« Most Unique Christmas Gift Ever! Elephant Dung Paper | Main | The Real Christmas Story from Matthew and Luke »
The Christmas Shoes: The Christmas Song that Won’t Go Away
By Marc | December 23, 2008
You either hate it or love it, but you just can’t escape that song each year. Personally, Julie and I can’t stand it. If, by chance, you’ve never heard it, find a radio station that plays Christmas music, wait a half-hour, and it’ll rear its head like a rabid dog made out of cheesy music.
I’ve never seen the made-for-TV movie, read the book, or even read the email forward, so I can only really comment on the song, performed by NewSong.
The story is simple:
- Man is in a store waiting in line to buy stuff before Christmas.
- Kid right out of a Dickens novel wants to buy some shoes.
- Kid doesn’t have enough money.
- Kid gives man a sob story about his dying mom and wanting her to look nice for Jesus if she kicks the bucket tonight.
- Man buys the shoes for kid.
- Song finishes with a choir of little kids singing the song.
Many people have commented on how much they dislike the song. Here are a few of the things I find problem with:
- Why is that kid out buying shoes when his mother is on her deathbed to the point he thinks it might be her last hours?
- If he didn’t have enough money, why didn’t he find some shoes he could afford or at least panhandle for cash before he got to the checkout line, even before the store, so he’s not wasting people’s time who are trying to get some Christmas shopping done.
- Why is a little boy telling his whole story and begging for cash from a complete stranger? That guy could be a child molester or serial killer for all he knows. “Yeah, mister. My parents have a little too much on their minds to worry about the fact I’m hanging around in a an over-crowded shopping center with no adult supervision.”
- For it being Christmas and the whole giving aspect, the narrator takes a little too much pride in his donations to street urchins, to the point of arrogance: (at a crescendo, almost shouted) “So I laid the money down. I just had to help him out.”
- The kids singing at the end. If you want a sappy tearjerker song, have some 8-year-olds repeat the chorus. Rarely does it work; most times it’s way too forced and manipulative.
I’m not going to even touch on the notion of Jesus caring what her feet look like or even if our clothing (not to mention our physical bodies) will be present in the presence of Jesus after we pass from this plane. I’ll give that over to the kid’s understanding of what he believes death will be like for his mom, and I’m not going to take that away from him.
I know some people who enjoy the movie, but I haven’t had the good fortune to watch it. Rob Lowe is a pretty decent actor, and I almost never think about his past mistakes movies.
If you like the song, I’m really sorry. For me, it grates at my ears and gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Merry Christmas, folks!
Topics: Holidays, Reviews | No Comments »
