Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today let's go into another Evening Groove / Three Tune Tuesday post.

As always, thanks to @ablaze for making this series. Lots of people participate in it! Follow the tags to find a ton of good music recommendation.

Today is boxing day! Not that I really even know what that means. We didn't celebrate Boxing Day in the US when I was growing up and Japan doesn't celebrate it. But I do have many friends who are always mentioning it. Wikipedia tells me the day was originally a holiday to give gifts to people in need. I really like that idea! But seems like now it is just a shopping holiday for most people. Oh well...

Anyway, last week my buddy @bozz did a listing of Xmas songs for his three tune tuesday post. Today I thought I'd do the same. But, I'm not going to pick any of the typical Xmas songs.

To me, the 1914 ceasefire during the First World War, where French, British, and German soldiers ventured across No Man's Land to wish each other a Merry Christmas and celebrate together, ranks as one of the greatest shows of humanity of modern times, showing that goodwill can flourish even in the worst of times.

This song celebrates this event.

As an aside, I assume most of you are familiar with this event, but but with decreasing emphasis on WWI in school curriculums, some of you may not be familiar with it. You can read about it on Wikipedia, but also there was a really wonderful independent film, Joyeux Noël, made about it a dozen or so years ago.
https://youtu.be/etVNDk_l3YY?si=LcU97JvveAFgxLF8.

Another song about a war. In an ideal world, we'd never have to worry about war. In an ideal world we wouldn't even know the word war. But if there is one good thing to come of war, it's to remind us of what we don't want and cause us to reflect on what is important.

He wrote this song in response to Vietnam, singing about his desire for peace and equality.

This is the one song on my list that may be becoming a part of the Christmas song standard. Even 20 years ago when I was living in the States, it was starting to be more widely played every year, with many covers that dropped some of the more anti-war lyrics. Many Christmas songs have been neutered over the years (for example, Jingle Bells was originally somewhat mischievous, telling about young men trying to pick up girls, racing their sleighs, and getting into violent crashes ) so I suppose it's to be expected and is part of being more widely accepted.

At any rate, this is a great tune.

After those three somewhat serious anti-war Christmas songs, for my bonus pick, let's do a fun one. I imagine most of you know this song only from its inclusion in Die Hard. It's an all around fun song. It's not Christmas without listening to this song at least once!

So what's your favorite?