Many of us have played Secret Santa over the years but here may be the best “Secret Santa” of all….

During the winter of 1971, young Larry Stewart from Mississippi was at the end of his rope. The college dropout was out of work and out of money. He’d been sleeping in his car for more than a week and hadn’t eaten for two days when he walked into the Dixie Diner and ordered a big meal. When the bill came, he claimed to have lost his wallet. When the owner walked over to the counter, Stewart braced for the worst. To his amazement, though, the owner dropped a $20 bill in his hand and said, “You must’ve dropped this.” The drifter decided right then to honor that stranger’s kindness by helping other people in need whenever he could. Fast-forward to Christmas a decade later in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the holidays, a mysterious stranger started showing up in bus stations, thrift stores, Laundromats, and skid-row hotels, handing out $100 bills to people down on their luck. With a hurried “Merry Christmas,” the Secret Santa would walk away before the startled recipient of the gift could ask who he was.

This went on for 26 years, until finally in 2006, the Secret Santa was revealed to be Larry Stewart, now a successful businessman who’d made a fortune in telecommunications. He estimated that he’d given away more than $1.3 million over the years to needy people all over the United States. After 9/11, he went to New York and, in 2002, to Washington, D.C., shortly after the region was traumatized by sniper attacks. In 2003 he traveled to san Diego, California, to lend a helping hand after the city’s wildfires.

Why had the legendary Secret Santa decided to reveal his identity? Stewart had been diagnosed with cancer and wanted to enlist new Santas to continue his work. He died in 2007, but others have picked up the tradition and carried on. Now every holiday season, Secret Santas fan out all over the United States, and like Larry Stewart, they hand out $100 bills to people in need . . . with the simple request that others pass on the kindness in whatever way they can.

Many of us have played Secret Santa over the years but here may be the best “Secret Santa” of all….

During the winter of 1971, young Larry Stewart from Mississippi was at the end of his rope. The college dropout was out of work and out of money. He’d been sleeping in his car for more than a week and hadn’t eaten for two days when he walked into the Dixie Diner and ordered a big meal. When the bill came, he claimed to have lost his wallet. When the owner walked over to the counter, Stewart braced for the worst. To his amazement, though, the owner dropped a $20 bill in his hand and said, “You must’ve dropped this.” The drifter decided right then to honor that stranger’s kindness by helping other people in need whenever he could.

Fast-forward to Christmas a decade later in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the holidays, a mysterious stranger started showing up in bus stations, thrift stores, Laundromats, and skid-row hotels, handing out $100 bills to people down on their luck. With a hurried “Merry Christmas,” the Secret Santa would walk away before the startled recipient of the gift could ask who he was.

This went on for 26 years, until finally in 2006, the Secret Santa was revealed to be Larry Stewart, now a successful businessman who’d made a fortune in telecommunications. He estimated that he’d given away more than $1.3 million over the years to needy people all over the United States. After 9/11, he went to New York and, in 2002, to Washington, D.C., shortly after the region was traumatized by sniper attacks. In 2003 he traveled to san Diego, California, to lend a helping hand after the city’s wildfires.

Why had the legendary Secret Santa decided to reveal his identity? Stewart had been diagnosed with cancer and wanted to enlist new Santas to continue his work. He died in 2007, but others have picked up the tradition and carried on. Now every holiday season, Secret Santas fan out all over the United States, and like Larry Stewart, they hand out $100 bills to people in need . . . with the simple request that others pass on the kindness in whatever way they can.

I enjoy Christmas music (most of it) but there are some that if you hear them once, that is enough. Here are ten Christmas songs that you may want to forget….

Ten Unforgettable Christmas Songs

(That You May Want to Forget)

1. “Mama’s Twisting with Santa”—Mark Anthony and the Elves

2. “Ringo Bells”—Three Blonde Mice

3. “Here Comes Peter Cotton Claus”—Alex Houston and Elmer

4. “CB Santa”—Big Jim and the Goodbuddies

5. “Santa Got a DWI”—Sherwin Linton

6. “Jingle-O the Elf”—Tennessee Ernie Ford

7. “Christmas is My Pants”—Bob Rich

8. “Boogaloo Round the Aluminum Christmas Tree”—Carolee Goodgold

9. “I Want an Elf for Christmas”—Fountains of Wayne

10. “Dominick the Donkey (The Italian Christmas Donkey)’—Lou Monte

I always enjoy the history of songs. For example…

JINGLE BELL ROCK

Strings of bells tied to horses date back to the Roman Empire. Then in medieval times, English knights hung single bells of gold or silver, called crotals, on their horses as symbols of good luck. They believed that the bells would protect the wearers from disease and harm because the noise would scare off evil spirits.

Over the centuries, though, horse bells lost their superstitious quality and became ornaments for wagons and sleighs. They also took on a more practical role—as a way to let people know someone was coming, especially on dark, foggy, or narrow roads. Sleighs, in particular, move quietly and can be hard to stop quickly, so as the eastern United States and Canada were settled, local governments started requiring that bells be attached to sleighs. In fact, Canada’s Ontario province still has a law on its books that says “every person traveling on a highway with a sleigh or sled drawn by a horse or other animal shall have at least two bells attached to the harness or to the sleigh or sled in such a manner as to give ample warning sound.” (The penalty for no bells? $5.)

By the early 19 ^th century, small businesses in New England had started manufacturing bells, but one town became known for them. In 1808 William Barton opened the first bell-making company in East Hampton, Connecticut. Two decades later, in 1832, a young man named William Bevin (who’d been an indentured servant of Barton’s) and his brother Chauncey set up their own company: Bevin Bells. Before long, more bell businesses had moved in to East Hampton—30 in all. And by the early 1900s, the town produced 90 percent of the world’s sleigh bells, earning it the nickname “Belltown, USA.”

Only the Bevin brothers were able to survive the Great Depression, though, and today, the Bevin family still makes bells in East Hampton. They specialize in sleigh bells, and according to sixth generation owner Stanley Bevin, “We like to think that we’ve definitely contributed to the joy that Santa spreads.”

“Jingle Bells” has become one of the most well-known Christmas carols in the world. It’s been translated into almost every major language and was even the first song to be broadcast in space: in 1965, astronauts tom Stafford and Wally Schirra serenaded Mission Control with a harmonica and sleigh-bell version of the song during the flight of Gemini 6.

But for all the song’s popularity, its origin isn’t as clear. In fact, there are two versions of how “Jingle Bells” came to be, though both attribute its creation to an amateur musician named James Pierpont.

Story #1: A native of Medford, Massachusetts, Pierpont was inspired to write a song called “One Horse Open Sleigh” (which later became “Jingle Bells”) while watching a local sleigh race in 1850.

Story #2: In 1857 Pierpont was working as a choir director in Savannah, Georgia. He wrote the song for his church’s Thanksgiving program, but it was so catchy and the kids loved it so much that they sang it again at the Christmas service.

Either way, Pierpont published the song in 1857, and the Library of Congress still has the original. “Jingle Bells” actually has four verses and a chorus that tell of a thrilling sleigh ride. The tune we all sing today is the first verse and the chorus.

And then there are the classics….

Hymnals in the 18 ^th century were usually published as books of poetry. For the most part, there was no music printed in them, only the words. So any hymn could be set to any tune that fit the verses’ meter. Here are three hymns that got new tunes and words and become Christmas classics.

“Joy to the World”

Isaac Watts wrote more than 600 hymns, but arguably his most famous was “Joy to the World,” which he penned in 1719. It wasn’t until about 1839 that American composer Lowell Mason set it to the tune we know today—a tune many scholars think Mason pinched from German composer George Frideric Handel, of Mesiah fame.

“What Child Is This?”

The song “Greensleeves” was written in 1580 by Richard Jones (although it is believed that King Henry VIII, an accomplished composer and musician, was the author). By the 18 ^th century, there were at least four different songs set to the “Greensleeves” tune. In 1865 William Chatterton Dix set three stanzas of his poem “The Manger Throne” to the familiar tune, and the more commonly known Christmas carol “What Child Is This? Was born.

“Hark! The Herald angels Sing”

When Charles Wesley showed his brother John Wesley, the great Methodist evangelist, and friend George Whitfield his new hymn, the balked at the first line. “Hark! How all the welkin rings!” sounded too old-fashioned. (It was, after all, 1739, and “welkin,” meaning “sky or firmament,” was a medieval word.) So Whitfield changed the line to “Hark! The herald angels sing.” Then in 1855 English musician W.H. Cummings column answers matched parts of Felix Mendelssohn’s 1840 cantata