Team Scrooge or Team Santa?

December 01, 2010

Does listening to all twelve verses of The Twelve Days of Christmas make you want to poke yourself in the eye with a sharp candy cane? Are you proud that your name is on the naughty list? When wished a rousing "Happy Holidays!", do you want to reply, "Bah! Humbug!"? If this sounds like you, count yourself a member of Team Scrooge.

Do you wake up at 3 a.m. on Black Friday feeling full of gusto, ready to conquer the stores, and shop till you drop? Is your name on the nice list every year? Does the sound of Santa bellowing "Ho! Ho! Ho!" fill you with cozy Christmas cheer? If the answer is "yes", welcome to Team Santa!

Whether your place is with Team Scrooge, Team Santa, or somewhere in-between, the library has what you need to enhance your saccharine or sour holiday spirit. As noted below, we have Christmas DVDs, CDs, books, magazines, audiobooks, library events, and even newspapers that list the daily Christmas sales.

The best part is that all these items are free! A Christmas bargain like that satisfies the grouchiest Grinch or the most ecstatic elf in each of us.

Team Scrooge Suggestions

• Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris - Be sure to read or listen to SantaLand Diaries, where Sedaris describes his anxieties at fending off children and frenetic parents while working as an elf named Crumpet in Macy’s at the age of 33. "I'm wearing a green velvet costume," he writes. "It doesn't get any worse than this."
• The Worst Noel: Hellish Holiday Tales - Everyone has a Christmas nightmare story to tell: twenty writers tell their most hilariously hellish holiday stories in this collection.
• Skipping Christmas by John Grisham - This funny novel explores the tyranny of December 25 and one man’s decision not to celebrate Christmas.
• The Ref (DVD) - Denis Leary plays an unfortunate cat burglar who takes a suburban couple hostage. Unfortunately, he picks the wrong people to take captive, as Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis play a couple on the verge of an acrimonious divorce. As family arrives to celebrate the holiday, Leary masquerades as the couple’s marriage counselor in an effort to conceal his predicament. He gets more than he bargained for when he encounters their blackmailing son and despicable in-laws. This movie illustrates dysfunctional families, bickering relatives, and awkward situations at Christmastime.
• Also check out these DVDs that are not necessarily about Christmas but have a Christmas theme as the background: Nightmare Before Christmas, Christmas with the Simpsons, and Die Hard (1988).

Team Santa Suggestions   

• Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck - A man remembers a great discovery he made when he was 15 and living on his father's farm. A few days before Christmas he overhears his dad saying how much he hates having to wake his son at dawn for morning chores. As a special gift for his father, the boy gets up at a quarter to three on Christmas morning and does the milking by himself. Moving and tender, this is a fine choice for reading aloud or family sharing.
• Joyeux Noël'  (DVD) - On the French Western Front during World War I, Scottish, German, and French troops have a moment of truce and share peace and friendship on Christmas Eve of 1914. This inspirational French film shares several touching songs, lifts our hopes, and captures the sadness when the soldiers’ superiors become aware of the event and require the men to face grave consequences.
• Elf (DVD) - As Santa Claus is making his rounds, a human orphan crawls into his sack and accidentally hitches a ride to the North Pole. Raised as an elf, Buddy knows he's at least four feet taller than most of the other elves and eventually he decides to go to New York City and seek out his birth father, Walter Hobbs. Hobbs, on Santa's naughty list for being a heartless jerk, had no idea that Buddy was even born. Buddy, meanwhile, experiences the delights of New York City and human culture as only an elf can. When Walter's relationship with Buddy interferes with his job, he is forced to reevaluate his priorities.
• We have Christmas favorites available as books, DVDs, and audiobooks including: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg; The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore; and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss. There are Christmas classics galore: White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and too many others to list here! Also check out our vast selection of holiday cookbooks, craft books, decorating books, and holiday CDs.

Sandi V.
Parkville Branch