Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

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10 songs you shouldn’t hear at a Christmas party

My husband and I attended his work Christmas party on Friday night. Free food + great entertainment + a night away from the kids + a chance to win door prizes = SOLD!

It’s sometimes awkward for me to attend work functions for my husband. This is a part-time, temporary job, not what his career will be, and many of his co-workers are high school and college age, significantly younger than us and in a 100 percent different season of life.

Still, I looked forward to the party. The entertainment was the same as last year — a singing duo with great vocal range, everything from Motown to country to pop. The guy also plays the flute and the sax, and the lady wears great shoes that have been the talk of the party. They’re a lot of fun and extremely talented.

While the dinner music played this year, I noticed a theme I couldn’t ignore.

So, here’s a list of 10 songs  that shouldn’t be on the playlist for a Christmas party, in this case a work Christmas party.

1. “Bye, Bye Love.” Goodbye, happiness. Hello, loneliness. I feel like I could die. Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t people struggle with depression around the holidays? Is Christmas the right time to be singing about a break-up?

2. “Margaritaville.” It was a non-alcoholic party. ‘Nuff said, right? Although maybe the idea was to create an urge to take a vacation from the cold winter weather of central Pennsylvania.

3. “Tears on My Pillow.” See #1. Break-up songs + Christmas = awkward at best.

4. “Forget You.” Though the guy did a decent Cee Lo cover, it’s yet another break-up song. And the original version contains the big “F-bomb,” though I wouldn’t have known that if my husband hadn’t told me.

5. “Runaround Sue.” All I want for Christmas is a girl who won’t cheat on me.

6. “Man! I Feel Like a Woman.” The words “gonna let it all hang out” make me cringe in mixed company, especially when that company includes female co-workers your husband sees daily.

7. “Rolling in the Deep.” Great song, and if you can’t tell what it’s about, then maybe it doesn’t matter. More relationship angst.

8. “Build Me Up Buttercup.” More unfaithfulness, more unrequited love. Did I miss something about what Christmas is all about?

9. “She’s a Brick House.” Refer to #6 on the “hanging out” lyrics. Also, because the male entertainer of the duo demonstrated a suggestive move for the ladies on the dance floor to imitate. It was like prom meets bad wedding reception.

10. Anything by Lady Gaga, especially when it’s the last song of the evening and it’s “Bad Romance.” Catchy if you don’t listen to the words. But the main reason it makes the list is my husband’s reaction as he turned away from the dance floor: “I’m not going to look. I don’t want to know which of my coworkers wants a bad romance.”

The singers did their fair share of appropriate Christmas and dance music, too, so maybe creating this list means I’m getting old. I should add that we had a great time and came home with a Ruby Tuesday gift card. Date night bonus!

What do you think about these songs as Christmas party entertainment? Do you have any to add? Should I have left any of these off the list?

For my daughter, the sponge

Picture this: My 3-year-old daughter and I are in the bathroom of a pizza place. I’m waiting with her while she goes potty. Meanwhile, music plays from a speaker overhead. We hear these words:

“The French are glad to die for love.
They delight in fighting duels.
But I prefer a man who lives
And gives expensive jewels.”

As the words reach my daughter’s ears, she repeats, with a hint of incredulity, “the French?” “expensive jewels?”

I didn’t know the song at the time, but recognized it when the chorus came on. (“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”) I wondered what else would come out of my daughter’s mouth as the song continued. And it scared me a little.

When this happened, and it’s becoming more frequent that she repeats what she hears, I was in the middle of reading the book “Plugged-In Parenting: How to Raise Media-Savvy Kids with Love, Not War” by Bob Waliszewski.

Before reading one page, I adopted a “yeah, I’ve heard this before” attitude. I expected the same sort of “blah, blah, blah” arguments I’ve encountered in Christian circles about movies and television and music. I like all of those things, and the idea of limiting what I view has never sat well with me.

Until now.

Although the book is aimed at parents of teenagers or pre-teens, and my kids are 3 and 1 1/2, the author has convinced me (or was it God convicting me?) that I need to seriously consider what I view and listen to, if not for my sake, but for theirs. As a result of me reading this book, my husband and I have already started talking about what needs to change. While we limitedly practice media discernment for ourselves, we could take it farther.

Mr. Waliszewski’s arguments are loving and not condemning, powerfully convincing and backed by statistics. His is certainly not a popular stance, but God does not call us to popularity. He calls us to obedience and holiness.

Thanks to this book, I’m taking another step toward both.

 

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I received a copy of “Plugged-in Parenting” free from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my review.

It’s also on Tyndale’s Summer Reading Program list. Click here to join.

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