Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bobtail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

Singing winter duets had been a tradition since the year Kurt and Blaine met, and they were not about to give it up just because they were married and had kids. They’d chosen Jingle Bells this year because they thought Colin would like it. So they were surprised to see him with a perplexed look on his face when they finished the song.

“What’s the matter, Colin? Didn’t you like our duet?” Blaine asked.

“Taylor says it’s okay to play good guys and bad guys, but you shouldn’t laugh when you kill people because it’s not a nice thing to do and only the bad guys laugh when they kill people, not the good guys,” Colin said.

Blaine furrowed his brow. “That’s true, but what made you think of that after we sang Jingle Bells?”

“Because the song said you laugh and sing about killing people. It’s not a nice song, Daddy, I don’t think you should sing it any more.”

“I don’t understand, Colin,” Kurt said. “That song is not about killing people, it’s about a sleigh ride.”

“‘Slay’ means ‘kill,’” Colin explained.

Kurt bit his bottom lip, hard, and squeezed his eyes shut, because Colin hated it when anyone laughed at him for any reason.

Blaine recovered more quickly. “Oh, honey, I guess we should have explained first. There’s one kind of ‘slay’ that means ‘kill,’ but this is about a different word that sounds the same. ‘Sleigh.’ It’s like a big sled that a lot of people can ride in together through the snow. It has nothing to do with killing people.”

“Oh,” Colin said. He seemed lost in thought for a moment. “So it’s not about pirates?”

“Pirates?” Kurt’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “What made you think of pirates?”

“Because they used an oar, so I thought it was on a boat,” Colin said.

“An oar?” Kurt said, thinking about the lyrics. “Oh! You mean ‘o’er the fields we go’! That’s not an oar like on a boat, that’s just another way of saying ‘over.’”

“Then why didn’t they just say ‘over’?” Colin asked.

“Good question,” Kurt said. “I guess it’s because a lot of Christmas songs are really old, and in the olden days people used some different words than they do now, but then people don’t go back and change the songs.”

“Also it would throw off the rhythm,” Blaine said.

“Can we sing a song about pirates next?” Colin asked. “I love pirates.”

“I don’t know any pirate songs off the top of my head, sweetie,” Blaine said. “How about if I look one up and practice it for tomorrow?”

“Okay,” Colin said, clearly disappointed.

“So you didn’t like our Christmas duet?” Kurt said, feeling a little bit hurt.

“Not really,” Colin said.

Blaine looked at Kurt, his mouth twisting with the effort not to laugh. “Well, at least he’s honest.”

“Screw this,” Kurt said. “Next year we’re doing ‘I syng of a mayden that is makeles.”