We Need A Little Christmas - A Christmas Music Countdown
“Haul out the holly
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again
Fill up the stockings
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.” Jerry Herman
If we need a little Christmas this year, you can imagine how much we needed it in 1966, when Angela Lansbury sang it originally in the Broadway musical, Mame. This year, retailers don’t need a little Christmas – they need a LOT of Christmas to boost their sales.
Still, I refuse to give into commercialism at the very beginning of the holiday season, so “A Christmas Festival” came first on my list. But as this is Black Friday, after all, I just had to put in “We Need A Little Christmas” as a very close Number Two.
Mame is a musical with the script by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Originally titled “My Best Girl,” it's based on the 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and a 1956 Broadway play (without the music, kids), by Lawrence and Lee, starring Rosalind Russell.
Set in New York and spanning the Great Depression and World War II, it focuses on eccentric bohemian, Mame Dennis, whose famous motto is "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death." Her fabulous life with her wealthy friends is interrupted when her nephew comes to live with her. They cope with the Depression in a series of adventures.
In 1958, a film titled Auntie Mame, based on the play, was released by Warner Brothers once again starring Rosalind Russell in the title role. Russell was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for her portrayal.
The musical opened on Broadway eight years later, starring Angela Lansbury and Beatrice Arthur. The production became a hit and spawned a 1974 film with Lucille Ball in the title role and Arthur reprising her supporting role, as well as a London production, a Broadway revival, and a 40th anniversary revival at the Kennedy Center in 2006. * Source: Wikipedia
It’s 2011, and we’re more apt to say “put up the free before the market falls again.” The stores are practically giving away their merchandise in order to get into the black before the end of the year and they wind up ending in the red. Stores like Wal-Mart began their sales insanely early this year – beginning at the stroke of 12 a.m. on Black Friday.
My brothers and I wanted to get our mother a laptop. At 86, she’s finally realized she’s in the 21st Century. We lured her with promises of store websites, amazing prices, printable coupons, and free shipping if she went online. We’re also buying her a USB mouse. We can barely deal with the laptop roller mouse; Mom would throw the laptop out the window. She barely knows what a mouse is or how to use it, much less the fingerpad.
The stores really are practically giving away DVD players which both Mom and my younger brother need. Now that the Blu-Ray is all the rage (my older brother predicted it years ago. We were shopping for a DVD player. He pointed at the Blu-Ray and said, “We can’t afford it right now because it’s so expensive, but this is the future. You should start buying Blu-Ray disks instead of DVD.)
The laptop we were looking at was a bargain, for what it was – a more expensive but popular Dell laptop. Big Brother received an e-advertisement for this laptop, with a link showing the countdown until midnight on Black Friday, when it would be available.
We wanted to put it on my credit card because I’m allowed to apply purchase dollars back towards my credit balance (if I were allowed, I’d tell everyone to run out and get this credit card!). I sat at my keyboard, fingers at the ready. BB called me to make sure I hadn’t fallen asleep. I put him on speaker so my hands would be free and we waited anxiously.
At 12:01 a.m. EST, I clicked “Shop Now” for that item – and…. Nothing. “Well?!” my brother asked anxiously. “Did you click it?!” “Yeah,” I said. “And what happened? What’s it showing?!” The clock, stopped at zero hours. We were in limbo. We weren’t at the Dell website, and certainly not at our chosen laptop’s page.
So I clicked onto their chatline and asked what was up. As BB had also predicted, the company was on Central Standard Time, where their offices were located. East Coasters had to wait another hour. BB hung for awhile to do some things on his computer. I surfed the web and read a little.
At ten minutes to one, BB called back and we were on countdown once again. At the stroke of 1:01 a.m., I clicked on “Shop Now.” This time we made it to Dell. But still no laptop page. I looked all over Dell’s site for this thing. But it was only listing at a student discount rate. No Black Friday Sale rate. The best I could come up with was a Hot Pink, stripped down model with no software; not the advertised laptop with windows, and not at the sale price.
Back to the chatline. I was 160th in line the first time. This round, I was Number 230 and going up. I had accidentally signed onto the wrong chat. That agent (as they were called) transferred me over to the proper chatroom at Dell, but because of my error, I kept falling back in line. So I exited and re-entered the right chatroom. I was at No. 230 or so again, but now I was moving up.
I couldn’t find any laptop like it,, but now BB brother finally found his way into the website. He found the exact laptop, for only five dollars more than the advertised price. It was around 2:15 a.m. and I had it. I wanted to take the five dollar loss and call it a night. But BB wanted answers.
This agent said that the e-vertisement was a mistake, and that’s why it wasn’t taking us to the laptop. That laptop only sold for $399, she said, not $342. But my brother had it right there. We wanted to know how we wound up with the clock then, and why it did take us into the Dell webpage, but she had no answers. It was now 3 o’clock in the morning. BB finally agreed with me, that enough was enough. I thanked this agent very politely and hoped she had a Happy Thanksgiving, and signed off.
BB sent me an e-mail with the link to the laptop and I ordered it, ensuring I’ll get credit dollars eventually (yay) and Mom will be connected at last. We can e-mail her and she can e-mail us, she can see store specials that aren’t advertised in the circulars, and she can keep track of the stock market in real time, and sent instant messages to her legislative representatives.
Not bad for an 86 year-old Grizzly Bear, Motorcycle Mom. Meanwhile, I did the rest of my shopping today. My best Black Friday online purchase today was for The Nephew. I wish I could tell you what it is, but he’s also a reader. I’ll give him a hint, though: It involves a national political figure who only knows how to do one thing. I bought it because I know my engineering student nephew definitely needs a little Christmas.
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again
Fill up the stockings
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.” Jerry Herman
If we need a little Christmas this year, you can imagine how much we needed it in 1966, when Angela Lansbury sang it originally in the Broadway musical, Mame. This year, retailers don’t need a little Christmas – they need a LOT of Christmas to boost their sales.
Still, I refuse to give into commercialism at the very beginning of the holiday season, so “A Christmas Festival” came first on my list. But as this is Black Friday, after all, I just had to put in “We Need A Little Christmas” as a very close Number Two.
Mame is a musical with the script by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Originally titled “My Best Girl,” it's based on the 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and a 1956 Broadway play (without the music, kids), by Lawrence and Lee, starring Rosalind Russell.
Set in New York and spanning the Great Depression and World War II, it focuses on eccentric bohemian, Mame Dennis, whose famous motto is "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death." Her fabulous life with her wealthy friends is interrupted when her nephew comes to live with her. They cope with the Depression in a series of adventures.
In 1958, a film titled Auntie Mame, based on the play, was released by Warner Brothers once again starring Rosalind Russell in the title role. Russell was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for her portrayal.
The musical opened on Broadway eight years later, starring Angela Lansbury and Beatrice Arthur. The production became a hit and spawned a 1974 film with Lucille Ball in the title role and Arthur reprising her supporting role, as well as a London production, a Broadway revival, and a 40th anniversary revival at the Kennedy Center in 2006. * Source: Wikipedia
It’s 2011, and we’re more apt to say “put up the free before the market falls again.” The stores are practically giving away their merchandise in order to get into the black before the end of the year and they wind up ending in the red. Stores like Wal-Mart began their sales insanely early this year – beginning at the stroke of 12 a.m. on Black Friday.
My brothers and I wanted to get our mother a laptop. At 86, she’s finally realized she’s in the 21st Century. We lured her with promises of store websites, amazing prices, printable coupons, and free shipping if she went online. We’re also buying her a USB mouse. We can barely deal with the laptop roller mouse; Mom would throw the laptop out the window. She barely knows what a mouse is or how to use it, much less the fingerpad.
The stores really are practically giving away DVD players which both Mom and my younger brother need. Now that the Blu-Ray is all the rage (my older brother predicted it years ago. We were shopping for a DVD player. He pointed at the Blu-Ray and said, “We can’t afford it right now because it’s so expensive, but this is the future. You should start buying Blu-Ray disks instead of DVD.)
The laptop we were looking at was a bargain, for what it was – a more expensive but popular Dell laptop. Big Brother received an e-advertisement for this laptop, with a link showing the countdown until midnight on Black Friday, when it would be available.
We wanted to put it on my credit card because I’m allowed to apply purchase dollars back towards my credit balance (if I were allowed, I’d tell everyone to run out and get this credit card!). I sat at my keyboard, fingers at the ready. BB called me to make sure I hadn’t fallen asleep. I put him on speaker so my hands would be free and we waited anxiously.
At 12:01 a.m. EST, I clicked “Shop Now” for that item – and…. Nothing. “Well?!” my brother asked anxiously. “Did you click it?!” “Yeah,” I said. “And what happened? What’s it showing?!” The clock, stopped at zero hours. We were in limbo. We weren’t at the Dell website, and certainly not at our chosen laptop’s page.
So I clicked onto their chatline and asked what was up. As BB had also predicted, the company was on Central Standard Time, where their offices were located. East Coasters had to wait another hour. BB hung for awhile to do some things on his computer. I surfed the web and read a little.
At ten minutes to one, BB called back and we were on countdown once again. At the stroke of 1:01 a.m., I clicked on “Shop Now.” This time we made it to Dell. But still no laptop page. I looked all over Dell’s site for this thing. But it was only listing at a student discount rate. No Black Friday Sale rate. The best I could come up with was a Hot Pink, stripped down model with no software; not the advertised laptop with windows, and not at the sale price.
Back to the chatline. I was 160th in line the first time. This round, I was Number 230 and going up. I had accidentally signed onto the wrong chat. That agent (as they were called) transferred me over to the proper chatroom at Dell, but because of my error, I kept falling back in line. So I exited and re-entered the right chatroom. I was at No. 230 or so again, but now I was moving up.
I couldn’t find any laptop like it,, but now BB brother finally found his way into the website. He found the exact laptop, for only five dollars more than the advertised price. It was around 2:15 a.m. and I had it. I wanted to take the five dollar loss and call it a night. But BB wanted answers.
This agent said that the e-vertisement was a mistake, and that’s why it wasn’t taking us to the laptop. That laptop only sold for $399, she said, not $342. But my brother had it right there. We wanted to know how we wound up with the clock then, and why it did take us into the Dell webpage, but she had no answers. It was now 3 o’clock in the morning. BB finally agreed with me, that enough was enough. I thanked this agent very politely and hoped she had a Happy Thanksgiving, and signed off.
BB sent me an e-mail with the link to the laptop and I ordered it, ensuring I’ll get credit dollars eventually (yay) and Mom will be connected at last. We can e-mail her and she can e-mail us, she can see store specials that aren’t advertised in the circulars, and she can keep track of the stock market in real time, and sent instant messages to her legislative representatives.
Not bad for an 86 year-old Grizzly Bear, Motorcycle Mom. Meanwhile, I did the rest of my shopping today. My best Black Friday online purchase today was for The Nephew. I wish I could tell you what it is, but he’s also a reader. I’ll give him a hint, though: It involves a national political figure who only knows how to do one thing. I bought it because I know my engineering student nephew definitely needs a little Christmas.
posted by Belle | 8:15 PM
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