And then who but Grover of Sesame Street delivers this pitch-perfect spoof:

“The Andy Williams Christmas Album” by Andy Williams

The last few songs on this 1963 recording feature The Worst Children’s Choir Ever, but no Christmas is complete without his classic version of “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and the rousing “Kay Thompson’s Jungle Bells.”

“Holiday Spirits” by Straight No Chaser

These 10 singers from Indiana University became Internet sensations when their version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” went viral:

Straight No Chaser – 12 Days of Christmas

Their album was a Christmas gift from Caleb to Mary, and it is a delight through and through. I especially love “Carol of the Bells” and actually think their version of “Little Saint Nick” is a lot better than the original Beach Boys’ recording.

“Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ” by Andrew Peterson

This is my favorite Christmas album by far. The album takes us through the desperation in the Old Testament as the saints awaited the coming of their Savior. A wonderful — in the real sense of the word — album that captures the true spirit of the advent of Jesus. Highly recommended.

But you can pop ‘em into your shirt pocket, record an hour of video on them with the push of a button and then easily upload the video to the Web and share it with the world.

So now that the I Never Grew Up blog is offering one in a contest, I had to make a pitch to enter the contest and try to win one.

You can bet that if I win one, I will grab one of these sweet tripods and start posting short videos here.

Addendum: Tim says in the comments that this is a medley of tunes by Raymond Scott, whose music became most well-known to my generation by its use in Warner Bros. cartoons.

In fact, this piece is actually the entire “Powerhouse” song, which was composed with two seemingly unrelated themes: the slower “assembly line” theme in the middle and the faster “chase” theme at the beginning and end.Thanks for the tip, Tim!

Funny and convicting at the same time. HT: Andrew Sikora

Stop animation is the hardest and the coolest. HT: 37signals.

Caleb’s fencing tournament from Jon Swerens on Vimeo.

This is called foil fencing. The silver vests they are wearing are called lamé, and they’re connected to a scoring box, which you can see on the floor to the right of the fencers.

The tip of the foil must be depressed while in contact with the lamé to cause the scoring box to beep in your favor with a red or green light. If the tip is depressed for any other reason — touching an arm, or the floor — the beep has an indicating white light.

But there are also rules about right of way, so you can score only if you were the fencer who began the attack.

You can read more here at Wikipedia.

And he won second place!

Caleb wins second place from Jon Swerens on Vimeo.