December 14, 2024
Outside of the I ❤️ NY Gift Shop
Thank you for tuning in.
So unfortunately, I really couldn’t come up with anything like I had the past few years. So, we are just going to have a few random observations and also go through our top 10 Christmas/Holiday songs.
1) Christmas is on a Wednesday this year. When we were in school, it didn’t matter what day Christmas fell on because you always got the whole week off. But when you are working, especially in a place that is open 24/7/365, Wednesday Christmases are hard. It’s smack in the middle of the week. Tuesday is Christmas Eve, and Thursday, the day after Christmas, it’s awfully hard to drag into the office. Plus, then you still have to deal with Friday.
I realize that there are people that have to work Christmas Day, and for those who do that for us, of course we thank you for all you do. I also realize there are people who are not working and not by choice. I’ve been there and I feel for you. And I hope that the New Year brings you everything that you hope and wish for.
The other issue when Christmas falls on a Wednesday, is that it’s a late Thanksgiving, meaning that Christmas seems to come up faster in those years. Now you have stores running Christmas ads the day after Halloween, but most of us don’t feel the holiday season starts till Santa arrives at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The older you get, the faster time flies, but this season, it came at warp speed.
2) Dreaming of a White Christmas- It’s funny the games your mind can play with you. I have these images in my brain of snow on the ground during Christmas. Maybe it’s because of all the songs about snow on Christmas or the cartoons we all watched growing up, but in fact snow on Christmas is quite rare in New York.
This chart shows all the Christmases where there was at least one inch of snow on the ground in Central Park. It doesn’t account for whether or not the snow had fallen that day or stuck around after snowing previous. I can tell you that we had a huge snowstorm on December 21, 2009, (because we had just moved into our new house the day before) which I believe accounted for the snow on the ground that Christmas. The chart also says there was 6 inches on the ground in 1995, which I had forgotten about, until I remembered this buffoon…..
The Giants and Chargers played a Saturday afternoon game on December 23rd. The Chargers needed a win to make the playoffs and the Giants at 5-10 were playing out the string. (Sound familiar?) The Giants Stadium maintenance crew did what they could, but there was just too much snow in the stands. It was freezing cold, the Giants barely showed up that day, and the fans began throwing snowballs on the field. One of the projectiles had so much ice in it, that it knocked out a Chargers equipment manager.
The unfortunate schmuck pictured above had that very picture on the front page of the NY Daily News a couple of days later. Police offered a $1000 reward to anybody who could identify him, and lo and behold, police officials said that 15 people identified the snowball tossing offender, which led me to wonder if I was in a similar situation, which 15 people would sell me down the river. (I had a list compiled somewhere on a floppy disk. It’s probably somewhere in my parent’s basement)
1983 there was an inch of snow on the ground. I can also attest that was the coldest Christmas in my lifetime, and if you don’t believe me, you can ask my sister Katie who, though two days short of her two-month birthday, remembers how cold it was that day.
I could have sworn I read somewhere that it snowed on Christmas in 1969, but that was a bit before my time. This chart says 7 inches of snow in 1966.
There were three things NYC didn’t see throughout the 70’s. One was Jets playoff football, the second was Giants playoff football and the third was a White Christmas. We had some snow this morning. But unless the snow we got on Saturday sticks around, it looks like another non-snow Christmas.
Speaking of football, Netflix is showing two games tomorrow. The Chiefs and the Steelers at 1PM and the Ravens and Texans at 4PM. Not for nothing, but enough already. I can see if it was a regular day of football, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, but shoving in a couple games on Wednesday just because it’s Christmas is bush league to me. Let the NBA have Christmas day. I really hope these games flop. If Netflix production is anything like the one they had for the Tyson/Paul fiasco, they will.
And now for our top 10 Christmas songs 2024 edition
10) Holiday Party-Dan and Shay- Really dig this tune. Maybe a bit corny for most, but with the world going to hell in a hand basket, corny might be what the doctor ordered.
9) 2000 Miles- The Pretenders- I’m not quite as pissed at Chrissy Hynde as I was, (though I still find what she said reprehensible*) This is still a great song to remember anyone you may have lost over the year.
8) Christmas in New York-Shilelagh Law- Another song about remembering people we lost; namely those we lost on 9/11. But also, a great way to honor all that makes NYC still the greatest city in the world.
7) O Come O Come Emanuel- Joan Baez- I used to have a music editor here at WM, she is now the drummer for a local group called the Mom Band up in Westchester County. The first time I did this list back in 2002, she pointed out to me that I didn't have any religious songs on the list. So, from there on in, I've made sure to have at least one or two. We had a Joan Baez Christmas cassette tape back in the early 90’s. Good times.
6) Christmas in Hollis- Run DMC- I'm sure if I scour YouTube I can find someone who sang a song about Christmas in Woodside or Rockaway. I'm sure someone has come into Donovan's and performed near the fireplace, and there are lots of songs about Rockaway (besides the Ramones classic). For now though, this song is the closest one I have to repping my two hometowns. Word up!
5) Wonderful Christmastime-Wings- this was number three for a long time. Now it holds steady at number five. I know this song out everybody’s cup of tea, but it’s Paul McCartney so it has to be here.
4) Oh, Holy Night- Josh Groban- And here's our second Jesus song to keep The Big Guy happy. O Come O Come Emmanuel is about waiting for the birth of Christ, this song is about the night He arrives. The pastor at my dad's church did a great version of this, but since his version was never committed to a record, (at least as far as I know) we'll stick with the amazing Josh Groban's version.
3) Happy Christmas (War is Over) Plastic Ono Band- All these years later, this powerful John Lennon song still resonates. One that I will never get tired of. For the second year in a row, it comes in at number 3.
Before we get to the top 2, let's look at some Honorable mentions...
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer-Elmo and Patsy This was a staple for years, the first real good Christmas Novelty Song. Now it's a bit dated and out played but will always be a WM fave.
Mele Kalikimaka-Bing Crosby- I know this song has been around since the 50's, but the first time I heard it was during the reboot they did of Hawaii Five-0, (the Alex O'Loughlin/Scott Caan version). I always say I'd like to spend one Christmas in my life some place where it's warm. Failing that, I'll just put this song on and make pretend.
Blue Christmas- Elvis/Porky Pig Elvis has left the building, or at least WM’s top 10 Christmas songs list. Still get a kick out of Porky singing his way through this.
And then there were two…
2) Fairytale of New York- Last year this was the number one song, and it was tough to knock it down again. It’s still incredible and always will be.
1) Do They Know it's Christmastime-Band Aid- this marks the 40th anniversary of this Christmas classic. For 39 of its 40 years, I would say it was my favorite Christmas song of all time. The collection of talent gathered to make this record is unbelievable.
Many years ago, when You Tube first came out, Bill Simmons of ESPN put out his YouTube Hall of Fame. This video was at the top of the list. His only beef was that Paul Young both led off and had a solo in the middle of the song. He even went as far as to compare Bob Geldof to former Red Sox skipper Jimmy Williams, which was entirely unfair.
Someone pointed me to a Wikipedia page that stated Paul Young was a last-minute substitute for David Bowie. I’m not sure even the thin white Duke himself would have placated Simmons, who couldn’t understand how they could have Simon LeBon, Sting, and Bono lined up 4, 5 and 6, (with Boy George and George Michael batting 2nd and 3rd respectively). He was also pissed that Sting was sandwiched between LeBon and Bono and didn’t get to sing a solo.
This is what’s commonly known as being nitpicky.
The song was Geldof’s idea after seeing BBC news reports of extreme famine in Ethiopia. It reached number one in 13 countries but only got as high as 13 here in the US. I was kind of hoping it would make it to the top on this its 40th birthday, but to no avail. Mariah’s "reach for the bourbon and ear plugs" All I Want for Christmas is You, and Brenda Lee’s classic Rocking Around the Christmas Tree are at numbers one and two on this week's Billboard charts.
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Finally tonight, Rickey Henderson died unexpectedly over the weekend at age 65. He is the third person to pass off of my List of Famous People born on Christmas from a couple years ago, joining Jimmy Buffet and Shane McGowan. I hope I haven’t created a new ghoul pool, but if I did, Annie Lennox, and the Prime Minister of Canada are up next.
Merry Christmas
*You can DM me on Facebook if you want to know what she did to upset me so.
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