Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas, Bama Nation!; Top Ten Christmas Songs; Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus





Merry Christmas, Bama Nation!



     
May today be one of love, of wonder, of magic enjoying your family and friends. May it be the one day that you can put your problems aside and bask in the love of those nearest and dearest to you.

     There are those who are no long with you. May you think back fondly on their memory, of Christmases past and laughter and loved shared. 

     May the Tide of health and happiness always rise high in your home, and waves of peace and join wash over you all.

     Roll Tide, my friends. Merry Christmas.





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Top 10 Christmas Songs

Country

     Here is a list of the Top 10 Christmas songs in the Country genre as compiled by tasteofcountry.com:

10  Last Christmas, Taylor Swift
  9  Pretty Paper, Willie Nelson
  8  Winter Wonderland, Brooks & Dunn
  7  Silent Night, Alan Jackson
  6  Please Come Home For Christmas, Gary Allan
  5  Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy, Buck Owens
  4  Santa Baby, Kellie Pickler
  3  Blue Christmas, Elvis Presley
  2  O Holy Night, Martina McBride
  1  Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Gene Autry


Classic Rock

      Here is a list of the Top 10 Christmas songs in the Classic Rock genre as compiled by ultimateclassicrock.com:

10  2000 Miles, The Pretenders
  9  Christmastime Is Here Again, The Beatles
  8  Christmas All Over Again, Tome Petty & The Heartbreakers
  7  Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth, David Bowie & Bing Crosby
  6  Thank God It's Christmas, Queen
  5  Sock It To Me Santa, Bob Seger & The Last Heard
  4  Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Bruck Springsteen
  3  Wonderful Christmastime, Paul McCartney & Wings
  2  Father Christmas, The Kinks
  1  Happy Xmas (War Is Over), John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band


Christmas Carols

     Here is a list of the Top 10 Christmas Carols as compiled by allmusic.com:

10  Carol Of The Birds
  9  Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel)
  8  Once In Royal David's City
  7  In The Bleak Mid-Winter
  6  Joy To The World
  5  Christmas Day
  4  O Come, All Ye Faithful
  3  Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
  2  O Holy Night
  1  Silent Night

     So many lists are available I just couldn't do them all, but the above was a little different. Just thought it interesting and share it. However, I have my own list and will enjoy it today. 

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Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

     The following editorial, among the most famous ever written, appeared in The New York Sun in 1897 and remains a holiday season favorite 118 years later.
     We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor!

 I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun it's so." Please tell me the truth: Is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon

115 W. 95th Street

     Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

     Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.

There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal life with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

     Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.


     You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

     No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.