Janalisa came over and we built a gingerbread house and caught up on the news.  It was quite fun, even if we had to yell for #2 son at one point to come and help us keep the whole thing from falling apart.

You can see another picture of it at the Sweetique blog, where you’ll also find a nice collection of chocolate recipes, in case you haven’t yet done all your holiday baking. That’s also where you can get the chocolate rocks you see here.

I haven’t done much baking at all, but I’m planning to do some. A check arrived yesterday and #2 son and I sallied forth to get Christmas Eve provisions. He started to ask what I was going to bake, and then caught himself and said, “No, you’re busy.” Not in a snarky way, but in a thoughtful way that makes me want to be sure and do some baking.

We’ve ordered the sandwich tray, though, and I have Christmas cards ready to mail, and I finished the sweater, so I’m feeling fairly prepared.

If you’re going to bake things with sugar or build things out of candy, then you’ll want to sing “Marshmallow World.” You can listen to Darlene Love’s recording at that link, or go with the lyrics and guitar chords if you want to play it yourself.

The 1940s and ’50s were one of the big times for Christmas songs, bringing us “White Christmas,” “Santa Baby,” “Run, Run Rudolph,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “The Christmas Song,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” and many more. A lot of those songs didn’t become hits till the ’60s, which was a good thing for the ’60s.

Christmas songs actually written in the 1960s, such as “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Marshmallow World,” tend to be extremely stupid. Here are the lyrics for today’s song:

It’s a marshmallow world in the winter,
When the snow comes to cover the ground,
It’s the time for play, it’s a whipped cream day,
I wait for it all year round.

Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly,
In the arms of the evergreen trees,
And the sun is red like a pumpkin head,
It’s shining so your nose won’t freeze.

The world is your snowball, see how it grows,
That’s how it goes, whenever it snows,
The world is your snowball just for a song,
Get out and roll it along.

It’s a yum-yummy world made for sweethearts,
Take a walk with your favourite girl,
It’s a sugar date, what if spring is late,
In winter, it’s a marshmallow world.

The world is your snowball, see how it grows,
That’s how it goes, whenever it snows,
The world is your snowball just for a song,
Get out and roll it along.

See? It’s nearly meaningless. The tune is also rudimentary. However, it’s kind of catchy and fun to sing.

I don’t know why people churned out dozens of holiday songs that went on to become classics for a couple of decades, and since then have mostly given us stuff like “Last Christmas.” Something wrong with that.

I’m hoping to get a lot of solid work in today. Several of my clients are having tech troubles of various kinds, but I’ve got stuff from the arts center to do, and I’m hoping to get people’s blog posts scheduled for the week from Christmas to New Year’s, so I can take a little time off.

At this time of year, a lot of offices get relaxed and holiday spirited. The Desk Set is of course the ideal example of this. I’m trying for that even if I don’t have coworkers laughing in the halls and a break room full of fudge and champagne.

All my menfolks are off now, so I have crowds of guys playing video games. It’s not quite the same thing.