“I Don’t Need No Santa Claus” by Fiction Family, Monday, December 26, 2022

 

Fiction Family was a side project found by  Christian Rock band Switchfoot's Jon Foreman and bluegrass band Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins. Eventual Switchfoot, Tyson Motensbocker producer Tyler Chester and Aaron Redfield also joined the group. The band produced several folk rock recordings and a free Holiday EP on NoiseTrade (now Paste).  The album is not available on streaming sites, so besides my YouTube playlist, I will include "California Christmas" from Switchfoot's latest release this is our Christmas album.  But I will include "I Don't Need No Santa Claus" because I think it nails the meaning of Christmas that I've been appreciating this holiday season.

I DON'T NEED NO CHRISTMAS SONGS.  Christmas this year feels unfinished. There are some years that I'm in a holiday spirit from September to February. Other years I'm just glad that Christmas ended. But this year I feel as if Christmas didn't actually happen. For me location often plays a big role in how Christmasy I feel. In Korea, Christmas is a couple holiday, and because it was on a weekend, it was back to work right after Christmas. And some countries Christmas isn't even a public holiday. And everyone has localized traditions. In Korea, it's a couple's holiday and couples go out and buy a cake--not a fruitcake, but a chocolate or a strawberry cake--and share it together. It's kind of exhibitionist holiday showing off who's together. When my family moved to North Carolina, I had to adjust to feeling a Christmas feeling without snow because when I lived in New York we had had a white Christmas every year. But this year, I realized something about Christmas. If I don't actively try to celebrate it, I'm going to lose a part of my culture. The culture of Christmas is based on family traditions passed down from generation to generation. I also wonder what the importance of celebrating Christmas is without having a family. 

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY BABY HERE WITH ME. But without family what else is there? Couple Christmases. Friends' Christmases. My first Christmas in Korea I spent with friends/coworkers who were planning on leaving Korea the coming March. They were missing home and so we watched Back to the Future because it all reminded us of home. The following year, I cocked up by not making plans. I felt lonely until I started watching a Korean drama called Reply 1997  (응답하러 1997), and I was glued to TV, eating chicken and snacks. I was so moved by the loneliness in Joon Hee's (준희) story--portrayed by singer Hoya--that I vowed that the next year I would start dating guys secretly. But then I got my heart broken by the next Christmas in Korea. This is my eleventh Christmas in Korea and every year has been different. Most have been without a tree. Most have been last minute changes and plans, and when I try to recreate a Christmas that is similar to my memories and expectations, I only get disappointed. I guess if Christmas is that important to me, I need to start planning at least by September what I should order or find in order to recreate Christmas traditions. Otherwise, I should decide that the most important thing about Christmas is family, and family now includes my partner. Spending time together is good enough. Everything else is just a bonus.






Alternate song: 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry (reworked post), Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Image
When I was a Christian teenager, a book started circulating in my church youth group. Joshua Harris wrote about youth with wisdom and authority that seemed logical and categorical for every situation to the young women who read I Kissed Dating Goodbye . The book’s thesis argued that dating was a worldly alternative to the more purposeful Christian concept of courtship. Dating fueled erotic passions, which must be saved for a heterosexual marriage. Dating is casual, even preteens dates. Courtship was about vetting a marriage partner and would happen in the late teen years or early adulthood.  YOU THINK I'M PRETTY WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON .  Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye was part of a movement I’ve written about a lot: purity culture. How much this movement influenced young Katy Hudson, a pastor’s daughter in Southern California, touring with a slew of Christian rockers on the heels of her debut, self-titled album , I can only speculate what went through the 17-year-old star’s
Read more

“A Voice in the Violence” by Wolves at the Gate, Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Image
On April 8th, people from around the world crowded the path of a rare total solar eclipse that spanned from central Mexico to Newfoundland. The celestial event lasted at most 4 minutes and 28 seconds. In the eclipse's direct path, businesses charged excessive rates for tourists to stay, dine, and enjoy themselves before and after the short main event. Many recall the 2017 total eclipse when then-President Trump looked directly at the sun without protective glasses, leaving experts aghast. As the 2017 and 2024 total solar eclipses were less than seven years apart, why the hype and international travel? While the two solar eclipses happened only seven years apart, the last total eclipse before 2017 in the contiguous fifty states was on March 7, 1970, and the next total solar eclipse after 2024 is not until 2044, but only be visible in the north-midwestern states around sunset. I SEE THE NIGHT SLIPPING OVER. The cosmic phenomenon of the sun being blocked by the sun’s light being block
Read more

"My Secrets Have Secrets Too" by Search the City, Sunday, August 1, 2021

Image
Capitalizing on the pop-punk sound of the time Tooth & Nail signed Search the City , and they released their first album A Fire So Big the Heavens Can See It in 2008.   The band played at Tooth & Nail Day at Cornerstone that year and produced several radio singles from the radio-friendly album. Tongue-in-cheek lyrics in songs like " Son of a Gun " and " Ambulance Chaser " lyrically could connect this Detroit-based band with the likes of a clean-lyriced Blink-182 , Angels or Airwaves , or Relient K . Five years after Fire , the band reformed with a new drummer, bassist, and vocalist, 21-year-old Travis Bobier , who was much younger than the other band members. The 2012 album Flight  was very similar to Fire, with   Bobier's vocal performance on the album of high-register, energetic emo sound like original singer Josh Frost .  YOU HAVE A PLACE TO CALL YOUR OWN THAT NO ONE CAN EVERY TAKE FROM YOU. The opening track of Flight , " My Secrets Have Secr
Read more