I belonged to a tight-knit group of school librarians and we always gathered together for a little festive party close to Christmas. We were an eclectic group with rather bookish ideas about what made a great party entertainment. Things like gathering at someone’s house and watching a book adaptation, reading snippets of Christmas scenes from favourite books, sharing holiday picture books and sourcing all kinds of word games to bring out our competitive natures. Two industrious librarians even created a kid’s lit trivial pursuit game. Oh…and I can’t forget the year we played Family Feud with the participants acting as fictional families from actual novels. Sigh. I can’t believe I am admitting all this in public. So yes, we were all book nerds and proud of it. 🙂
So, today I thought it would be fun to share one of those word games. It’s a simple matter of identifying the Christmas Carol / Song by the rather unorthodox wordy clue. Some are pretty easy and others are head scratchers. Of course, there will be a giveaway, so check for details at the end of this post. 🙂
If you’d like to play – note the number and your translation in a comment below. As people guess correctly, I’ll add those answers to this list so we will all be enlightened by the end of the day (hopefully)
GUESS THE CHRISTMAS CAROLS!
- Approach Everyone Who Is Steadfast – O Come All Ye Faithful
- Ecstasy Toward the Orb – Joy to the World
- Listen, the Foretelling Spirits Harmonize – Hark the Herald Angels Sing
- Hey, Minuscule Urban Area Southwest of Jerusalem – O Little Town of Bethlehem
- Quiescent Nocturnal Period – Silent Night
- The Autocratic Troika Originating Near the Accent of Apollo – We Three Kings of Orient Are
- The Primary Carol – The First Noel
- Embellish the Corridors – Deck the Halls
- I Apprehended My Maternal Parent Osculating with a Corpulen, Unshaven Male in Crimson Disguise – I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
- I’m Fantasizing Concerning a Blanched Yuletide – I‘m Dreaming of a White Christmas
- My Singular Desire For the Impending Yuletide Season is Receipt of a Pair of Central Incisors – All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth
- During the Time Ovine Caretakers Supervised Their Charges Past Twilight – While Shepherds Watch Their Flock by Night
- Celestial Messengers From Splendid Empires – Angels from the Realms of Glory
- The Event Occurred at One Minute aFter 11:59 – Visibility Unlimited – It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
- The Coniferous Nativity – O Christmas Tree
- What Offspring Abides Thus? – What Child is This?
- Removed in a Bovine Feeding Trough – Away in a Manger
- Creator Cool It Ya Kooky Cats – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
- Seraphim We Aurally Detect in the Stratosphere – Angels We Have Heart On High
- Valentino, the Roseate Proboscissed Wapati – Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
- Father Christmas Approaches the Metropolis – Santa Claus is Coming to Town
- Ag Glockenspiels – Silver Bells
- The Slight Percussionist Lad – The Little Drummer Boy
- Ornament the Enclosure With Large Sprigs of a Berry Bearing Evergreen – Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly
- Anticipation of this Noel’s Memento’s; Nil – I’m Getting nothin’ for Christmas
- The Approach of the Holiday Commemorating the Birth of Christ is Becoming Evident – It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
- A Meterological Melody is Manifest – There’s a Song in the Air
- The Yuletide’s Diurnal Dozen – The 12 Days of Christmas
- Please Permit Pristine Precipitation – Let it Snow
- ‘Rimey’, the Mannequin of Crystalline H2O – Frosty the Snowman
- Our Desire is Your Yuletide Cheer – We Wish You a Merry Christmas
- Aged Matriarch Plowed Under by Precipitous Darlings – Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
- Are You Experiencing Parallel Auditory Input? – Do You Hear What I Hear?
- Endeavor to personally experience singular, minuscule Yule! – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY
Participate in the name the Christmas Carol game OR share a Christma tradition you enjoy during this festive season in a comment and you’ll be entered in a draw for a:
$15 gift card – Baker Book House for US winner, Amazon or Indigo for Canadian winner
Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday December 20 2025
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#33 Are You Experiencing Parallel Auditory Input? | DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?
This was fun! My husband and I went through these and got quite a few of them, but some of them were real stumpers. 😳
Alison Boss
nj(dot)bossman(at)gmail(dot)com
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Well doen, Alison — that one was one of the ones that stumped me for a while. 🙂 Good luck!
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This should never be read before you go to bed especially when an hour goes by! lol ~ So, here goes: 1) Oh, Come All Ye Faithful 2) Joy to the World 3) Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 4) Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem 5) Silent Night 6) ? 7) The First Noel 8) Deck the Halls 9) I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus 10) I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas 11) All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth 12) While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night 13) Angels ? 14) It Came Upon a Midnight Clear 15) Evergreen ? 16) What Child is This? 17) Away in a Manger 18) ? 19) Angels We Have Heard on High 20) Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer 21) Santa Claus is Coming to Town 22) Silver Bells 23) Little Drummer Boy 24) ? 25) I’ll Be Home For Christmas 26) I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day 27) Oh Holy Night, The Stars Are Brightly Shining 28) The 22 Days of Christmas
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Bwahahaha! Sorry about the delayed bedtime. 🙂 You’ll have to come back and check for the ones you missed…and a couple that aren’t correct matches. I’ll post the answers later today. Good luck, Kathleen!
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28) The 12 Days of Christmas (I tried to correct the 22 Days from previous post and it locked me out.) 29) Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! 30) Frosty the Snowman 31) We Wish You a Merry Christmas 32) Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer 33) Do You Hear What I Hear? 34) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (I would ponder the ones I left out, but not tonight ~ slumberland and early morning call out.) 💕 So fun!! Kathleen lanehillhouse(at)gmail(dot)com
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O Come All Ye Faithful
Joy to the World
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Silent Night
We Three Kings of Orient Are?
The First Noel
Deck the Halls
I Caught Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night
Angels from the Realms of Glory
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
O Christmas Tree
What Child is This
Away in a Manger
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Angels We Have Heard on High
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Jingle Bells?
Little Drummer Boy
Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas
Twelve Days of Christmas?
Let it Snow
Frosty the Snowman
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer
Do You Hear What I Hear
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Not sure if all of these are right, but I tried!
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Almost got them all — 🙂 Good luck, Courtney!
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Oh fun, a virtual Christmas party game! I went through the game like I was on a timer and answered as many as I could in a couple of minutes without spending any time thinking about it.
5- Silent Night 7-The First Noel 8-Deck the Halls 10-I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas 11-All I Want for Christmas is my 2 Front teeth 12-Sheperds Watch their Flocks by Night 13-Angels We have Heard on High 16-What Child is This 17-Away in a Manger 19-Angels We Have heard on High 23-Little Drummer Boy 29-Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow 31-We Wish You a Merry Christmas 32-Grandma got run over by a Reindeer.
Now I’m ready for the virtual Christmas cookies and hot chocolate, who cares if it’s 7:30 in the morning 😉
Thanks Kav! tracey14567 atgmaildotcom
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Ohhhh, yes, I’m read for cookies and hot chocolate too! 🙂 Great speed playing! That’s how we did it in our party too — put a timer on and went at it. Nothing says competitive like a bunch of festive library fuelled up on Christmas sugar! Bwahahah! Good luck, Tracey!
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I’m looking forward to our Christmas morning church service.
Kav, have a blessed week.
psalm103and138atgmaildotcom
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We don’t have a Christmas Day service. I’d love that too. We do have a Christmas Eve service though — which is absolutely lovely. I’m looking forward to that for sure. Good luck, Caryl!
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How fun! I couldn’t figure them all out, but here’s what I came up with.
1. O Come All Ye Faithful
2. Joy to the World
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
4. O Little Town of Bethlehem
5. Silent Night
8. Deck the Halls
9. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
10. I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas
11. All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
14. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
16. What Child is This?
17. Away in a Manger
19. Angels we Have Heard on High
21. Santa Clause is Coming to Town
22. Silver Bells
23. The Little Drummer Boy
24. Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly
28. The Twelve Days of Christmas
31. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
32. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
33. Do you Hear What I Hear?
34. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
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Spot on, Bridget. I’ll help you fill in the blanks later on this evening. Good luck!
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Boy, I had to get the old brain working early this morning, but I think I got them all.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
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Ooohhhh, so close! Check back later tonight to see the all the answers. Glad I could engage your brain early in the morning! 🙂 Good luck, Kay!
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Is it 21 that’s wrong? Could it be – Santa Claus is Coming to Town?
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I’m not real great at these things, but it is fun! I play Wheel of Fortune on tv with the missing letters & seldom guess the puzzle til every letter is up there. hahaha I want to see just how good I can do so not peeking at previous answers. 🙈
1) O Come All Ye Faithful
2) Joy to the World
3) Hark the Herald Angels Sing
4) O Little Town of Bethlehem
5) Silent Night
6)
7) The First Noel
8) Deck the Halls
9) I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Clause
10) I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas (Oh I am!)
11) All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
12)
13) We Three Kings?
14) It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
15)
16) What Child is This?
17) Away in a Manger
18) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen?
19) Angels We Have Heard on High
20) Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
21) Here Comes Santa Clause
22) O Christmas Tree?
23) Little Drummer Boy
24) The Holly and the Ivy?
25)
26) It’s Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas
27)
28) The 12 Days of Christmas
29) Let It Snow (yes please)
30) Frosty the Snowman
31) We Wish You a Merry Christmas
32) Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
33) Do You Hear What I Hear?
34) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
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It froze & wouldn’t let me post anything else, but thanks for the fun giveaway, Kav! My eyes are crossed. lol I’ll try to look it over later and see if I got the right song by the right number and also fill in the blanks.
dianalflowers at aol dot com
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#21 could also be Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
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You’re sooooo close! And yes, your second choice for #21 is the correct one. I’ll post the answer later this evening. Just got in from an unexpected Christmas visit and I’m making supper ’cause I’m famished! Good luck, Diane!
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I just got an unexpected, surprise Christmas visit as well! Now I’m famished! 🍰🎂🍞🍔🌮🌭🍕🍩🍦🍝
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I am going to read all the comments from those more well-versed (no pun intended) than I am! Y’all had some educational, interesting, and original games!
Not a lifetime tradition but in the last decade or two we have sometimes attended ICE at the Gaylord. Has been fun and also enjoyable to see young couples starting that tradition with their children.
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bwahahaha! Nerdy Christmas parties are the best. I had to google ICE at the Gaylord to see what that was — very neat. We have a winter festival in February here and have snow sculpture contests and some very serious international ice sculpting competitions. Good luck, CC!
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I tried but came up short on some :
1 O Come All Ye Faithful
2 Joy to the World
3 Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
4 O Little Town of Bethlehem
5 O Holy Night
6
7 The First Noel
8 Deck The Halls
9 I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
10 I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas
12 All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth
13
14 It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
15 O Christmas Tree
16 What Child is This?
17 Away in a Manger
18 God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
19 Angels We Have Heard on High
20 Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer
21 Here Comes Santa Claus
22 Silver Bells
23 Little Drummer Boy
24 Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly
25, 26, 27
28 The 12 Days of Christmas
29
30 Frosty the Snowman
31 We Wish You a Merry Christmas
32 Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer
33 Do You Hear What I Hear
34.
paulamarys49ATgmailDOTcom
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Some of them are tricky and then, when you see the answer it’s seems so obvious! 🙂 Good luck, Paula!
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There’s no tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups! (I’ve done some of these before, and thus learned the magnificent word tintinnabulation).
6, the autocratic troll originating near the ascent of Apollo, has me stumped – all I can think of is In the Hall of the Mountain King, which is not Christmas music. Good King Wenceslaus and We Three Kings of Orient Are don’t quite fit, though autocratic makes me think King should be in the title. Troll would typically be Santa or an Elf. Ascent of Apollo would be either in the East (Orient) or Morning or a maybe a mountain. I hope someone figures it out!
rdalquist AT gmail Dot com
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Grrrr….autocorrect mess with #6, it should read troika not troll. Now it should make sense. Boo autocorrect. Hope it didn’t drive you crazy! Good luck, Rachel!
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Wish I had seen this sooner. I like figuring things out but sometimes I tend to overthink.
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I know what you mean. And often, it’s your initial gut reaction that’s the correct one. Good luck, Lucy!
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Here are my answer, hopefully I got a couple right! (another way of saying I hope I didn’t get them all wrong!)🤪
1. O Come, All Ye Faithful
2. Joy to the World
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
4. O Little Town of Bethlehem
5. Silent Night
6. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
7. The First Noel
8. Deck the Halls
9. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
10. I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas
11. All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
12. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
13. Angels from the Realms of Glory
14. It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
15. O Christmas Tree
16. What Child Is This?
17. Away in a Manger
18. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
19. Angels We Have Heard on High
20. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
21. Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town
22. Silver Bells
23. The Little Drummer Boy
24. Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly
25. I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ For Christmas!
26. Christmas Time Is Here
27. Winter Wonderland
28. The 12 Days of Christmas
29. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
30. Frosty The Snowman
31. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
32. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
33. Do You Hear What I Hear?
34. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
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You did really well, Sabrina — I think there were two kinda off, but actually your answers fit as well so….stay tuned to see all the answers. Good luck!
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I didn’t have time to comment but I did have fun earlier when I read through the list and got some of them! Fun game!
My tradition is making my famous Christmas jello salad for our family gathering. I think I’ve been making it for 30+ years and it’s always requested that I bring it for our dinner.
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Ohhhh, I love life long traditional food at Christmas time! You’ve reminded me that I need to hit the Irish shop for a plum pudding. No one else likes it, but my mum made one every year when I was growing up. The store specializes in British and Irish items and they sell individual size plum puddings! They are soooo cute! Love me some topped with custard. Happy sigh. Good luck, Sandy!
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I’ve got two to add to the list🙃:
Lightly-clanging door-alarm
Sugary spiced-cookie adult male
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Ohhhh….a brain teaser this morning. The second one has to be The Gingerbread Man. The first one has me stumped….I’m thinking the first word might be Softly…but Softly what? Softly Ringing? but that’s in a chorus, not the title of a Christmas song…I don’t think. Gah! I’ll have to think on this some more. Good luck, Elly!
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My first guess for Lightly clanging door alarm — Jingle Bells?
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The second is Sweet Gingerbread Man (my sisters and I enjoy listening to it by Sammy Davis Jr.😉) and the first one is VERY popular! I was surprised you didn’t have it listed already, lol😁
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Ha! Yes, Jingle Bells, lol. Didn’t see this second reply until I’d sent that follow-up reply already😅
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Bwahahaha! I spent a lot of time on gently or softly for the Jingle Bells one at first. You stumped be, Elly, but I got there eventually. 🙂
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I played the game and got all of them except 6 and 27. I’m not going to take the time to write them all down! LOL Thanks for the fun brain teaser, Kav!
We usually had Swiss bread and Swiss cookies at Christmas when I was growing up. My maternal grandparents were from Switzerland. My parents and grandparents are gone now, but my sister still makes the cookies and the bread. We have the Swiss bread often throughout the year. I haven’t really got the knack of making it, but my sister always shares when she makes it. We also had Fasnachtschüechli on New Year’s Day. It’s basically dough stretched very thin and fried. It’s sometimes called knee patches, because the cook would stretch it over their knee to get it really thin. They would then fry them and sprinkle them with a sugar/cinnamon mixture. They were very fragile, and we had to handle them very carefully so they wouldn’t crumble. My mouth is watering for some right now. I haven’t had any for years.
whthoms13 at yahoo dot com
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That’s a great score! Ohhh, love foodie memories. That New Year’s treat sounds a bit like our Beaver Tails here in Canada…only the dough isn’t stretched as thin so they aren’t fragile. But dusted with cinnamon sugar too…yum! Now I have to goole Swiss great to see what it is. Ohh — looks like it’s a braided bread? Definitely sounds yummy! Thanks for sharing, Winnie. Good luck!
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Aren’t you all clever? You had the word game all solved before I even saw this.
A Christmas tradition I enjoy is getting together with my family at my parents’ house. Even though they are both gone now, my nephew and his wife graciously allow us to continue to meet there. It just wouldn’t feel the same if we met somewhere else.
pmkellogg56[at]gmail[dot]com
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That’s a lovely tradition, Pam and so wonderful that the house is still in the family. So many special memories made there. Good luck, Pam!
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There were a few I didn’t get because I’ve never heard of them. Isn’t that weird? I’ll have to look them up on YouTube. I’ve never heard the song about not getting nothing for Christmas, While Shepherds Watch Their Flock by Night, Angels from the Realms of Glory, seems like there was 1 more. Thanks for the fun, Kav!
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I’d never heard of Angels from the Realms of Glory either. It’s from bygone days, I guess. Written in 1816 by a Scottish poet and put to music in the mid- 1800s. Maybe more of a British Christmas Carol than never got a lot of popularity in the states? Wondering if that’s the same with While Shepherds Watch Their Flock by Night too. It’s very common up here. We sing it multiple times every season at church and the children’s nativity always features that song. When my dad was a wee lad in Galway, he was in a school choir and they used to switch the lyrics to “When shepherds washed their socks by night all seated ’round a tub’ and it drove their choir teacher crazy. 🙂
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That’s interesting. I haven’t seen it in any of our church hymnals. I think I may have seen While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks By Night but we’ve never sung it. Too funny about the shepherds washing their socks. I just had a visual of that and wondering did they wear any socks or just always wear sandals? hahaha
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Looks like everyone else did the hard work already 🙂 One favorite Christmas tradition is making — and eating — fudge 🙂
ckbarker at gmail dot come
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Yum to the fudge. I never could make it until I found a super simple recipe using sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips. Good luck, Cheryl!
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That’s what I use in mine, too, Kav. Super simple is right up my alley 🙂
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Numbers 6 and 27 have me stumped. 😀 But I love these types of games!
bookgurl60 at gmail dot com
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Well, I see that I’m too late for the Christmas carol game but I can see that I could only guess a few. We have what is considered a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Christmas day. Roasted turkey, cornbread dressing, sweet potato soufflé, and hot rolls for the main course and for dessert a pie, old fashioned chocolate fudge made with marshmallows and maybe some spelt cookies.
perrianne (DOT) askew ( AT) me ( DOT) com
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Love how so many of our traditions centre around food. Amazed that you have a Thanksgiving meal twice in a month. Our Thanksgiving is in October so there’s a longer span between feasting. 🙂 Good luck Perrianne!
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I was surprised to see There’s a Song in the Air as one of the Christmas songs listed. I thought my church was pretty much the only ones who ever sing that song! 😀
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is celebrating with my immediate family on Christmas Eve. We always have homemade cinnamon rolls and homemade cocoa for breakfast.
bookgurl60 at gmail dot com
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There are some very beautiful but lesser known Christmas hymns. The choir at my church has been sharing some this year and they are so moving! How did they become obsolete? Love cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning!!!!!! Great tradition. Good luck, Elizabeth!
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I am very late in getting to your conversations email this week. It looks like all of the songs have been guessed correctly already/
We love to play games with the family during the holidays! Word games especially.
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Maybe you can introduce this one to your family this year. 🙂 Good luck, Patty!
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