The record was released on CD in 1999, but the track of The Little Christmas Tree had been removed from the recording. I'm not sure why this was done... maybe there were some copyright issues... but I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe there might be another reason. Skelton's story was really a product of its time; it had an overtly Christian message (Santa tells the Christmas tree that every year he comes back, hoping to find people living not by man's law, but by the Ten Commandments) and also an anti-communist one. Relating his travels, Santa tells of flying over a "vast, dark place" where he runs head-on into an iron curtain, and two of his reindeer are knocked out. As kids, we had no idea what the iron curtain was, but we used to quote the lines all the time. It wasn't until later that we realized what Santa was actually talking about. If this is why the producers of the CD left it off the recording, well, shame on them. And no one liked it; I went to Amazon and checked out the reviews for the 1999 release, and literally every one I read mentioned their disappointment that The Little Christmas Tree was missing- obviously we weren't the only family who loved the story. Fortunately, for those not lucky enough to own the record, it's been put on You Tube numerous times. Enjoy.
Last weekend I went home to my parents' place for our annual Christmas tree decorating get together. Besides my parents and I, three more of my sisters were there, and my sister's fiance, to help with the tree. This is always a fun time, and it's the event which makes me feel like the Christmas season has really started. Our family always makes a big deal out of this... well, actually, we make a big deal out of everything surrounding Christmas... and have certain traditions which accompany the bedecking of the tree. One of these is that we open our grandparents' old radio/ record player- it's the one time a year that it's used- and play the old Christmas LPs that we've listened to while decorating the tree every year that I can remember. Digital downloads, CDs, forsooth! In my head, memories of tree decorating are always accompanied by a soundtrack of crackly vinyl. One of these records is the Mario Lanza Christmas album, while others include Gene Autry and Rosemary Clooney, Elvis, and Frank and Bing. And then, of course, there's the First Christmas Record For Children, which was always one of our favourites. I think it belonged to my mother as a child, but in any case, it's been played every year that I can recall. It has a variety of songs and stories on it, sung and told by entertainers who were popular when the record was first released, in the '50's. There are selections by Rosemary Clooney and Gene Autry, Doris Day, Jimmy Boyd, Mitch Miller, and even Captain Kangaroo. But by far, the most popular track on the record for us when we were kids was a story told by Red Skelton, entitled The Little Christmas Tree. This is a story about a tree which has been cut down, taken into a house and decorated by a rather unthankful family, and is wondering rather bitterly if this is what his purpose in life really was. And then he has a meeting with Santa Claus. We all loved this story as children- oh, who am I kidding- we still love it. And quote it: it has some great quotable lines. The record was released on CD in 1999, but the track of The Little Christmas Tree had been removed from the recording. I'm not sure why this was done... maybe there were some copyright issues... but I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe there might be another reason. Skelton's story was really a product of its time; it had an overtly Christian message (Santa tells the Christmas tree that every year he comes back, hoping to find people living not by man's law, but by the Ten Commandments) and also an anti-communist one. Relating his travels, Santa tells of flying over a "vast, dark place" where he runs head-on into an iron curtain, and two of his reindeer are knocked out. As kids, we had no idea what the iron curtain was, but we used to quote the lines all the time. It wasn't until later that we realized what Santa was actually talking about. If this is why the producers of the CD left it off the recording, well, shame on them. And no one liked it; I went to Amazon and checked out the reviews for the 1999 release, and literally every one I read mentioned their disappointment that The Little Christmas Tree was missing- obviously we weren't the only family who loved the story. Fortunately, for those not lucky enough to own the record, it's been put on You Tube numerous times. Enjoy.
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