Christmas and other ghosts

It's the same story every year. As Christmas swings slowly by, I begin to get into the mood by blaring out carols on every available music player. Throughout Advent, the excitement and anticipation builds up, thanks in no small part to the frenzy of shopping, music and parties.

But then, as the day itself dawns ever nearer, the delightful mania loosens its grip and is replaced by what can best be described as a hazy sense of melancholy.

Christmas can be the best of times and the worst of times. The best of times because that is often when all that's good about a person's character comes to the fore. When peace and goodwill become more than mere words. When giving is indeed better than getting. When we truly take pleasure in other people's joy.

Come Yuletide, my mind always trudges back to the Christmases of my childhood and my early youth. Half remembered images from when I was a toddler - like the trip to Sungai Wang in 1985, where i took a polaroid with Santa on his sleigh.

Crystal clear memories of the preparations we would undergo when grandpa was still alive. The records that would be playing. Andy Williams, Jim Reeves, Ray Conniff, and always on the night of the eve, - Christmas Bells.

The fun we kids would have when opening up our presents on the day. The bread pudding Aunty Nicole would make, rich and dripping with brandy and with creamy caramel coating the sides and bottom of the pudding.

In my teens, it would be the excitement of midnight mass, when all the plain Janes from Sunday school would magically transform into lovely swans and how we boys would go around, huge foolish grins on our faces, wishing all and sundry a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I still wonder when exactly everything changed. When that sense of innocence was lost. When the real world started intruding on Christmas. And with the whens come the whys, the hows and the whats. Each question breaking the heart a little more that the one before.

The tragedy of every passing Christmas for me is the knowledge that as I grow up, grow older and grow wearier, the magic of Christmas dies a little bit more. As I see how everything around me - from the people, to the memories, to the world itself - changes and becomes a little more cynical and a little more bitter, I long for the past and wonder if the future will bode better or worse for me, for my loved ones and the world.

The Art of the Mixtape

It ain't easy, let me tell you that.

It came upon a midnight clear, this wonderfully Christmassy idea. Or should I say, IDEA.

I was lounging in bed, once again unable to sleep, when it dawned on me - the perfect Christmas gift for my family and friends.

I thought that this Christmas, I'd (instead of leaving in their stockings presents, two front teeth or promises I don't intend to keep) make my near and dear ones a compilation of wonderfully unique, unusual and relatively unsung Christmas tunes - a merry mixtape, if you will.

So, as they say in the snooker parlour - set biji sepuluh! Game, set and match. After all, how hard can it be to burn an Xmas CD, right?

Pretty hard, as I'm finding out now.

You see, the art of the mixtape is all in the setting of the tempo. The tempo of the tape, or CD in this case, determines all. It determines how successful, or not, your offering is.


Do I start fast and gradually wind down? Or do I start slow and progress to a grand finale? Or, do I start slow, build up to a crescendo and then taper off towards the end?


If I start too fast, the risk is of an anti-climatic ending. If I go too slow, the danger is that they will lose interest too soon. Problems, problems! Everything has got to be just nice, the perfect blend of fast and slow, upbeat and mellow, religious and commercial, frivilous and profound. In a nutshell, it has to encapsulate Christmas and all the emotional, nostalgic bric-a-brac contained therein.


I've already cooked up in my head a list of songs I want to have. None of this stupid Jingle Bells or Silent Night shite for me (unless of course it's the Bing Crosby version of the former and The Temptations' take on the latter).


My mixtape is going to be full of unknown, but beautiful numbers.These are the contenders for the final list, in no particular order (since the order is my biggest problem!):



The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams


Pretty Paper - Roy Orbison


Little Altar Boy - Glen Campbell


Senor Santa Claus - Jim Reeves


Sarajevo 12-24 - Trans Siberian Orchestra


Happy Christmas (War is Over) - John Lennon


O Holy Night - Tracy Chapman


Ave Maria - Connie Francis


Hallelujah It's Christmas - Roger Whittaker


Merry Christmas Baby - James Brown


Santa Baby - Madonna (or, preferrably, Eartha Kitt, if I can find her version)


Christmas Bride - The Ray Conniff Singers


White Christmas - The Drifters


Auld Land Syne - Kenny G (I'm still very iffy about this one. Not only does Kenny G just scream corny, but the interspersed dialogue is just to Americana-oriented for me)


Kids - Kenny Rogers


I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Jackson 5 (I'm iffy about this one too, coz I always thought the kid must have been a mean trouble causer to want to tell on his mom. And not to mention dumb for not knowing Santa was his dad..)


The Fairytale of New York - Ronan Keating and Marie Brennan (I don't have the original and superior Pogues' rendition, sadly)


Christmas in New Orleans - Louis Armstrong


Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth - Bing Crosby and David Bowie


Silent Night - The Temptations


Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley


Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland


I'll Be Home For Christmas - haven't decided whose cover I'll get for this one






Yes, I know I said it's going to be full of unknown songs. Yes, I know that most of these songs are known songs. So, let me rephrase what I said earlier. I want it to be full of my favourite Christmas songs and everybody has no choice but to like them. So there!


After all, what is Christmas without Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas or I'll Be Home For Christmas? And anybody who's listened to Chapman's soulful take on O Holy Night will definitely fall in love with it. Also, the songs by The Drifters and The Temptations both just beg inclusion, being such unique renditions of terribly overdone numbers.


And last but not least, how can we celebrate the arrival of the Kid without a song by the King?