Marked by a meme

Not just content having killed me a while back, Mark Leslie has now decided to maim me. Oh.....meme me with . So in keeping the legal team here at chez Rainy happy here are The Rules

Pick a Christmas lyric that you've always had a question about and discuss it. Then either tag one or more people or either tag nobody and invite your readers to tag themselves and enjoy discussing the subject on their own.

The Song: Santa Claus is Coming to Town, by J. Fred Coots

Lyrics In Question:

He sees you when you're sleeping,
he knows when you're awake.
He knows when you've been bad or good,
so be good for goodness sake!

Maybe it's just me, but I love the fact that this lyric highlights the conflicted nature of the holidays. We sing this song to our children and we ramp them up for the holidays. We stuff them full of sugar and take them to all sorts of exciting places and then we get frustrated when they won't go to sleep. But this song is perhaps the biggest trigger of it all. We teach our children all year long to be wary of strangers. Don't talk to strangers, don't take candy from strangers, if a stranger tries to touch you you should yell and scream for help, etc.....

So to reinforce all this we celebrate by taking our children to the mall and telling them to sit on the lap of a large bearded man and spill their hearts' desires to him. To take candy and toys from him while he tells them what to do and to look happy when the camera is pointed at them. He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake? Is it just me or does the concept of a large bearded man (other than me) watching my children sleep terrifying? If this guy was dressing in dirty coveralls or jeans and ratty t-shirt in say June, we'd be pulling our children closer as he approached them. And he can do all this without the aid of the internet which is a whole other threat!!

So if your children can't sleep this holiday run then maybe it isn't the sugar or the excitement at all, as we first thought. Maybe it's the horror of being watched 1984 style....Big Brother at his finest. Either that or it's the the not at all veiled threats contained in same heartwarming ditty.

So...You better watch out, You better not cry
You better not pout, I'm Telling you why.
Santa Claus is coming to town.

Oh yeah baby. Behave yourself because this big creepy bearded guy is headed your way, and he knows if you've been bad of good!!! Sleep tight little ones. Merry Christmas mwahahahaaaaa!!!


Sadly I really like Christmas, but am in possession of a remarkably twisted mind. Perhaps this is why I loved The Nightmare Before Christmas so much?? Then again, if you love How The Grinch Stole Christmas how couldn't you.....it's what Tim was inspired by after all.