Christmas time is a happy time, but it's also very stressful. Sometimes an argument breaks out amid the relentless holiday cheer. That's when you pull out your phone and stare intently at these comics to avoid all holiday family conflict.
Via Vox
One part "White Christmas," two parts “Baby Please Come Home.”
What is it that makes Christmas music so Christmassy? Is it the chestnuts? The nutmeg? The cinnamon? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
According to this new video from Vox, it’s a special chord found in some Christmas song classics that give it that special yuletide feel.
In this video, Vox talks to Adam Ragusea from Mercer University, who explains the influences of Mariah Carey’s hit and breaks the songs down note by note. When played together, Carey’s song sounds an awful lot like Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” and the Phil Spector-penned “Baby Please Come Home.” But there’s one chord in particular that makes them brings them all together. In music terms, it’s going from a “tonic chord” to a “diminished chord.” But all you need to do is hear how similar these things seem to get the gist.
Check out the video above, and enjoy the songs below. See if you can hear what makes them so Christmassy.
Via truTV
The War on Christmas has been going since the beginning of Christmas, apparently.
Adam might have ruined the history behind It’s a Wonderful Life, but today today he’s going for the yuletide jugular.
In this clip from “Adam Ruins Christmas,” Adam Conover takes audiences on an animated journey back to ancient solstice festivals to mark the end of Harvests. These parties were filled with cool things like cross dressing and fire — not tinsel, Aunt Mary-Anne. They were also the original Christmas celebrations, before a certain someone crashed the party.
Eventually, Adam tells that when Christians took over, they gradually introduced Jesus into these celebrations as a compromise. Citizens of newfound Christian municpalities could continue their celebrations if they included Jesus, so December 25 became Jesus' birthday party.
Cats VS Christmas Trees … The annual battle is upon us, here's 10 ways for cat owners to conquer! :)
With creepy eyes and a tendency to jump out and tattle on you, the Elf on the Shelf has become a beloved holiday tradition. Not everyone is comfortable with this, including a professor who warns that our children will learn to love a future with 1984-like surveillance. Jolly St. Nick is watching you.
People used to enjoy lighting up a log of wood on the hearth but that's a fire hazard so technology has taken over with the Yule Log video. If you feel weird without the TV on while you're decorating or having company over during holiday festivities, the Yule Log is for you! Let the soothing seasonal sounds of fire crackling serenade you while you play these lovely Yule Log videos in the background of all your holiday happenings.
