Back in 1979

Back in 1979 I was working in a Spencer Gift store in a mall on the north side of Columbus Ohio. I had been on the shift where I handed out candy canes to passers by, and I had no sense of holiday spirit. I was young, angry and broke. It started snowing that evening when I got off work. Huge, fat flakes that swarmed my '67 Falcon as I plodded through the traffic back to my apartment.
My "stereo" system was an 8-track player with two small speakers "installed" (read, lying there) in the space between the back seat and the rear window. The 8-track player had quit, but the radio still worked. That night, I turned it on and heard a Christmas song like none I'd ever heard before. It was by The Kinks, a cousin band to The Who which came out of the Mod movement in London.
After hearing that song, I went home to my dingy apartment, and rounded up all the colorful junk I could find scattered around the floor, and taped it to the plastic palm tree my roommate had brought home back in the summer. I then walked down to the convenience store and low and behold, they sold Christmas lights in small packs, of which I bought two.
That evening, I sat on the couch squinting my eyes at the lights and garbage I had taped to the plastic palm tree, and hummed the new Christmas song I'd heard as best I could remember it.

So....here it is, The Kinks singing "Father Christmas":