True Christmas Facts

Did you know that the angel originally scheduled to deliver the Christmas messages was named Gavriel? He had a little run in with an owl on his way down to earth, so his twin brother had to take his place while he filled out the owl insurance papers. #TrueFact

Did you know that Santa used to use unicorns to pull his sleigh? Once they went extinct, he had to switch to reindeer. #TrueFact

Did you know that Santa is so fat because he has a thing for reindeer steak? He has a whole farm in Finland where he breeds them. Don't tell Rudolph... #TrueFact

Did you know that due to reasons seen in the previous #TrueFact, Santa was almost certainly the driving force behind the extinction of the unicorns? #TrueFact

Did you know that the little drummer boy of the famous song wasn't even at Jesus' birth? He was watching Bethlehem's Got Talent when everything went down. When he heard about it later he wrote that song and auditioned for the next season. Simoniclese kicked him out halfway through the first verse. #TrueFact

Did you know that the song Frosty the Snowman, was originally a much darker poem? They had to clean it up for prime-time television. The original poem is as follows.

Frosty the snowman,
Was doomed to die at birth,
He knew all day he would melt away,
So he cried until he died.

#TrueFact

Did you know that the three wise men weren't really all that wise? They couldn't even do beginner's algebra. The people of that time only thought they were wise because the muttered gibberish about the stars that sounded legit. "Oh! Astromeda is circling Cassielopea! There will be good harvests for lemon farmers this year!" #TrueFact

Did you know that the tradition of murdering a Christmas tree every year originated with the Vikings? The Vikings weren't all that smart. They thought the trees were trying to take their land so they waged war on them. They would collect the fallen bodies of the enemy and prop them up in their houses as a warning to other trees. #TrueFact

Did you know that before Mary had the Lamb of God, she had a little lamb? It's true! They wrote a whole song about it! #TrueFact

Did you know that the mistletoe kiss originated as a scheme by someone’s creepy uncle? #TrueFact

Christmas is Awesome!

I was going to title this post with my standard acronym, but then it would be something that stands for something else, and I didn't want them coming after me for stealing their acronym, so I didn't. :p

Everybody on YouTube has been making a ton of awesome Christmas content, and while I can't share it all, I did want to pick out a few of my favorites. And by a few, I mean a lot. Feel free to use this as your Christmas afternoon entertainment. :p

First up we'll kick this off with something from last year. I know I said I was doing stuff from this year, but I didn't do one of these last year, and Pentatonix did a ton of awesome videos last year. Since I'm focusing on this year, I'll only pick out one from last year, and I'm picking out the best one, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.



Peter Hollens finally made a video for one of his most requested Christmas songs.



Simply Three, the string quartet, made a video for Christmas as well, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.



Next up is a hilarious sketch from Studio C. It just wouldn't be Christmas without some dark humor, right? :p



Lindsey Stirling made a video for the song Hallelujah, by going undercover as a street performer. Yes, this is not "Technically" a Christmas song, but she made it one. :)



Even Karmin got into the Christmas Spirit by taking a song I have never liked, for it's creepy undertones, and reworking it. Turning it from a song that sounds like an uncomfortable coercion situation, and into one about an internal conflict.



One of my biggest pet peeves this time of year, are people who complain about the "War on Christmas" and vehemently decry the use of the greeting "Happy Holidays." Blimey Cow made an absolutely brilliant spoof of these kinds of people, framing it in the language of the so-called "Social Justice Warriors." I was dying of laughter through the whole thing. If you've ever had the misfortune of heading down a dark tumblr path, then you know the other group, the SJWs, that they're talking about. It's a brilliant satire of both ends of the ideological spectrum.



Earlier this year I discovered that BYU has an accapella group, and they do some amazing work. (Of course they do, they're Mormons. Mormons apparently breath music! :p)



Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose fame, recently covered Edelweiss, which is apparently a Christmas song now. :p Either way she's amazing. :)



And since I love both dark humor and puppets, the channel Glove and Boots has been doing both in a series of Santa confessional videos. This one is the funniest one. I about died laughing at the twist ending.



Since we started with PTX, let's end with them too. They've been hard at it this year again, with two new videos, Joy to the World, and The First Noel.

TIIA 10 (The Internet Is Awesome)

Let's kick this off with a video from what is arguably the First Family of Vine, The Eh Bee family. This video went absolutely viral on Facebook awhile back, and I watched it every time it came up in my newsfeed, because it just cracked me up so much. BTW, if you have a Vine account, go follow these guys, they are hilarious!



Here's another amazing video from Postmodern Jukebox, with another awesome twist halfway through.



Pentatonix just released a new album, (Of completely original music!) and this is their biggest single so far. Biggest in the public opinion sense. This one is amazing, but as I (Of course) bought the album and have listened to it like a million times, I have other favorites. There's no videos for those yet, so we'll just have to wait. :)



Peter Hollens has done it again. This time it's a song from How To Train Your Dragon 2!



If you watched all the way to the end of Peter's video, then you know he linked to another artist, The Hound + The Fox. Well I followed through, immediately subscribed, and then found this amazing rendition of The Hanging Tree from The Hunger Games.



Next is a skit from the YouTube channel Just Between Us. I laughed so hard, shared it, then watched it a few more times.



Let's cap this off with a new animated(!) music video for what is probably my favorite song ever from Lindsey Stirling. With vocals by Dia Frampton.