Cloying.

That’s a good word. I still can’t produce one that adequately describes what happens to my brain, my blood pressure, all other vital signs when that song turns up...as it does at least 20 times a day. Eeeeesh.

Yup, that one is on my list, too--Cloying is the perfect word.  Along with a couple of others AND if I hear Grandma got run over by a reindeer one more time, I think I will do serious bodily harm to myself.

Well the first one is just plain depressing. But I guess I am just a small town hick at heart still cause, I love me some Grandma got run over by a reindeer! It isn’t officially Christmas until we hear that song. Well and of course Little Drummer Boy.

Depressing Yes. When striving for joy and holiday spirit it’s like being doused with a bucket of ice cold water to hear some guy practically sobbing about a little boy’s mother dying on Christmas Eve, fercryingoutloud. How antithetical to the joyous spirit of the season.

The Grandma one? Eh. Take it or leave it.

Give me some Handel’s Messiah or Bach’s Mass in B Minor.

Okay, okay...Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song?

And my all time favorite? Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming. Not precisely in the top 10 hits on radio, but anyway.

Alright, here’s one that alerts me that the season is really here: Hawaiian Twelve Days of Christmas.  It helps to know some of the culture out here, but it’s pretty universal.  I’ll take questions at the end of the post. 

Okay, what is poi? And what do you do with dried squid?  In the Star Bulletin’s pages there is a photo for each of the 12 days. Those dried squid look...veeery dry. And why five beeg fat peegs? What is the cultural backstory? Betcha it’s a fun song to listen to.

Poi is crushed taro, a potato-like plant.  Dried squid is eaten like you’d eat beef jerky, preferably with beer.  The big fat pigs are cooked in an imu, a hole in the ground lined with very hot rocks and ti leaves.  When the pigs are done, you have kalua pig, so tender that the meat falls off the bone.

It’s a really funny song when done by someone who gets the accent right.  I can’t immediately find an MP3, unfortunately.

Interesting. I used to have a Portuguese neighbor who, every autumn, threw a pig roast. Dug a pit, lined it with stones, threw in charcoal and when it was ashed over, put more stones on top. Then the pig wrapped in foil, more charcoal around it. When that charcoal was ashed over, they covered the whole thing with dirt and let it roast for about 6 hours. Then dug it up. MAN was that good eating!!!