When my sister and I got too old to listen to Mom and Dad read us “The Night Before Xmas”, it became one of our family traditions to listen to this record on Christmas Eve instead. I also recited this at our Boy Scouts Xmas party one year and got a very favorable response from the other kids as well as the Scout leaders.1
It’s kind of corny, but then it is being recited by the late Don Harron in character as Charlie Farquharson, who he also played on the long-running variety/country music program Hee Haw, a show known primarily for its “corn pone” humor. However, in spite of being from 1976 and being recited by a character who is very much “rural”, unlike so much other media I enjoyed in my youth, I was pleasantly surprised and relieved that the four-minute spoken word piece has aged rather well in that contains nothing racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic to painfully remind the listener that it was made in “less enlightened” times!
While Don Harron is probably best remembered by American audiences for his 23-year stint on Hee Haw, he was also a regular fixture on Canadian TV for over half a century (primarily appearing in character as Farquharson). Harron first appeared on CBC TV in 1952 as Farquharson (in the national broadcaster’s first ever production) and later reprised the character on The Red Green Show as late as 2004. Harron is also the father of Mary Harron, who is probably best known for directing American Psycho.
OPTIONAL DISCUSSION PROMPT: What Xmas and/or other holiday traditions did you (or do you) partake in with your family or friends that are not exactly “typical” or “traditional”?
Have a Great Night Thread, Avocado!