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 1st to 25th 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 3rd January 2019
- Driving Home For Christmas Chris Rea 4:03
Also:
Driving Home For Christmas – Stacey Solomon
Highest Chart Position: No.27 31st 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
9. HISTORY OF RADIO TIMES CHRISTMAS COVERS
10. TV TIMES CHRISTMAS COVERS
11. IT’S A CRACKER
Why did no-one bid for Rudolph and Blitzen on eBay? Because they were two deer
12. CHRISTMAS CARD PICTURE OF THE DAY
BONUS – Christmas Book Review
©2019 Phil M Robinson