The Story Behind Last Christmas

And by "Last Christmas" I mean the pop Christmas song by Wham! Many of you know that this song is by FAR my favorite secular Christmas song. And I will take a brief moment here to explain why. Aside from the fact it's song by George Michael whose voice is smooth like butta (too bad he is totally cooky) ... I associate it with Christmases of my childhood in my home town of Arlington, Va. Mix 107.3 played this song ALL THE TIME when I was growing up and the only other song that comes close to my memories of winter evenings that get dark early and driving by houses and stores lit up by lights is "Feliz Navidad". Which oddly enough, I equate with driving to my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve. Specifically, "Last Christmas" is the song that I most closely relate with our annual family drive-bys of "Tackytown" - the neighborhood located behind the Wendy's on Lee Highway which used to have a competition each year as to who could decorate their house the tackiest. They all used mostly blue lights with large and often strange lit up shapes and figures. It was a TOUGH competition, and the winner was always hard to call. But these annual trips, accompanied by Georgie and Andrew (the other guy in Wham!) are some of my strongest holiday memories. And "Last Christmas" has hollowed out a special place in my heart since moving away from home.