JOLLY HOLIDAY
When April has just ended, time to dance around this tall item festooned with ribbons
a maypole
"All is calm, all is bright" in this song whose 200th birthday is Christmas Eve 2018
Silent Night
Will Ferrell is a delight in this 2003 film whose cast also includes old pros like Ed Asner & Bob Newhart
Elf
Byron is dead & Fauntleroy is fictional, but my true love has those 2 & 8 others with this title a-leaping!
lords
On the first day of Hanukkah, my true love gave to me / This candelabra--we don't have a tree
menora
This holiday that commemorates the victory of Mexico at the Battle of Puebla is also a day to celebrate Mexican culture
Cinco de Mayo
Jimmy Stewart plays George Bailey, whose life changes on Christmas Eve in this movie classic
It's a Wonderful Life
I found the laughs mild & sparse in this reworking of "A Christmas Carol" starring Bill Murray as a vernal TV executive
Scrooged
I really don't wanna know where my BFF found the 8 maids a-doing this
milking
On the second day of Hanukkah, my true love gave to me / Some gelt, this sweet-tasting "money"
chocolate
This pre-Lenten festival of merry making typically ends with Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras
Carnival
His heart is 2 sizes too small--that's why he sets out at night to ruin Christmas in Who-ville
The Grinch
Edmund Gwenn was the real deal as Kris Kringle, working as a department store Santa, in this delightful 1947 film
Miracle on 34th Street
My true love went all out, getting Stewart Copeland, Clem Burke, Ginger Baker & 9 other of these musicians
drummers
On the third day of Hanuakkah, my true love gave to me / This spinning toy that you see
dreidel
It is customary to twirl graggers, special noisemakers, every time Haman's name is mentioned during the story of this Jewish festival
Purim
Edward Woodward is the Ghost of Christmas Present in a 1984 TV version of this tale set on December 24
A Christmas Carol
In the perennial favorite "A Christmas Story", Peter Billingsley plays this boy who wants nothing more than a Red Ryder BB gun
Ralphie
Looks like the love of my life got fowl with this trio
On the fourth day of Hanukkah, my true love gave to me / These spud pancakes from her bubbie
latkes
Named for a predator, a New Year's Day tradition in the Northern Hemisphere is this plunge
Polar Bear Plunge
You've gotta "love" the Christmas Eve scene in this movie where Andrew Lincoln declares his love to Keira Knightley
Love, Actually
Bing Crosby introduced the timeless song "White Christmas" in this 1942 film about a hotel in the country
Holiday Inn
A couple of these birds that winter in central Africa? Oh, my true love, you shouldn't have! Really. I mean that
turtle doves
On the fifth day of Hanukkah, my true love gave to me / A book about this greatest Maccabee
Judas Maccabeus