in church during Christmas, and my Grandmother, who was the church organist, would conduct us. We sang “What Child is This?” Though I didn’t understand all the words, I got the gist of it–that here’s the newborn King treated as lower than gum on the sidewalk. Tough to hear and harder to sing.
I always like your show, but this one seemed to end too soon–loved it all.
I shared some favourite Xmas food on the Facebook post but thought I’d post some of my favourite sad Christmas songs, in no particular order!
Christmas Lights by Coldplay – a beautifully haunting indie track from the British rock stalwarts that covers a Christmas loss or breakup and the feel of seeing the beautiful lights and still feeling sad. When I lived in London, I would sometimes walk around Oxford Street mentioned in the song and would often play this on my phone when around there in December! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1rYmzQ8C9Q
It Was The Worst Christmas Ever by Sufjan Stevens Sufjan has a whole host of sad songs in his back catalogue and a bunch of great Christmas ones, ranging from traditional carols to strange 15 minute electronic madness! A few of his are melancholy in nature though, including this one that covers depressing festive memories and thoughts. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpmiPbDkvBQ
When Love Is Gone from Muppet’s Christmas Carol I know this was removed from some versions and some people didn’t like it’s sappy nature but I think it’s beautifully important in the realisation of Scrooge that his true love is no longer with him due to his greed and avarice. Poor Michael Caine… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfI_N0vyxaI
I was relistening to the old “Need a Little Christmas now” segements. We do the same thing, but with melmac plates. We have Santa melmac plates that we use as our every day dishes between thankgiving and the end of January. Instead of putting all away, we keep to regular size plates and 2 dessert plates in a cabinet of other special plates year round. We pulled out a Christmas dessert plate for the Half Christmas muffin ceremony. They bring a Little Christmas cheer year round.
I’ve been catching up on your old podcasts and the saddest Christmas comes from our old friend Bing Crosby, The Littlest Angel. It has a child dying in the song for goodness sake and kind of happy ending. I think it might jump to your number 1.
https://youtu.be/WGfno5hoyXY