My "Christmas songs story"

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My writing group has set as this week's task to write a story of 750 words maximum that incorporates as many titles of Christmas songs/carols as possible. This is my provisional entry - 725 words that include 61 titles. But could I do better than that? I might be able to squeeze in at least one more if I don't add more than another 25 words! ************************************************ The three Kings (Joseph, Carol and 19-year-old Mary) were at last able to get all the outdoor Christmas lights in place to create their winter wonderland. Their neighbours, Mr and Mrs Shepherd, had just left for their holiday home on a windswept ridge in Dorset. “Don’t they know it’s Christmas?” Mary asked. “Who knows?” her dad replied. “Maybe they’ll change their minds and end up driving home for Christmas. On the other hand, they might just as easily have gone on a cruise.” But as the Shepherds said, “we love Came Down at Christmas, why go 2,000 miles?”. The Kings had waited to bid the Shepherds farewell, so it was past 3 o’clock before they could really get going. In any case, they hated all the usual complaints while Shepherds watched. It was therefore getting dark, and it was a good job they had powerful torches. The former virgin Mary had a baby boy, Josh, and so was hoping for a silent night. She wanted to dress him accordingly for Christmas, but was torn between making him a Santa baby or a little drummer boy. Christmas ain’t Christmas without some nonsense of that sort, she reckoned. As Joe King climbed the ladder he managed to avoid the holly and the ivy growing up the wall, and said to himself that he was glad “there is no rose now the Season’s upon us”. Up on the housetop he wanted to place lots of jingle bells that would ding-dong merrily on high and be a great and mighty wonder, although he feared that his attempt to bring joy to the world could spark complaints from the local vicar if it kept any Christians awake. He soon had Santa’s sleigh and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer in place and was working on Frosty the Snowman when Carol came to the foot of the ladder. “Have you got everything, Joe?” Carol asked. “I saw three ships in the garage, and there’s that model village you could put on the roof.” “No! Little town of Bethlehem? It’s rubbish! I bought it off some cowboy, Carol, besides which I had awful trouble last Christmas getting Bethlehem down”. “I hope you’ve got it all fixed on the wall properly”, Carol said, “It would be awful if you had to tell Mary’s boy child Josh that Grandma got run over by a reindeer”. Carol had her radio with her and was listening to the weather forecast. “Do you hear what I hear?” she asked, “there’s bad weather moving from east to west, from shore to shore”. She also told him that, although they had all had a terrible time in the bleak midwinter, there was little chance of a white Christmas this year. In the lounge, Mary thought that it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas, with the Christmas tree in place and lots of cards displayed on the walls. It was strange that so many of the people who had sent them cards this year were named Carol – there was Coventry Carol, Sussex Carol, Somerset Carol and Hereford Carol, not to mention Irish Carol and Welsh Carol. She thought about showing Josh the lights that Joe was working on, but she said to herself that, for a baby, it’s cold outside and probably unwise to take the risk. Mary looked forward to rockin’ around the Christmas tree after she had finished rocking her own baby to sleep. She had finished all her Christmas wrapping, and was quite convinced that it’s the most wonderful time of the year, although there was no way she wished it could be Christmas every day. Everyone was looking forward to Christmas dinner, although Joe’s suggestion – “This Christmas, could we have boar’s head, Carol?” had not gone down well. There had been some problems with online ordering – they could not get any mistletoe, and wine of the type they particularly liked was in short supply. That was just like Christmas, they all thought. However, there would be plenty of opportunities to rejoice and be merry, and they had enough food to last for all the twelve days of Christmas. All in all, the Kings could look forward to a wonderful Christmas time that was a real cool Yule. Mary turned to where Josh lay sleeping. “Merry Christmas, baby”, she said, “all I want for Christmas is you”.