I love holiday songs. The instruments. The lyrics. The artists. All of it. Well, most all of it. I could do without any songs from Mariah Carey or Alvin and the Chipmunks, but you get the idea. If you haven’t seen our cover of the December issue of CITYVIEW magazine, be sure to check it out, as we share our 25 favorite Christmas songs as our cover story. I am sometimes baffled, though, at the lyrics in many of the classic holiday songs I cherish. Traditions from days gone by? Words we no longer use? Check these out.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. I'm not sure I even know what chestnuts are, much less how to roast them. Even so, I learned that chestnuts were synonymous with Christmas in America even before Nat King Cole’s song hit the airwaves. They were one of the most popular ingredients in American dishes throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, as the eastern seaboard was covered in chestnut trees until a blight caused them to go almost extinct. For more than a century, chestnuts roasting over an open fire was the smell of Christmas. Needless to say, that tradition has ended, but we still love to sing those words.

A corncob pipe. Corncob pipes are made from raw corn cobs and have a cool, dry smoking quality. They were invented by the Tibbe family in Missouri and became popularized by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. I have never smoked one, or even seen one, but that old corncob pipe continues to be part of our pal Frosty The Snowman with his button nose and two eyes made out of coal.

On a one-horse open sleigh. Sleigh rides, although not so common today, still spark nostalgia. The ones we do tend to see now are large and majestic and beautiful, much like the horses that pull them. The old one-horse sleighs, though, appear to be small, tippy and bumpy, not ideal for dashing through the snow.

Bells on bobtail. Back in the day, bobbing a horse’s tail involving cutting the tail or tying it back so it looked shorter. Shorter hair on a horse’s tail was supposed to keep it from waving in the driver’s face, which makes sense. Meanwhile, those bells placed on bobtail jingled in the Christmas spirit.

Four calling birds. In the original published version of “The 12 Days of Christmas,” it’s “four colly birds” not “four calling birds.” In England, at the time, “colly birds” was a name given to blackbirds, and what says Christmas like blackbirds?

Boughs of holly. Holly is an evergreen plant, which means its leaves stay vibrant and green even in winter. The holly plant is shrub-like but can grow into a tree-sized plant. Like other evergreens, holly leaves sprout from long, rigid limbs. When one of these limbs is cut, it’s called a bough of holly, which, of course, decks the halls.

And finally, a pudding made of pig. “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” may not be a beloved holiday classic for all, but it is well known. The reference to a pudding made of pig, though, throws me off. This is not the pudding that was peddled by Bill Cosby. No, this pudding is black pudding, a type of blood sausage made from pork or occasionally beef blood, with pork fat or beef suet, and a cereal, usually oatmeal, oat groats or barley groats.

Sometimes, it is better to not know the meaning and just jingle all the way!

Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com

See Shane Goodman's past columns here.

POLITICAL MERCURY
Kill Hal: ‘Numb and dumb is no way to go through life’

By Douglas Burns

I am Dave.

If you are online at all, you are Dave. We all are. Human editors, real ones, survive at near-extinction levels. Seeing one at work these days is like watching a bald eagle glide a river canyon, one diving majestically for fish, the other for truth.

For the algorithm is God, we jack-jumped over the singularity, the melding of man and machine, into unwitting roles as the helpless astronaut, Dr. David Bowman, in the movie “2001; A Space Odyssey.”

“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that,” the computer Hal tells Dave when the scientist seeks escape from the madness. ...

Happy birthday Dave Mable!

These celebrities were born on this date: Brenda Lee, Hailee Steinfeld, Alexa Demie, Jack Griffo, Nikki Sixx, Rita Moreno, Rider Strong, Jermaine Jackson, Mo'Nique, Devon Witherspoon

SUBMIT: Send your birthday greetings and congratulatory notes to: tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

The answer to the last riddle: How do you change tires on a duck? WITH A QUACKER JACK! 

Today's riddle: What do you do if you want to buy chess pieces?

Have a guess? Email tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

To advertise in the Daily Umbrella or Ankeny, Altoona or Bondurant  Living magazines, contact:

Angela Ossian
Account Executive
Office: 515-953-4822 ext. 307
Mobile: 515-979-5585
angela@iowalivingmagazines.com

©Big Green Umbrella Media, Inc., all rights reserved.
www.biggreenumbrellamedia.com.

Add webmaster@dmcityview.com to your address book to ensure delivery. 

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Click here to get it delivered to your inbox for FREE!