Happiness is...a holiday classic show-down.

Last Thanksgiving I spent the weekend in lovely Savannah, GA. On one of our walking tours of the city we stopped in front of one of the ubiquitous town squares and heard the story of James Lord Pierpont, an organist in his brother's Unitarian church who was commissioned to write a song for the church's children's choir.  Inspired by his youth in New England and the sleighs the boys would race up and down the streets during the winter h composed a song that was so popular at the Thanksgiving service the children were requested to sing it again for Christmas. And so, the classic Jingle Bells was born.

At least  that's how the story goes.

However, if you go to Medford, Massachusetts, they will tell you he wrote it in Simpson Tavern on what is now High Street in the center of the town square. There's even a plaque there commemorating the event.

No one really knows how it came to be, but no on can deny that it's a timeless classic. It's been redone at least a bazillion times. And even made it's way into outer space!  As the fount of all knowledge (aka Wikipedia) tells it, the Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra sent this message to Mission Control on December 16, 1965: "We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit...." The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleighbells and broadcast a rendition of the song, making it the first to be broadcast from space.

So, on this, the longest day of the year, let's brighten things up a bit with a battle of the bands-ish competition.  I've picked a few different (and I think excellent) versions of the song by various and sundry artists. Some are a bit more traditional and some are completely off the wall. Which is your favorite?

I'm sure there are a million more out there. Have I missed your favorite? Post it in the comments and I'll see what I can do to add it in! The winner will be posted after I've received all of your votes.*  (Yes, that means you...all you lurkers who read and fail to identify yourselves! Make a comment or man up and become a legit blog follower. --Maybe one of these days I'll make it into the double digits-- It'll be great. We can be friends!)  ;)

(btw, don't you love how I squeezed in not one but TWO banjo songs?! Sneaky, aren't I?)

*disclaimer--no actual prizes will be awarded, just the knowledge that your version is superior to all others should be enough for you, yes?

Happiness is...a chill enducing movie trailer.

Call me a pathetic nerd, but when I heard the opening strains of music playing in the first few seconds of the new trailer for The Hobbit today, I got chills. Literally.

Take a peek!

Awesome, yes? Too bad we have to wait a whole YEAR to see the entire thing. Oh well, at least we'll have something to look forward to next Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas...

Let's listen to a fun holiday tune, shall we? 

Sorry it's not an actual video, but I figure it's great enough to stand on its own without it! Happy 8th day. Only 4 more to go!

Happiness is...a weekend full of accomplishment and bits of unexpected pleasure.

It's been a busy couple of days.  Here's just a snippet of what filled my time:

• A walk around the neighborhood enjoying the gorgeous weather and this view

• Finishing this book (review to come)
• A Twilight movie marathon with some super fun friends
• Discovering that my shoes look perfectly at home among the fallen leaves

• Completing a 5K with my roommates to help out a local high school
• Making this sweet potato pie (and a pumpkin ice cream pie which tasted divine but was not beautiful) in honor of Pie Day* on Sunday

• Listening to this album while getting started on making some Christmas gifts (details and updates of the projects to follow)
• Breaking out the exercise books and sitting down to the keyboard after a long absence
• Slowly working on the NaNoWriMo project....current word count 5863

All in all, a highly eventful weekend.  How was yours?

*My musically inclined friend, K, has made a yearly tradition out of Pie Day. Since by the end of Thanksgiving Dinner one's stomach is generally so full of turkey and stuffing and so forth that the requisite pumpkin pie is almost torture to squeeze in, and therefore is hardly enjoyed to its fullest, the pie is now given its own day. Generally falling on the Sunday before Thanksgiving one and all are invited to bring and/or sample the smorgasbord of pies without having previously gorged on a week's worth of food in the space of an hour or so. Last night's celebration was again a success filled with pumpkin, pecan, pear cranberry, mini key lime, chocolate, peanut butter, peach, and peanut butter raspberry with chocolate ganache, just to name a few! Delicious!