Lisa Denton and Barry Courter
BARRY COURTER: Lisa, first of all. Merry Christmas to you and the rest of the family.
LISA DENTON: Right back atcha. I hope all the members of the Courter clan find everything they want under the tree.
BARRY: We don't often share fan mail with our readers - mostly because we rarely get any and the notes we do get are not suitable for a family newspaper - but this was too good. Our regular reader (see what I did there?) will remember that last week you mentioned that "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" was not one of your favorite holiday ditties.
LISA: No, it's not.
BARRY: Well, I got a very nice email from the song's writer, Randy Brooks, that very morning that read, "Barry, I wish you a merry Christmas. But I'm not sure about Lisa. :-)"
LISA: That makes me laugh out loud. But what's really funny about it is that he only sent it to you, with no way of knowing for sure that you'd share it with me. So I guess he was a little peeved.
BARRY: I keep no secrets. Plus, it made me heehaw as well.
LISA: Honestly, my dislike probably has more to do with Elmo and Patsy's singing, because I think some of the lyrics are clever, like "incriminating Claus marks on her back." But still ...
BARRY: Hold on. I believe I'm getting an email from Elmo and Patsy.
LISA: Ha! Yes, I'm sure they're next.
Even if Brooks is miffed at me, I have to say I like this guy - especially for his email. But I've also discovered that he included "Grandma" on his 2014 self-released album, "Randy Brooks' Greatest Hit" (see what he did there?). And he also wrote "It's Halloween (A Christmas Song)" about how the holiday season gets earlier and earlier. It goes "When midnight comes on Halloween, we'll change the orange to red and green."
You know, my Granny Denton was a Brooks, so maybe Randy and I are long-lost kin. I'd hate to have a family feud brewing over "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." But family feuds have been started by less.
BARRY: Just a quick reminder to people that there are a few things open today. Enchanted Garden of Lights at Rock City is open today from 6 to 9 p.m. and Ice on the Landing is open from 4 to 9 p.m.
Our colleague Susan Pierce also put together a pretty good list of where to find holiday decorations for people who want to get out of the house this evening. It can be found here.
LISA: She's quite the Santa's elf, that Susan.
BARRY: She's a giver. And she rarely gets the credit she deserves.
LISA: It's a good list to have on hand when the batteries run down in all the kids' toys tonight.
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Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.