It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I’m much more into Christmas this year than I have been in years. That’s because work is so much better now than before. My job has had consistent major deadlines tied to the first of the year during the past couple of Christmas holidays. As such, the date has been a thing of dread. Not so this year.

My family seems to be enjoying the holiday much more this year too. That’s probably because I’m not walking around grumbling under my breath or grinding my teeth or threatening to shoot Santa Claus on site.

My gym started playing Christmas music the week before Thanksgiving. I was a little irked, but not overly disgusted. My fresh attitude towards the holiday is making me more receptive to the breaking of non-existent rules. But it’s because of this that I drove home thinking hard about my favorite Christmas song.

“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” was written by Meredith Wilson in 1951. It’s been covered by many different singers, but my favorite is Bing Crosby. There’s a nostalgic element to the song for me, but deeper than that I just like what it represents.


The song doesn’t really focus on religion or Santa or love or the true meaning of Christmas or any of that. I feel that the song is unique. I feel that it’s celebrating the idea of a personal Christmas within the context of a public one. The singer is obviously enjoying the trappings of a town decorating and preparing for Christmas in many different ways, but ultimately “the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be at your own front door”. I always took that to mean that there’s a personal Christmas involved in the greater Christmas holiday, and that involves the decorations and traditions that are unique to you and your family.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five and ten glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in ev'ry store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.

A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben;
Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk
Is the hope of Janice and Jen;
And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
There's a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well,
The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart

There’s also a historical aspect to this song that’s relevant to the underlying theme of this blog. The song is present every year in our culture, yet it marks itself with references to our past. It’s a distinctly 1950’s view of Christmas. “Take a look in the Five and Ten”. Five and Ten? What’s a Five and Ten? Would your kids know? Do you have a Five and Ten in your home town anymore? “Toys in ev’ry store”. That’s a reference to the fact that many department stores didn’t stock toys year-round. Only during the Christmas season when toy sales were at their peak. That’s something that began to change in the 1970’s.


“A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots is the wish of Barney and Ben.” Ah… Barney and Ben. Those fashion challenged gangsters of the Christmas streets. This is, of course, a reference to Hopalong Cassidy and the immensely popular cowboys of the 1950’s. This was before action figures and GI Joe, when role-play toys were the boys thing to do and Roy Rogers ruled the range underneath the Christmas tree. I may be unique in this, but I don’t see a lot of kids running around and playing cowboy today.


“Dolls that will talk and go for a walk is the hope of Janice and Jen.” Dolls that actually DID stuff were still new in the 1950’s and quite the rage. It’s kinda funny now that the American Girl dolls and similar high-end girl’s toys seem to be going back to the no-frills-except-on-the-outfits roots.

The song seeks to evoke a nostalgic feeling for Christmas and does so quite well. And it keeps getting sung by new singers every year and the classic versions played on the radio every year. So these elements of a 1950’s Christmas buried in the lyrics have become eternal. The song is invoking nostalgic feeling in generations that will never see a Five and Ten and never strap on toy pistol and slip on some Cowboy boots with Hoppy’s picture on it.

So yeah… I love it.

Thanks,
DCD