Last night Mike and I were discussing Christmas songs with his dad, specifically songs we dislike. One song I  shared was “Last Christmas,”  saying that it’s not even a Christmas song.  And an argument began.

Me: “Last Christmas” isn’t even a Christmas song.  Just because it has the word Christmas in it doesn’t mean it’s a Christmas song.  It’s a breakup song set around Christmas.

Mike: It is too a Christmas song. If your argument is that simply being set around Christmas doesn’t make it a Christmas song then there are countless other songs and movies that would also not be Christmas songs or movies.

Me: You could replace the word Christmas with Thanksgiving or any other day. Like Labor Day. And it would be the same exact song.  It’s not a Christmas song.

Mike: Well then you could make it “Have Yourself a Merry Little Thanksgiving” and it wouldn’t be a Christmas song but that is a classic Christmas song.

Me: That’s because it’s actually about Christmas. “Have yourself a merry little Christmas make the yuletide gay, from now on our troubles will be miles away…”  [ok, as I type this and look up the lyrics I realize that this could be an any holiday song…doh!…]

Mike: It’s a Christmas song because it takes place around Christmas.  Like Christmas Vacation is a Christmas movie because it’s about a family get-together around Christmas. If it was a family get-together around Thanksgiving or Fourth of July it wouldn’t be a Christmas movie.

Me: Christmas Vacation is a Christmas movie because it’s about Christmas and the craziness of families at the holidays.  Of course it wouldn’t be a Christmas movie if it was about another holiday.

[I realize this is getting long so I’ll cut to the point I had that made me win]

Mike: Like, I’ll Be Home for Christmas wouldn’t be a Christmas song if it was I’ll be home for Thanksgiving.

Me: Uh, no.  That song talks about Christmas. “I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me. Please have snow, and mistletoe, and presents under the tree.” Christmas song.

Mike: Bad example.

After re-playing this whole thing this morning for this post, I realize that we’re really tied since “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has no other mention of Christmas than the first lyric.  But this was super fun and funny at the time, because it was a pretty heated debate and we don’t have those often. And probably because I thought I was 100% right.

I’d love to know:

What Christmas songs do you hate?  

Thoughts on the song “Last Christmas?”

Any “Christmas” songs that shouldn’t be deemed such?