Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 12 Days to Go

Good cheer to all my friends! Welcome to my third year of the Christmas Carol Countdown.

Many of you, like me, are enchanted by the music of Christmas. Whether it is Frosty the Snowman and Jingle Bells. Or Silent Night and O Little Town of Bethlehem. It could be silly: Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reinder or sacred: Angels from the Realms of Glory. Or maybe you like a singer and listen to his songs: Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, or Vienna Boys Choir. What would Christmas be without them?

Welcome to Christmas Carol Countdown 2014!

My first choice is the quintessential song for today: The Twelve Days of Christmas!

Each time I hear that song, I remember an experience from third grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Winn, got all of us kids involved in a big project for the school Christmas Assembly. We made paper models of each of the items in the Twelve Days of Christmas. That meant there was one person holding the Partridge in the Pear Tree, but there were 8 holding up the 8 Maids A Milking. We sat in our places, singing the song, but when your "day" was sung, you'd pop up holding your model. It was great fun all that popping up and down!

I found a couple of renditions of The Twelve Days of Christmas that keep that same silliness.

The first is by Straight No Chaser, a professional 10-man acapella group, which started out at Indiana University. Their version of The Twelve Days drove them to stardom and got a 10-album contract with a recording studio.

Shhh! To help you with YouTubiness..all those horrible pop-up ads--there is a way to get rid of them. As soon as video starts, click on the settings icon (looks like a flower or a gear) in the lower right corner. Click on it and then click no on the line that says: "Annotations." File this under General Helpfulness from Quilting Nonnie."

Be sure and tune in everday until Christmas for the Countdown!

And now, without further ado, Straight No Chaser!

The second hilarious 12 Days was done by a large group of real estate agents at a Christmas Party. It all starts out fine, until the song gets speeded up!