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**AUSSIE JINGLE BELLS**

Dashing through the bush
In a rusty Holden ute
Kicking up the dust
Esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side
Singing Christmas songs
It's summer time and I am in
Me singlet, shorts and thongs

Chorus:

Oh, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia
On a scorching summer's day
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Christmas time is beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a rusty Holden ute.


Engine's getting hot
We dodge the kangaroos
Swaggie climbs on board
He is welcome too
All the family's there
Sitting by the pool
Christmas Day, the Aussie way
By the barbeque

Chorus:

Come the afternoon
Grandma has a doze
The kids and Uncle Bruce
Are swimming in their clothes
The time comes round to go
We take a family snap
Then pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up.

Chorus:

** MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL! **

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Glossary~ ute: pick-up truck| Esky: cooler| boot: trunk| Kelpie: Australian breed of sheepdog| singlet: tank top| thongs: flip-flop sandals| swaggie (swagman) itinerant worker/tramp carrying all his belongings (in his swag)| shoot through: take off.

Go on, Makera, rub it in whilst we freeze in the UK!!!!!
Georges

George
I'd give anything for a cold, but especially white, Christmas! In fact my 1977 Christmas was spent in Newcastle, County Down (with my cousins) and I was so disappointed that it didn't snow! Nevertheless, we still had good fun.


Makera
I've never heard this before - it's a great version! (I think I'll share it at our office Xmas party.)

Cheers
Andrew (Darby)

Hey George ~
I'm in Tennessee USA where it's around freezing now! I'm using a little nostalgia to warm me up!

Oh well, guess we'll just have to settle for turning the heat up.

Hope you have a loving and peaceful Christmas George.

~Makera

Hi Andrew (D)~
Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it! My mother (in Oz) sent that to me a few years ago, so it was 'doing the rounds' Down Under for a while. I have no idea of it's provenance though. Yes, it should be a hit at your Xmas Party!

Have a good one!

~Makera

PS. I know what you mean about being disappointed by a snow no-show. Our first Christmas in the US was in Oregon, and it didn't snow. However, the novelty sure wears off fast when you have to live in it! We lived in Connecticut for 2 years. After the novelty of the beauty etc. wears off, and you have to dig your way through 4ft deep layers of it to the road, you start to refer to it as 'that white shit'!!

Such a wonderful song and Greeting, Makera ~ Thanks so much !!! Thanks, too, for the glossary ~ Christmas in Australia sounds like a blast!!!

~ Lizzy

Makera, apologies, I forgot your location.........Merry and Peacefull Xmas.
Andrew D. ,Newcastle, Co.Down is a beautifull part of the world. I'm sorry it did not snow for you but the scenery is majestic with the backdrop of the Mourne Mountains..................Merry and Peacefull Xmas.
Georges

You got that right, Makera ! After four years in the Keys, I returned home for Christmas, praying for a white Christmas......that ol' romantic notion, as it really does harken to the days of yore and all the associations with it. Well, the weather was mild, no snow ~ until the morning I was leaving for the airport, and it began to flurry. Just enough to make the road slippery. I was driving, and had not driven on slippery roads for years. It was now cold and the visual was that where the grass pokes through, just enough to make the whole scene gray and approaching ugly, certainly dismal. But I had lots of time to take it all in, as my normal speed of about 55, was curtailed to about 35 ~ all the way .

Hi Makera,

Loved the "Jingle Bell" Aussie style! Tennessee, huh? I travel through Tennesee all the time. Also have many relatives there. Some are in Memphis, Jackson and Chattanooga as well as Knoxville and Bristol area. You are such a cosmopolitan person, How do you like living in Tennessee?

Hi George, Lizzy & Coco ~

Yeah, Liz, when it just flurries enough to make the roads slippery and everything grey, it is nasty! But I have to admit, when it's a beautiful white blanket over everything, viewed from your window, it's like being in a picture postcard - breathtaking! (Just have to put the snow shovel out of your mind.)

So glad you got a kick outa me Aussie jingle, and the glossary - tee hee; yeah, thought my American (& other) friends deserved a 'translation'.

Coco, I'm around 30 miles outside Nashville. We haven't had a chance to see the cities & towns you mentioned - been a bit 'anchored' for a while. We have seen a little of Nashville, and liked it. Southerners here, in Tennessee, really do have that famous 'Southern hospitality', and are so genuinely friendly and helpful. The broader accents of some are quite unintelligible, though - even to other Americans!

I really appreciated your description of me as "cosmopolitan" . I prefer to think of myself as a citizen of the World, rather than any one nationality or ethnicity. My husband is the one who can truly claim the 'cosmopolitan' title. He's been to so many countries; lived in Malta, England, North Africa and Australia. I'll get to see those places too, and hopefully quite soon.

George, that's OK, I figured you probably forgot my present locale . Does it ever snow where you are?

Love to all, drive carefully (and don't let the 'season' stress you out.)
~ Makera

Makera

I'm sure you're right about having to live with the stuff (snow), when it might become an inconvenience or nuisance factor - it's all white if you just have to look at it! (I had to slip that in.)

Actually, I remember my Irish mother (who migrated to Oz) saying to me once, when I was hankering after some snow, that she didn't care if she never saw snow again - and as it happened, she didn't.

Cheers
Andrew (D)

George

You're right about Newcasle (Co Down) and the Mountains of Mourne - I certainly enjoyed looking at them and going for a drive up into them. Funnily enough, my Uncle (also George) drove me to a spot on the road in those mountains where he reckoned the magnetic (or other) forces would allow his car to creep slowly uphill, with the engine turned off! (I must admit to not being quite convinced about his little demonstration - though I'm sure I would have politely made the right noises. )

Cheers
Andrew (D)

May I suggest this site for one of Australia's best operatic performers.



http://kevin.bloody.wilson.com.au/

Merry Christmas from all the elves to Heretic.

http://www.livewyre.f2s.com/x9club/hohoho.wav

Walking 'Round in Women's Underwear
sung to the tune "Walkin' in the Winter Wonderland"


Lacy things, the wife is missing
Didn't ask for her permission
I'm wearing her clothes, her silk pantyhose
Walking 'round in women's underwear

In the stores, there's a teddy,
With little straps, like spaghetti
It hold me so tight,
Like handcuffs at night,
Walking 'round in women's underwear

In the office, there's a guy named Melvin
He pretends that I am Murphy Brown,
He'll say are you ready, we'll say -Whoa, man!
At least until the wife is out of town.

Later on, if you wanna
We can dress, like Madonna
Put on some eyeshade, and join the parade,
Walkin 'round in women's underwear

Lacy things, missing
Didn't ask permission
I'm wearing her clothes, silk pantyhose
I'm walking around in women's underwear