Stuff from Christmas that worked out: They Might Be Giants Here Come The 123s

I bought this for my youngest, hoping it would be as successful as Slugs and Bugs and Lullabies was last year. But oh dear, the first time we listened to it I had to fight the urge to turn down the volume or even just press stop.  I was never a huge fan of They Might Be Giants in 1989 (that's when Birdhouse in Your Soul was released), favouring instead Soul II Soul and Nenah Cherry. (It was difficult to hang with a buffalo stance in South Dublin, but I tried really, really hard.)

Anyways, this got great reviews and the songs on Slugs and Bugs had been so easy on the ear that this genre was something I wanted to investigate. My older three boys are in school, but I'm at home every day with a three year old;  finding something we can both listen to is really valuable.

So initially, it was disappointing. Then we saw there was a DVD with both the songs and their videos in the pack too and we gave it a try.

Maybe it was because we have had such a heavy diet of Peppa Pig and The Rhyme Rocket over the past few months but to my eyes, the videos were just lovely. And all of a sudden, the songs grew on us. Before we knew it we were all humming along, trying to remember the words and playing the CD over and over again.

And it is extra nice, when you have been listening to your kids "negotiating"(that's a very diplomatic way of putting it) whose turn it is on the Xbox or who ate the last Cadburys' Rose, to hear them singing together. Because the words in these songs are all as catchy as the tunes themselves.

All in all, this is something from Christmas that worked out. Highly recommended.