Popular Nostalgia

This song sums up everything nostalgic about Christmas. Christmas in Australia just wasn’t the same without chestnuts roasting on an open fire or snow glistening outside. Bing felt the same way when he sang this classic as part of the 1942 classic “Holiday Inn” and later the 1954 hit “White Christmas”: Lyrics I’m dreaming of […]

Every Christmas party, every year. There’s no getting away from this anthem -even if you want to. This song is twice my age and yet I’ll probably be telling my kids one day that “it was dead cool at the time”. For those who wish to sing along: Lyrics “Are you hanging up your stocking […]

I never quite understood why we had satsumas in our stockings at Christmas and oranges at the Christingle service. It may well be something to do with them being expensive in “the olden days” and so reserved for special occassions like Christmas. However, I always much preferred the sweets, chocolate and other presents inside and […]

“Holidays are coming, Holidays are coming” You know it’s Christmas when… Coca-Cola ramps up the advertising. This particular advert has become the signal for yuletide to begin. I heard somewhere that Coca-Cola invented the red coat for Santa Claus but that could just have been a self-aggrandising press release. I know the reindeers are German […]