My friend and “trivia partner” Kim and I hit up a “name that tune” night at a watering hole on Tuesday, and it got off to a funny start. Kim texted me about a half hour before the game started alerting me that it would be an all Christmas songs theme night and did I want to call it off? Clearly she knows me and my hatred of Christmas songs too well (though I am trying to get over SOME of my hate). Really, I am – but there are some songs that make me want to pour molten lava into my ears. I am not made of stone! And having a music background makes it very, very difficult to just “tune out” songs when they are playing, but I digress!  I texted back that yes, I would still go out. We did have prize money from a couple of previous outings, after all! Free drinks is a powerful motivator! We didn’t win any prizes, but had some nicely triumphant moments during the game – and some not-so-triumphant moments! Here’s a snippet of some of the gnarly Christmas-themed questions that were posed (all in the form of songs):
1. Who is the first person to sing on U.S.A. for Africa’s song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” I was all over this one…
2. Who is the only human singing along with Alvin, Simon and Theodore on that really, really annoying Chipmunks Christmas song (the one that I am really glad is not played in my workplace)? Kim was all over this one (thank GOODNESS!).
3. In Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” which E-Street band member is mentioned by name – and what does Bruce say this person is getting for Christmas? I remembered this one…
4. Who sang the original version of “Mele Kalikamaka” (Hawaiian Christmas song) in the “Christmas Vacation” movie? We put down a well-known Hawaiian crooner instead of the correct guy, miss.

Clark Griswold fantasizes about a woman in a red bathing suit in a scene from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. But I like this image of a woman in a red swimsuit better (hey, it’s MY blog…)

5. What animated Christmas special featured the “Heat Miser” character? Miss.
6. Who sang the original “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” song for the 1964 holiday special?
7. What is the name of Grinch’s dog in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas?” Mike stepped in and remembered this answer.
8. What is the name of the sled in a Beach Boys Christmas song with the lyrics “run, run reindeer” among others?
I didn’t take REALLY good notes, since it was pretty much an all-audio game, but these are some of the questions I remember!