Hey party people! I hope your day is going well.
Even though I’ve been back in Ocala for a few days now I feel I’ve been MIA since I’ve been playing catch-up on the blog and filling you guys in on my NYC trip. Things have carried on as usual behind the scenes!
Workout
My Wednesday began at the gym with a Best Body Boot Camp workout. (Speaking of BBBC, I’ve only heard from one of the three winners of Sunday’s BBBC giveaway. Please email me if you were one of them!)
Monday kicked off the final week of Best Body Boot Camp and I made sure to give today’s workout my best effort. Gotta go out with a bang!
I began my time at the gym with a 20 minute elliptical hill workout before following the lower body tabata workout on the agenda for the day. As always, the jumping lunges killed me. Yeesh.
Breakfast
Breakfast this morning included a bowl of scrambled eggs prepared with a splash of milk and shredded mozzarella cheese.
I also added some apple chicken sausage and sliced avocado which amped up the flavor.
After breakfast, I worked through the morning before heading out to the College of Central Florida for a lunchtime planning meeting for the Taste of Ocala. Though the event doesn’t take place until April, planning is already in progress. Lots to do!
Least Favorite Holiday Song
Everyone has one. A holiday song that makes you cringe.
Even if you are the world’s biggest fan of holiday music, I bet there’s still one holiday song that you simply cannot stand.
For me it’s Christmas Shoes.
The first five notes of that song send my hand flying to the radio dial to change the station as I spiral into a downward spiral of despair.It’s probably the most depressing Christmas song in all the land. I just can’t take it.
Another song that depresses me? “Same Old Lang Syne.” But here’s the kicker with that song… I actually like it. I think it’s such a pretty song, but it makes me so freakin’ sad.
There are a handful of songs that make me cry, but cry emotional tears of happiness, gratitude and faith rather than tears of extreme depression a la Christmas Shoes.
When I lived in Illinois, our church used to conclude Christmas Eve services with “Silent Night” and everyone would cry. That song still makes me cry to this day because I can picture my family standing in a row at church and my dad’s eyes watering as he reached out to squeeze my arm.
O Holy Night also makes me emotional. It’s my all-time favorite Christmas song.
If you don’t feel like harping on depressing and overly emotional music at the moment, you might prefer this slightly more uplifting post: Best Christmas CDs.
Questions of the Afternoon
- What is your least favorite holiday song?
- What is holiday songs make you feel emotional?
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I really can’t stand most versions of “last Christmas, I gave you my heart…” blah blah blah. Unfortunately, I’m a teacher and a group of my 1st grade girls learned the song just so they could sing it for me. Sing the WHOLE thing for me. It was such a cute thing to do, but that song….it had to be THAT song! lol 🙂
Oh Holy Night is my favorite song, too! That and We Three Kings. The Straight No Chaser versions are wonderful… thanks again for the recommendations!
I hate Christmas shoes, and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”. It’s just out played!
I don’t celebrate Christmas, but seriously — if I ever have to hear “All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” ONE MORE TIME, ugh.
I can’t quite think of a Chanukah song that makes me emotional, per se, but there is one called “Mi Yimalel” (“Who Can Retell?” in Hebrew) is incredibly uplifting. It’s about the Maccabees’ redemption of the Jewish people during the time of the Temple in Jerusalem. And I always have good memories of the songs that my family sings after we light the menorah each night!
And then, of course, there’s me singing “Chanukah, Oh Chanukah” in Yiddish all the time and my parents telling me to quit it because I literally can’t stop myself sometimes.
So that’s my mouth run away with me! Oh, memories. 🙂
‘All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth’ = the woooorrrrsssttt! I don’t know why but I just can’t stand that song. Makes my insides hurt!
‘O holy night’ is my all time favourite as well and one that always makes me feel that Christmas emotion. Love it.
Also ‘o come all ye faithful’ because my sister and I sang it at school in Latin and it was a really spesh moment!
Awww holiday memories!
I’m sad to say this but I don’t really care for “Little Drummer Boy.” It is a sweet song but I think the “pa rum pum pum pum” part.
“Oh Holy Night” is a definite favorite. And not so much emotional but songs that make me think of childhood Christmases include any Christmas song by Elvis or the group Alabama. I know. You make fun of me now. 🙂
I’m definitely sick of Jingle Bells!
I love “All I want for Christmas is you”!
omg there’s this one song that comes on the radio that I hateeeeee It’s some man singing and I just cringe every time I hear it lol but I turn it off right away lol
I cry every time I hear All I want for Christmas is you by Michael Buble lol he sings it with such emotion
Christmas Shoes makes me all depressed too! Have you heard of the song One Last Christmas? Even more depressing, but gosh so touching from the true story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye39mgcHC3E
O Holy Night and Greensleeves are my favourite traditional carols.
I don’t think I know “Christmas Shoes”… maybe I would recognize it when I heard it? “All I Want For Christmas” is my choice for cringe-worthy commercial Christmas songs. Just never been a Mariah fan!
My least favorite has got to be the Justin Bieber/Mariah Carey All I Want for Christmas is you. That version ruined the song for me.
Believe by Josh Groban is my all time favorite! His voice is just so amazing
I’m not much of a fan of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” because I think the message of that song is just awful. Talk about sending a “no-means-yes” vibe. Not okay. If the lady says no, she means no, sir! LET HER GO HOME.
Also, I think “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” takes top honors for Most Offensive Christmas Song Ever. Have you ever looked at the lyrics for it?
“But say a prayer
Pray for the other ones
At Christmas time, it’s hard
But when you’re having fun
There’s a world outside your window
And it’s a world of dreaded fear
Where the only water flowing
Is a bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
We’ll, tonight, thank God, it’s them
Instead of you”
Are you KIDDING me?? How can anyone think that’s okay?? Talk about an us vs. them mentality.
when I hear that song, I cry. Tears from laughter, because it is SO RIDICULOUS. I don’t think I ever really listened to the lyrics until this year and I just cannot believe it’s real! Ohhh the 80s.
I’m pretty sure they don’t actually mean that…they are basically naming and shaming what most people think but don’t let themselves admit.
It’s a song about being thankful for what you’ve got because there are people struggling with poverty all over the world (Ethiopia in this situation). It was written by a group of bands that were a part of Band Aid – get it? a band aiding people ha ha – and they performed it to raise money for anti-poverty efforts in Ethiopia.
When they say “Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you” they meant it quite literally. I get the “us vs. them” you could take from that, but the cheesy 80’s lyrics are easier to digest if you know the meaning/purpose behind the song 🙂
When I saw you write about “Same Old Lang Syne” I had to crack up! My Mom, Aunt, cousins and I get hysterical when it comes on the radio… true, it is a sad message but the lyrics are sooooo cheesy!
As soon as I saw the title of this post I thought of Christmas Shoes. I couldn’t agree more and I change the song instantly. The first couple of notes also sound similar to another slow, sort-of depressing Christmas song, but I don’t mind skipping that one either.
I really despise that Christmas Shoes song too. One of my fav x-mas songs is probably that Santa Baby one, and You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch. 🙂 Gotta love the Grinch!!
I LOVE O Holy Night by Josh Groban, and Holly Jolly Christmas by Michael Buble. Anything by Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, or Bing Crosby is good in my book.
My all time favorite is probably Little Drummer Boy by Josh Groban–so beautiful.
And Thankful and Noel by Josh Groban make me super emotional…can you tell I love Josh Groban?
I literally showed up to teach my anatomy class with a bright red face from sobbing to Christmas Shoes on the way there. It kills me!
I quickly give a thumbs down (on Pandora) to “Rockin around the Christmas tree” or “Jiggle Bell Rock” or “I Saw Momma Kissin’ Santa Claus”…. I guess I just don’t like the cheesy Christmas songs!
I LOVE O Holy Night too!!
Some of the cheesy ones about santa claus make me cringe….
Christmas shoes is my least favorite song, I think it came out shortly after my mom was daignosed with cancer so it really made me upset. My favorite christmas song is baby it’s cold outside and I adore Zoey Dechannel’s rendition of it in Elf
The prob saddest christmas song I have ever heard has got to be the cat carol..I just dont get how such a sad song can be a christmas song!
Feliz Navidad is realyl annoying to me!
I love Christmas canon by transiberian orchestra!
Me too!!! Makes me wanna listen to that right now. (:
that’s one of my favorites as well! so pretty.
Someone once told me that is a wedding song, and I have always said I want to have a Christmas-y wedding on the Friday after Thanksgiving (like my parents!)…so I will obviously involve that song!
I’ve actually never heard of that song. I don’t really have a least favorite, but I definitely start to get sick of songs after they’ve been played on repeat for 2 months straight. I’m not a big holiday music person, so I sing them at church on Christmas Eve and that’s pretty much it. After that they all start annoying me.
Ahhh my all-time least favorite is “Wonderful Christmas Time.” Simply having a wonderful christmas time…. blah blah. So whiny and annoying!!
Last Christmas, *far and away*, is my least favorite Christmas song. I love all the old Christmas carols, but O Holy Night, is probably my most favorite. When the song crescendos with “Fall on your knees….” gets me EVERY time.
I agree, and someone sent me this. Laughed until I cried…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq10bz3PxyY&sns=fb (sorry if others find it offensive…)
But my (current, it tends to changes weekly) favorite Christmas song is “oh come all ye faithful” by Jeremy Camp. It calms me during my long snow filled commutes as of late.
I hate Santa Baby. It grosses me out. I have never even heard of Christmas Shoes…!?
“Wonderful Christmas Time” by Paul McCartney makes me want to pick up a pen and drive it into my cranium! So annoying! Now that I live on the other side of the country from my family, “I’ll be home for Christmas” always makes me weey, but in a good sentimental way.
I can’t stand Dominick the Donkey, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, and All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth! On the other hand my all-time favorite song is O Holy Night by Josh Groban…his voice is amazing in it! 🙂
I think the Christmas Shoes song is horrible! Why would someone even write that?! I get that it is a sweet gesture, but it is so sad!
I ALWAYS cry when I listen to the Christmas songs of my childhood. Finally, I know I’m not alone! My fiance thinks I am crazy, but it’s so nostalgic—reminding me of the lost days of my youth. Yeckkk, even that sounds depressing! (I’m only 24, yet I sound like a grandma).
It really is the best time of the year though 🙂 Yay for Christmas music!
That Christmas shoes one is a tearjerker. I went the opposite route with the most annoying song. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer…soooo annoying! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgIwLeASnkw
I’m glad I’m not the only who gets emotional with certain songs. Christmas songs definitely do me in, especially “Mary, did you know?” by Wynonna Judd. I love that song, but it’s so emotional for me! One I can’t stand at all is “The Happy Elf” by Harry Connick, Jr. It’s just so cheesy sounding and realllly repetivite.
I hate hate hate “The Christmas Shoes” but ironically Same Old Lang Syne is my favorite LOL
The two front teeth Christmas song drives me bonkers. I definitely get emotional when I hear certain songs. Oh man, I can’t even talk about them without getting teary!
Christmas Shoes is also my least favorite! Followed very closely by “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer”. I can’t believe that that’s even a Christmas song.
O Holy Night is by far the best in my opinion. We have a guy at church that sings it every year – voice similar to Josh Groba – amazing and brings tears to my eyes every single time!
Worst would have to be Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer!
*Groban
I love ANYTHING by Trans-Siberian Orchestra (i’m going to see them in concert for the first time ever in a few weeks!!!) but hate this song called Christmas Cookies, or something like that, about a guy who loves all kinds of Christmas cookies his wife bakes. My boyfriend is obsessed with it and keeps playing it in the car.
Last year, I was newly engaged and I didn’t realize that they made a “Christmas” version of Canon in D…love the song, but it was making me tear up at work because I would get emotional everytime I heard it thinking about walking down the aisle!
O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas song, too 🙂
I HATE Christmas Shoes! Did you know there was a movie based on the song? Who makes a movie about that?! My mom had me watch it and told me she “forgot” what the name of it was. Once the boy went to buy shoes, I gave my mother a death glare and stalked from the room.
Driving home for Christmas is both my most hated and sort of makes me emotional…though emotional in a “grrr change the channel” sort of way!
Christmas Shoes is the worst! Little Drummer Boy sung by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band always makes me teary. That’s one of my favorites because my mom is a HUGE Bob Seger fan and played it so much. There are good memories attached to that song.
UGH! Christmas Shoes is the WORST!
With Christmas Shoes is a very, very close second, my least favorite is My Favorite Things. IT’S NOT EVEN A CHRISTMAS SONG! (Sorry for yelling. I feel very strongly about this.)
LOL! ryan says the same thing every time they play that song on the christmas radio station. 🙂 you’re not alone in your frustration!
I agree with you about O Holy Night. There’s something so hauntingly beautiful about that song.
O Holy Night is also my favorite 🙂 And, Christmas Shoes is also my *least* favorite…I am mean about it though – I just think it’s incredibly stupid and ridiculous and I love to make fun of it. That’s the Christmas spirit, eh? 😀 lol
I heard “Feliz Navidad” like 20 times in a row in an outdoors event once..that quickly ruined it for me!
I participated in a giant Christmas show every year of college, so I know pretty much every single Christmas song. My favorite traditional Christmas song is “O Come All Ye Faithful”, because it can be so powerful, and I love the harmonies. My favorite non-traditional song is usually “Everybody’s Waiting for the Man with the Bag.” I know choreography to it . . . yeah, I do.
I can’t think of any songs that I particularly dislike, but I’m sure they exist.
I couldn’t agree more with your taste in Christmas music. Oh Holy Night is way up there on my favorites list, and my church also finishes our Christmas Eve service with singing Silent Night by candlelight, it’s wonderful. And Christmas shoes is the worst song ever. For being sad, and also for being just plain awful haha. My other least favorite would probably be the Little Drummer Boy. Just not a fan of that one.