A Christmas story...

One year, CNN featured a poll that ranked the most hated Christmas song as the one with the Singing Dogs woofing out "Jingle Bells"? Well, I like that song and version. It makes me laugh every time I hear it. How can a song that makes a person laugh not be something special?! So, it is in the ears of the beholder. I often have thought about asking the college music department if the choir has ever considered singing that song at a Christmas concert...in the dog version. In the key of Irish setter???!!!!

That poll also noted that Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" is the most loved Christmas song. O.K., isn't that the song with "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose..."? Yes, I liked it when I heard Nat King Cole singing it. He was an excellent singer. However, there was this one time, many years ago...

I was on a bus. I was on a bus traveling for two hours from Medicine Bow to Cheyenne, Wyoming, one snowy Christmas. I thought I would take a bus to avoid the worries about snow on the roads. So, I took a seat in the middle of the bus. Travelers were scattered throughout. Then, at Laramie, with an hour of travel to go, this guy got on and sat at the front of the bus. When the bus took off, the guy started to sing that "Chestnut" song. He sounded just like Nat King Cole and might have been him if it weren't that Cole died several decades earlier.

Anyway, after the guy had finished singing the song in its entirety, everyone on the bus--in gleeful holiday spirit--applauded because it was sung so well. Just like Nat King Cole would have sung it. In appreciation of the applause, the guy sang an encore of it. Wow, again, just like Nat King Cole! Once again, the people on the bus applauded, full of good Christmas cheer.

Then...well...then, the guy started to sing the same song again. At the end of that time, people still thought it was nice, but strangely enough, no one applauded. The bus had a bewildering but probably justified silence. I was almost ready to clap my hands once or twice--what the heck, it's Christmas!--but I didn't need to because the guy started singing the song again.

And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

Forty miles later, he was still singing the song. A couple in the row on the other side of the aisle near me were covering their ears, now completely miffed. Finally, as the Christmas spirit seemed to fly out the bus windows, someone in the back of the bus yelled, "Would you shut the hell up!" That's a direct and accurate quote. Obviously, not a Christian at Christmas time...or was he? Anyway, the Christmas crowd started to become hostile and so I sat there, trying to think of another Christmas song, like "Jingle Bells," as a possibility to distract the singer from the "Chestnut" song. I couldn't even barked it out, because the guy was going strong with the "Chestnuts and Jack Frost."

There was no stopping him; he was just like a human CD player on song repeat. At the end of the bus ride in Cheyenne, people hurried off the bus with very unpleasant expressions, but with a very good ability to forever remember the lyrics of the "Chestnut (Christmas) Song." By the way, the college Christmas concert was held last week. The choirs are always so good. And...well...they sang the "Chestnut" song...