Sometimes it seems the world goes by so fast these days, that holidays, birthdays and other celebrations come and go without much notice. Christmas, especially, is like that for me, where I’m so busy with other things that I just don’t get into the spirit of the holiday until it’s almost over. There are a couple songs that when I hear them, they totally get me in that headspace, however, with The Little Drummer Boy and pretty much any of the songs from A Charlie Brown Christmas special. Then I’m back to being a kid, remembering what it was like to come down the stairs Christmas morning, waiting to see what Santa brought.
Sorry for the JEFBOT.com outage yesterday. Apparently, I had an ad that was flagging the site as malware, so Google put me on their bad list. I believe it’s all been worked out now, as I’m off that list, but if you (or your virus checkers) notice anything fishy, please let me know. And as always, thanks for all the support during this! I would’ve lost my mind (well, more so) without all the technical help and empathy over the past 30 or so hours.
My mom plays Christmas carols all year long, it’s infectious…
Holy quacamole, I was worried about your site yesterday, so worried that I jumped into Twitter, which I haven’t been in, in quite awhile…Glad you got the problem resolved 😀
and yeah, my mom and Christmas…well…Christmas anything go hand in hand…she has Santas up all year round, she has tons of Christmas CDs, from the classics to cajun to funny to toy piano to foreign and beyond!
thanks for the concern! yeah, it sucked having the site down. would be nice to not have to deal with that stuff and just concentrate on the strip. maybe someday! 😛
and your mom sounds awesome! does she give presents year-round? 😉
ya know, every so often i’ll put on that Vince Guaraldi Peanuts soundtrack just to brighten my mood throughout the year, ESQ, so i totally get where your mom’s coming from.
and check you out: you got the Shades of Firsting! when’s the last time that happened? congrats! wear these well: they come with antlers and jingle bells attached to help get you into the season:
😎
Thanks! I am the official daughter of Christmas Carol…Just call me Merry LOL…listen she has a 10 1/2 foot tree with so many ornaments and lights that you can’t really see tree…she has a full sized pink flamingo (yes the plastic lawn ornament) in the tree!
and ever since I got my whole sleep issue under control, I haven’t been awake to get the Shades of Firsting!!
a full-sized pink flamingo, ESQ!? wow, that’s quite a tree!
and i can attest: sleep is much more valuable than the Shades of Firsting. well, at least in most cases. 🙂
that IS my favorite Christmas carol, especially the version w/David Bowie and Bing Crosby. Weird but true.
glad you like it too, Oz! and yeah, that David Bowie/Bing Crosby version is indeed awesome.
The Bowie/Crosby version is the best! Do you know the story? It’s amazing.
Actually there is one who can resist the rum pum pum pums — My father. Also a bit of a notorious grumblepuss, he doesn’t really get in the mood until about the 23rd, when BAM out comes the Vienna Boy’s Choir and the Bing Crosby. It always surprises my mother and I because it’s so sudden. Of course, he’s allergic to pine trees, so that might have a little to do with it.
maybe you need to do a sneak attack of rum pum pum pums a bit earlier in the month, Lusus Naturae! it sounds like your dad just needs a little nudge to get him into the spirit. 😉
although, yeah, not sure what to do about those pine allergies. (the smell of pine also gets me into the Christmas mood pretty quickly.)
Glad all is well now. Missed the site while it was being cured.
All the best,
Mark
i’m glad you’re glad all is well, MC! and thanks for helping with that info to identify the source of the bad code infiltrating this site. 🙂
Oh thank god…I was worried Cornfather was going to war on Jefbot with the Justin Bieber version of Little Drummer Boy. Have you heard that thing?! It’s freaking terrifying!
*shudder* I can only imagine. I am lucky enough not to have experienced that little slice of holiday joy.
I honestly think it reaches a point where it becomes hilariously awful, and then it peaks and plummets back down to just awful.
Because I enjoy sharing my pain with others:
(full disclosure: I played this for my wife while we put our tree up. She has never mentioned it again.)
i can’t click that link at the moment (it’s blocked here at work), Joe, but i’ll take your word about the awfulness of it! heheh. and don’t look down on me, but i find myself liking that Bieber Christmas song, “Mistletoe.” it’s just so dang chill, catchy and Christmas-y!
Ri-i-ight…blocked at work. Gotcha…
Ah, Christmas music…I love Christmas music so much. Little Drummer Boy always makes me smile. My favorite, though, is Carol of the Bells.
Glad to see you back online!
That’s my absolute fave too. But I find myself singing Let it Snow lately. It could be the *actual* snow that is bringing it on.
actual snow? what’s that, shanna? 😉
😛 Lucky you south people who don’t see snow…
thanks, it’s good to be back, T!
and, yeah: i’m kind of a big softie for Christmas music, too. not sure if i know Carol of the Bells, though. i’ll have to google it when i get home tonight.
Yay the site is back up!
And now I’m going to have that song stuck in my head for the next week at least! It’s so catchy…
it’s funny, pretty much all of those traditional Christmas songs are so catchy, Nahiyana! i had “Little Drummer Boy” in my head until i saw shanna’s mention of “Let it Snow” and now that one’s looping on my brain’s tape deck.
I’m glad the scene has changed and that you’re in a semi-decent mood in this strip. I personally like religious Christmas songs, but capitalist Christmas songs make me want to grate my ears off. Also, I missed the two days a week setup. Tuesdays suck for me, and these gave me a chuckle in the mornings.
yeah, bot may be in a chill, semi-decent mood at the moment, Anime fan. but no doubt something will set him off in the near future. 🙂
and i’m glad you approve of the Tuesday & Friday schedule!
I don’t really get into the spirit until we get snow. I hate snow but it isn’t Christmas without it. It’s been raining the past couple days and its really lame.
I like Harry Connick Jr.’s Christmas album but other than that I can take or leave Christmas music, but that’s just me.
i love SoCal weather, dj – i don’t do well in the cold – but i do sometimes wish we had a white Christmas every so often.
My fave Xmas song is ‘Christmas Pipes’ by Celtic Woman. If you haven’t heard them perform, you don’t know what you’re missing. Their rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ gave me goosebumps. They even had a bagpiper performing the song with them (and a whole Corps for the DVD, ‘Songs From the Heart’).
i’ll have to put “Christmas Pipes” on my list of new Christmas songs to google, KB! i do love bagpipes, so i’ll definitely be checking this out. i’ll bet my dad likes it, too. (being part Scottish and all.)
The bagpipes aren’t featured in the song ‘Christmas Pipes’, but they are featured in the ‘Songs From the Heart’ show and their new show, ‘Believe’.
I am going crazy with all the christmas music! Its only December 4th and I am already getting tired of hearing all those songs!! Plus, its been a looong time since I have heard the word “Humbug”. Thats all folks!
heheh. yeah, i only seem to hear (and use!) the word “humbug” around Christmastime, DressesAreStupid. and i have a couple holiday songs i’ve grown tired of already, too. sometimes i’m glad people aren’t playing these things year-round.
Christmas music is so evilly catchy, it’s just great.
yes, “evilly catchy” is pretty accurate for a lot of Christmas music, GeekGirl. “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” (after the 100th time of hearing it on the radio) comes to mind.
Yea, for Christmas!!!! Cute Strip! Love the Music!
woo! Christmas! glad you thought the strip was cute, Xenogirl!
I know how you feel bot! Though my problem is I always get sick around Christmas, and this year is going to be tough, 2nd christmas without my mom joking about “whether I’m glad we’re not using my main allergen as the biggest decoration” and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas til everyone knows every line by heart.
i’m happy you’re feeling today’s strip, Descolada!
sounds like your mom had a great sense of humor about your allergies. i hope you don’t spend Christmas sick. and glad to see “watching A Charlie Brown Christmas til everyone knows every line by heart” is a tradition in other homes as well! (i usually have this on when wrapping gifts.)
*sings*
Jefbot baby, slip a comic under the tree for me. I’ve been and awful good Pixie. Jefbot baby And hurry out to FL tonight.
<3 I love you, Pixie. 🙂
ditto.
Awwwww I love you guys too!
ha! sexiest/funniest rendition of this song i’ve heard in quite some time, Pixie. thanks for that! 😀
Hey, Pixie! I’m from FL too! Pinellas Park shout out here!
It’s back!? Oh lord how I missed it! Y’know, the scarf would be mighty handy when hanging Christmas ornaments. Xinda doing fine I hope?
you’re absolutely right, Jiro – if only jefbot knew where his Scarf was! (also, i’ve been thinking about doing a Christmas wallpaper with bot and his Scarf if i have some time between now and the 25th. i’ll post it in the JEFblog if it happens.)
I love the Charlie Brown Christmas, Muppet Christmas, Rudolph, Grinch, etc. songs. My other favorite Christmas music is all the old stuff like Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, etc. Those take me back to being a kid when my parents would put a whole stack of Christmas records on the turntable.
Has the Christmas Bat made his appearance in Casa Schuetze yet? I keep meaning to make us one, and then I get busy on some other project. I need to get on it before it gets too late in the month!
i’m a fan of all those Christmas specials and music, too, shanna! (gotta love John Denver singing with those Muppets.)
and i have to report that, no, the Christmas Bat hasn’t made an appearance at Casa Schuetze, yet! been so busy lately that i haven’t had time to help the Parentalbots put up the tree. i’ll try and post pictures when it happens. if you make one, and settle it in a tinsel nest in your tree, please send some pics of your own over!
Muppet Christmas Carol makes me SOB! I mean we’re talking HYSTERICAL Pixie. Hubby gets all WTF?!
My four-year old doesn’t know when to stop with the Rum-pum-pum-pums, which go on and on and on. And on. It’s like Carol of the Bells on infinite loop.
Listening to her version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing is fun, though—we have to keep reminding her to breathe during the chorus.
heheh. i’d imagine those rum pum pum pums would get a little tiresome after a few hours, Sarah W. does your daughter sing it or does she have her own drum?
i don’t think i’ve actually heard “Hark the Herald” yet, this year! if i join my parents for Christmas service this year, no doubt that’ll change.
She doesn’t have real drums because I have not yet lost my mind. So she borrows the big spaghetti pot and a couple of plastic spoons and goes to town.
It’s interesting to note, though, that while her voice might be Rum-pum-pumming, or harking a herald, her drumsticks are usually living In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
Kid’s got some chops.
Oh, my I usualy do notice important celebrations like this – about week before they actualy come. But last year at christmas day I was actualy surprised we were having formal diner.
*What? Uhm… Why…* Looks at the calendar *Riiight…*
Luckily I had all presents ready.
i’ve had years like this, too, Anonymous, where i’m oblivious about Christmas until about a week before the 25th. and it sounds like you’re way more prepared and organized than i am, since i’d always be running around like a crazy person trying to do last-minute Christmas shopping over that final week!
Damn it, this was me. My NB hates me.
There appears to currently be 2 “previous strip” buttons in addition to the “first strip” button, and one of them goes back a strip, and the other goes back to the first strip. FYI
thanks, Sarah. as i’m not entirely sure what’s causing that, i’m hoping it gets fixed the next time i redesign the site.
Living in the tropics and being Catholic, it was always confusing for me to sing “white Christmas” songs since I’ve never seen real snow before or understood how cold it would get. XD I still don’t. :3 Also I miss decorating my home for Christmas.
Where are your from Dahlink?
My family is from PR, I was born in Cali, Raised in NJ til I was 8 and Florida ever since. I feel ya. “We don’t have Bobsleds in San Juan!” (Anyone? Extra Pixie Point if you tell me who said it!)
South east Asia. Philippines to be exact. 🙂 Christmas is a big deal here, and we know all of the songs, even the ones that mentioned snow XD
OMIGOSH! I am so with you Jefbot! It seems as you get older, everything seems to go by so fast. But the “Little Drummer Boy” is my all time favorite Christmas song! That and “Carol of the Bells” always give me that nostalgic Christmas feel!
Gah. Soooo many versions of that song!! The one that cracks me up is the one with Bing Crosby and uh, what’s that guys name….David Bowie. Just don’t tell my mother-in-law. She doesn’t know David is the other voice. I didn’t know it was him until my wife told me. That’s pretty cool. 😀
My favorite Christmas carol is “Silver Bells.” Part of it is that it’s one of the few I can sing; my voice is lower than a woman’s usually is (in the contralto range) which means I can’t sing the ones with very high notes without my voice cracking. This never stops me from attempting to sing them, though, when they play on the radio. A few others I love are “O Holy Night,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” and one you may not have heard before called “Candlelight Silent Night.” (The second verse in particular; it goes like this: “Candelight, soft and white, luminous and glimmering, / banishing the darkness from the heart and from the mind; / May we see the dignity in every soul, / may we find the golden light within, / and may we share the radiant warmth / and the glow of peace / on this candlelight silent night.”)
I especially love to hear my best friend sing them. She has a beautiful voice, very clear and emotive. She also has a tendency to begin singing completely out of the blue when she gets bored, when a song has popped into her head, etc. When she sings Christmas carols it’s always soothing, helps you get into that quiet, peaceful sort of Christmas spirit.
Heh. Chloe Agnew and Lisa Lambe performed ‘Little Drummer Boy’ tonight. Their drummer played ‘Drummer Boy’ with his snare.
I’m ALL about the Charlie Brown Christmas album. I can listen to it all year round. However, it can’t break the Scrooge in me.