poltr1 | My favorite Christmas album.....

I could easily spend days writing about my favorite Christmas TV specials, Christmas foods, family Christmas traditions, etc. But I don't have the time to sit in front of the computer and write them all down. So I'll just focus on one item.

Last week, I remembered that I had made a tape of one of my favorite Christmas records to send to Dr. Demento. Years ago, I mentioned the album in earlier correspondence with him, and he said he didn't believe he had it in his vast record collection. So he sent me a blank tape with a request to send him a copy. I got as far as making the tape, but I never mailed it to him. This task has been sitting on my to-do list for several years, and it's time to get it done and check it off. And so I looked for the tape...and found it. Then I went up stairs to the crates containing my vinyl LP collection....and found the album. And then I pulled out the digital camera and took pictures of the front and back covers. And I made anotehr tape copy for myself, since I haven't assembled the turntable since I moved 5 years ago.

The album is Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by the Caroleers.

And boy, does it bring back some great memories!

It was issued on Diplomat Records in the late 1960s/early 1970s. I remember seeing the album at a store in the Boulevard Mall in Amherst, NY, when my mom and I were shopping there. I asked my mom to buy it for me, which she did. I remember bringing the album to my elementary school for a couple of class holiday parties. The record was aimed toward children, and had plenty of novelty Christmastime songs on it, like "I Want An Elephant For Christmas", "Three Hundred and Sixty-Four Days In The Year", "The Christmas Tree That Ran Away", and "Who's That Up On The Roof". I didn't know it at the time, but these songs would definitely warrant some airplay on the Dr. Demento show! (And they will....once I send it.)

There was no information on the record jacket, and there was no record sleeve. The only clue I had was on the back, in tiny letters, "A product of S.P.C, Newark, N.J." So, as far as I could tell, the Caroleers were a group of anonymous studio musicians who recorded music for the seasonal Christmas market.

Like so many things in my life, the album got lost, and found its way back to me, several times since then.

This past week, I've been Googlesearching to find out more about the Caroleers, including a discography. Are their recordings available on CD? Surely there has to be other records they recorded! I found several sites featuring Caroleers records for sale or that are wanted. Another search session listed a page which mentioned Peter Pan Records and a company called the "Synthetic Plastics Company", which had its operations in....Newark, New Jersey.

Do I want to sell the record? Absolutely not! It's in fair condition; the corners are banged up, and both sides of the record had the "B" side label. I probably ruined it by putting white tape over the label on the "A" side and listing the true contents. So it's probably not worth more than $5. I should donate it to Dr. Demento....or at least send him a cleaned-up CD-R of it.

Oh yeah.....I also sent out the holiday cards. This year's card was a picture of the family, and a one-page letter detailing the events of this past year. A total of 98 cards were mailed out on Thu. 12/18.

So far I received a card from