Give Back Double and a Little Bit More

Jeff Westover Christmas News August 17, 2017August 17, 2017True story of Santa's Sleigh 0 Comment

Santa’s Sleigh is an effort of nickels and dimes that we make every Christmas to help a few folks in need. Compared to most high profile charitable campaigns ours pales a little in comparison. But what it lacks in monetary impact it more than makes up for in spirit. Last year I shared the story of a grandmother in a nursing home who drew a very meager donation from Santa’s sleigh – only $41.78. All she wanted for Christmas was to send a little love and a few minor things to her faraway grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This Santa’s Sleigh wasRead more

Herb Alpert Releasing New Christmas Album

Fans of trumpeter Herb Alpert have waited 50 long years – okay, well, 49 long years – for the follow up to his 1968 LP, Christmas Album. On September 29th, Alpert releases the long-rumored holiday album titled The Christmas Wish. And it not Herb alone either – he’s got a host of friends in a 45-piece orchestra, a 10-piece rhythm section and a 32-member choir. That sounds suspiciously like the ingredients of his first Christmas album which dropped on the 16th of December 1968 – and rocketed to the top of Billboard’s Christmas chart. Here is what we get thisRead more

What You Do Not Know About Sweet Little Jesus Boy

Jeff Westover Christmas Music August 12, 2017Robert macGimsey 0 Comment

Few of the songs of Christmas so directly conveys the personal appeal of Jesus Christ like the song Sweet Little Jesus Boy. Mistaken by many to be an old American spiritual sung by slaves of the south in the 19th century the song was actually written in 1934 by white American composer Robert MacGimsey. Born in Louisiana, MacGimsey was a lawyer who had a passion for composing what many people of his generation called “black music”. MacGimsey may have been white but he was raised in the company of blacks who gave him a rich background in the gospel musicRead more

Jacob Marley and Me

Jeff Westover Christmas Memories, Christmas News, Christmas Stories August 1, 2017July 31, 2017true Christmas story 0 Comment

(Editors Note: This guest blogger wishes to remain anonymous. Over a period of three weeks of July 2017 I met with her by phone as she told me her story and explained how she wanted it told. It has been through many revisions. This is a true story, difficult in parts to read. But at the same time it is one of the most profound Christmas stories I have ever had related to me.) “Marley was dead to begin with…” So wrote Charles Dickens to begin telling his story, A Christmas Carol. I identify a lot with Marley. And comeRead more

The Five Most Essential Movies of Christmas

Jeff Westover Christmas Community, Christmas Movies July 15, 2017July 15, 2017Christmas movies 2 Comments

By Lloyd Larsen — Guest Blogger on My Merry Christmas The history of film is slowly watering down the quality that was once fairly exclusive to Christmas. Recent releases with Christmas themes such as “The Night Before” has taken the once proud genre of Christmas and cast it as a suspect reason for even making a movie. That is why the following list of essential Christmas movies contains mostly older titles. Some will brand me old fashion. Or stubborn. Or maybe just old for doing it this way. But if you are a Christmas fan who guards closely not onlyRead more

A Christmas Mission Accomplished

Jeff Westover Christmas Community July 11, 2017Operation Christmas Cheer 0 Comment

I have been waiting until our Christmas-in-July celebrations to tell this story. Last year we added several names to a project we call Operation Christmas Cheer. This is a simple little effort we make to reach out and send a little love to folks who could use it through our Christmas cards. These folks could be ill, maybe elderly, perhaps serving far away from home at Christmas or merely just experiencing a hardship. We make this little effort to try and lift folks a little in these situations. We received a name and address from one of our members onRead more

Be Santa for Christmas in July

Jeff Westover Christmas Community, Christmas Events July 9, 2017July 9, 2017Santa's Sleigh 0 Comment

The greatest joy in Christmas is giving and for Christmas in July you can be Santa! For My Merry Christmas, that means Santa’s Sleigh — our little effort to give together for a few folks who need Christmas. And we will begin with ourselves: EVERY premiere membership sold on the Merry Forums goes 100% to Santa’s Sleigh. It’s our biggest fund raiser of the year and this year it goes through the end of the year. Did you know that you can gift a premiere membership? If you go to account upgrades in your Merry Forums account you can purchaseRead more

The Five Greatest Christmas Albums of the 1960s

Jeff Westover Christmas Music July 8, 20171960s, Christmas music 2 Comments

By D. Lon Nichols, Guest Blogger at MMC Many people consider the 1940s and 1950s to be the golden era of Christmas music. But to me the 1960s was a time when Christmas music broke out of traditional molds and brought us true classics. We hear more Christmas music from the 1960s on the radio these days than we hear of Crosby, Autry and Cole of the 40s and 50s. It is time to acknowledge that. One of the best of the 1960s came from Johnny Cash – an artist who’s rough edge was worn smooth by the message ofRead more

Five Things the Christmas Shopper Should Know About Prime Day

Jeff Westover Christmas Shopping July 6, 2017July 6, 2017Amazon, Prime Day 1 Comment

The Internet has changed so many things when it comes to how we spend money. Amazon hopes that is true as it touts Prime Day, the third year in a row of what they are hoping is an annual shopping event that rivals Black Friday. That is their hope, but it will never be their reality. But for the savvy Christmas shopper – even a very forward thinking Christmas shopper – Prime Day can indeed become part of great Christmas in July celebrations. It begins by understanding what Prime Day really is and what it is not: 1. It’s aRead more

MMC Celebrates Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

Jeff Westover Christmas Events, Christmas Trends July 5, 2017Ugly Christmas Sweater Day 0 Comment

The third Friday in December has come to be known as Ugly Christmas Sweater Day. That day this year falls on December 15th – and of course, My Merry Christmas will celebrate it. How? By giving you a way to showcase your ugly Christmas sweater. Yes, we’ll have those who will post up their pictures right to the Merry Forums. But we think a gloriously fun exhibitionist event like Ugly Christmas Sweater Day deserves something more. Stay tuned for those details. In the meantime, do a little research online into the art of ugly Christmas sweaters. It is a wildlyRead more

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