There's been steady debate at our home/animal habitat regarding our 25 Days of Christmas song blog project.

Neesha wants to proceed from least favorite to most favorite each day until Christmas. She doesn't think she can come up with enough Christmas songs she likes. 

I say we should list all the horrible Christmas songs at once up front, get it all out of our system, and do ones we like from then on -- one a day -- because I can think of at least 10 atrocious Christmas songs right now off the top of my head without even trying. That's in addition to the awful Paul McCartney one I used yesterday, "Wonderful Christmastime," which I maintain is totally bad and could not possibly have been recorded in more than a single take. 

But I'm not here to rag on "Wonderful Christmastime." I'm here to say I think we should make our least favorite Christmas song list separate. Because it's a long, long climb from the God-awful "Christmas Shoes," so ridiculous and awful that it makes "Wonderful Christmastime" sound like "Hey Jude" ... so long a climb that I'm afraid it would take until St. Paddy's Day to reach the lip of the musical crap canyon. 

That's my two cents, anyway. Until further notice, I'm only picking good Christmas songs from here on out. 

Now, on with the countdown.

#24

Dustin's Pick: Every song in The Muppet Christmas Carol except for "When Love is Gone." 

Dustin's Reason: "There's a moment in Muppet Christmas Carol when Statler and Waldorf -- the Marley brothers in the film -- advise Michael Caine's Scrooge to 'leave comedy to the bears.' I'll add to that by advising him to leave singing to the frogs. His inexplicable duet during the blitzkrieg of his past Christmases is catastrophic on an array of levels, and it represents the only point at which the film sags. Why is he harmonizing with his unrequited love? Isn't his failure to achieve harmony with his past the engine driving his last-minute redemption? Doesn't fit. And besides, when the variations on a theme outshine the theme, something's seriously not working.  

That said, there are some genuine Christmas gems tucked into this movie. Among them, the opening number, 'Scrooge.'

Also good and Muppety is the Ghost of Christmas Present's song, "It Feels Like Christmas."

I won't go to the mat for just anything, but Muppet Christmas Carol, yes. I'm pretty sure when I cried during Tiny Tim's "Bless Us One and All" when my high school girlfriend and I rented it, that was the beginning of the end for our relationship. I'll have you know, though, that I watched this on Thanksgiving, and I cried then, just like I've cried EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. 

EVER. 

Neesha's Pick: "Christmas Wrapping"

Her Reason: "It doesn't have a very good narrative thread. And it's dumb."

(Pretty sure this isn't the real video, but the insipid tune should be familiar)