A Texas Christmas Carol

Texas and Texans have a reputation for "big": big hair, big vehicles, big cattle, Big Oil. We take a lot of pride in "big" in these parts. In fact, most Texans are constitutionally averse to doing anything small -- including, at least in my case, spontaneous outbreaks of silliness.

The holidays are particularly dangerous for me. They're happy, high-spirited times to begin with, and happy high spirits breed silliness. Trust me, I don't need the extra encouragement. Past holidays have produced everything from a political-parody of Clement Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" to mounting an effort to unionize Santa's elves.

This year I almost managed to rein in my baser impulses, but with encouragement and assistance from a dear friend and fellow Texan, I overcame the fleeting urge to behave like a sensible adult. Bless you, KB (a retired librarian who really ought to know better  ;-) ), for steering me from the path of respectability. Still, the silliness is only minor this year.

And it starts today with "A Texas Christmas Carol" -- a holiday song in twelve daily parts.

(Please forgive me if my tune bucket is a mite leaky.) Here we go.

On the first day of Christmas a Texan gave to me...