24 Sleeps TO GO CHRISTMAS 2019

1st December 201912th December 2019 Phil 24 Sleeps TO GO CHRISTMAS 2019

24 Sleeps TO GO CHRISTMAS 2019

jeanniejeanniejeannie.co.uk BLOG Sunday 1st December 2019

We present our Daily 12 BITS & PIECES to DRIVE YOU HOME OR MAD FOR CHRISTMAS

1. DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS PICTURE HEADING UP THIS POST – Little Car Big Hear

2.A CHRISTMAS LIST

CHRISTMAS PICTURE BOOKS & YOUNG READERS 0-5 Years

1 Lucy & Tom’s Christmas Shirley Hughes

2 Little Grey Rabbit’s Christmas Alison Uttley

3 Angelina’s Christmas Katharine Holabird & Helen Craig

4 Santa Selfie Peter Bently

5 Robin Finds Christmas Molly Brett

6 The Phantom Carwash Chris Powlin

7 Happy Christmas Maisy Lucy Cousins

8 Elmer’s Christmas David McKee

9 A Christmas Eve Ghost Shirley Hughes

10 Mr Christmas Roger Hargreaves

11 One Snowy Night Nick Butterworth

12 Dream Snow Eric Carle &

13 Christmas Dick Bruna

14 All The Way Home Debi Gliori

15 Father Christmas Heard a Parp Olaf Falafel

16 Father Christmas Raymond Briggs

17 Dear Santa Rod Campbell

18 Pop-Up ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas Clement C. Moore and Gaia Bordicchia

19 Father Christmas on the Naughty Step Mark Sperring

20 Mince Spies Mark Sperring

21 Little Robin Red Vest Jan Fermley

22 The Jolly Christmas Postman

23 Oh Christmas Tree Sue Hendra

24 Poppy and Sam’s Lift-the-Flap Christmas Heather Amery

25 The Lonely Christmas Tree Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

3.CHRISTMAS WORDS

Our theme for the Christmas Countdown this year is Driving Home For Christmas

Everyday from 1^st to 25^th December there will be a Driving Home For Christmas inspired picture and from time to time a few Driving Home For Christmas inspired words.

Driving Home For Christmas has always been a firm family favourite. There is no better feeling than Driving Home For Christmas. So exciting.

I wrote the following piece about it in December 2015 which was published in The Guardian:

Playlist: A song we can’t hear too often

Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea

“I’m driving home for Christmas / Oh, I can’t wait to see those faces”

Driving Home For Christmas had modest chart success but for us, it captures the best of the festive season. In the 90s, our Christmas Days were marathon celebrations with my brother-in-law’s family. There would be more than 20 of us, each bringing some form of entertainment to the Christmas table. For example, we organised an Oscar-style Christmas card awards ceremony for the best cards received. A nephew compiled the background music for the four-hours-plus Christmas lunch.

Chris Rea’s song was an excellent starter for his playlist. We ate and chatted, pulled crackers, put on silly hats and read dubious jokes. Gradually the penny began to drop, six tracks into the playlist and every track was the same – five hours later as we sipped Tia Maria-infused coffee, the song played for the 73rd time. Many around the table began to suspect it was on repeat.

Through lunch, sarcastic humour became repetitive too: “Nice song, what’s it called again?”, “Never heard this one before”, “It’s a new one on me.”

Consequently, Driving Home For Christmas has always induced a reflective laugh.

In 2012, our youngest daughter and her husband were expecting their first baby on 28 December. But Baby Freya was too impatient (as in life) and was born on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day the hospital said they were fit enough to leave. And yes, Driving Home For Christmas was the first song Freya heard on her first car journey home to her first Christmas! Her parents had organised in their birth plan an MP3 track of the song for their homeward journey.

SEE THE ACTUAL ITEM HERE: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/19/grandads-annual-festive-photograph-driving-home-chris-rea-moms-butter-cookies

4. A LINE (or two) FROM DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

I’m driving home for Christmas

Oh, I can’t wait to see those faces

5. NICE LITTLE CHRISTMAS NUMBER

1 In Europe, nearly 16 million Christmas trees are grown each year

2 Christmas trees grow for an average of 10 to 15 years before being harvested and sold

3 The first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510

4 Electric Christmas tree lights were invented by Edward Johnson in 1882

5 The world’s tallest Christmas tree was 221ft, and found in a Washington shopping mall

6.CHRISTMAS TRACK OF THE DAY

Driving Home For Christmas – Chris Rea

Highest Chart Position: No.11 3^rd January 2019

Driving Home For Christmas Chris Rea 4:03

Also:

Driving Home For Christmas – Stacey Solomon

Highest Chart Position: No.27 31^st December 2011

7. A CHRISTMAS VIDEO SHOT

Holidays are a coming – Check it out here

8. CHRISTMAS COMPILATION ALBUM

NOW Christmas (3 CD Edition)

Disc: 1

All I Want for Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey
Last Christmas – Wham!
Fairytale of New York – The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl
Driving Home for Christmas – Chris Rea
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday – Roy Wood & Wizzard
Merry Xmas Everybody – Slade
Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My Lord – Boney M.
Step Into Christmas – Elton John
Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney
Christmas Lights – Coldplay
2000 Miles – The Pretenders
Stop the Cavalry – Jona Lewie
Santa Baby – Kylie Minogue
Lonely This Christmas – Mud
Merry Christmas Everyone – Shakin’ Stevens
Underneath the Tree – Kelly Clarkson
Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses
One More Sleep – Leona Lewis
December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas) – George Michael
Do You Hear What I Hear? – Whitney Houston
Do You Want to Build a Snowman? – Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Mon & Katie Lopez

Disc: 2

White Christmas – Bing Crosby with The Ken Darby Singers & John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Frank Sinatra
Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Dean Martin
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee
Frosty the Snowman – The Ronettes
Winter Wonderland – Doris Day
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town – The Crystals
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – The Ronettes
The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot – Nat King Cole
Sleigh Ride – Ella Fitzgerald
Merry Christmas Baby – James Brown
What Christmas Means to Me – Stevie Wonder
Someday at Christmas – The Jackson 5
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Andy Williams
Senor Santa Claus – Jim Reeves
A Marshmallow World – Darlene Love
Here Comes Santa Claus – Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans
Never Do a Tango With an Eskimo – Alma Cogan
Lonely Pup (In a Christmas Shop) – Adam Faith
Santa Baby – Eartha Kitt
Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Ella Fitzgerald with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five
I’ll Be Home for Christmas – Perry Como with Russ Case & His Orchestra
Holly Jolly Christmas – Burl Ives
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – The Crystals
Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys
The Bells of St. Mary – Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans
The Christmas Song – Ella Fitzgerald

Disc: 3

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir
Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid
The Power of Love – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
When a Child Is Born – Johnny Mathis
O Holy Night – Il Divo
Walking in the Air – Aled Jones
Silent Night – Nat King Cole
O Come All Ye Faithful – Perry Como
Silver Bells – Jim Reeves
O Little Town of Bethlehem – Burl Ives
Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy – Bing Crosby & David Bowie
A Winter’s Tale – David Essex
In Dulci Jubilo – Mike Oldfield
A Spaceman Came Travelling – Chris de Burgh
In the Bleak Midwinter – Bert Jansch
Ring Out Solstice Bells – Jethro Tull
Gaudete – Steeleye Span
We Wish You a Merry Christmas – The Weavers
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Blue Blood
The Twelve Days of Christmas – The Spinners
Auld Lang Syne – Susan Boyle
Happy New Year – ABBA