The First Two Christmas Gifts

If you think it's too early to be talking Christmas, go to any store in America. I've already begun receiving gifts, although these first two are both from the same giver: Joshua.

Gift Number One is actually a chain reaction of gifts. The chain begins with Joshua's Uncle Mike lending us his Barenaked Ladies (that's a band, really!) Holidays Album (good album!). The next link is from the Barenaked Ladies to my children: hearing, for the first time, the "Batman Smells" version of Jingle Bells. And the last link is the gift from Josh to me: Walking into a craft store which was all decked out for Christmas, and Josh saying - in the exact same tone of awe and wonder with which you might hear a boring child say "It looks so Christmasy!" - "Jingle Bells Batman Smells!" I dunno - we may have to podcast that one; the tone makes such a difference!

Gift Number Two is Josh having seen the old Rankin/Bass Frosty the Snowman, and having now picked up a pretty good Jimmy Durante impersonation therefrom. It's a classic. The impersonation, I mean. The cartoon is way more of a clunker than I remembered, and one hopes that the collective nostalgia that's keeping that thing alive will wear out before long.

Merry Christmas!