Christmas music

I had so much fun with the Christmas movie list that I thought I'd write one about Christmas music, which is a significant part of my oddity. I mentioned in an earlier post that as a kid I listened to Christmas music all year long.

I still do. However, my listening has become a kind of dependency. Rather than listen for fun, outside of December, listening to Christmas music has developed into a coping mechanism during stressful periods. For example, during the course of my honors thesis or final exam periods, I would listen to xmas music on my mp3 player on the subway on the way to school in the morning, even in May. I kind of used it like comfort food or martinis: it soothed the rough patches (why am I writing in past tense? I still do this, I listened to it the week I moved here). I am sure that I should probably bring this up in therapy someday.

I know, I'm nuts. The cat's out of the bag.

(Random memory from my childhood that might explain my relentless attachment to cheesy carols: until around the age of 8 or so I thought that "Silent Night" was a lullaby because it's one of two songs my mom used to sing to me as a baby. The other one was made up and went like this: "mommy loves Amber, Grandma Pat loves Amber, Fluffy loves Amber," etc, you get the idea.)

So here is my list of the cream of the crop, the mac-and-cheese, the triple olive extra dirty Bombay Sapphire of Christmas music.

Best Christmas Music:

Charlie Brown Christmas Album - Vince Guaraldi Trio. "Linus and Lucy" is my favorite track. I love this song. I love it at all times of the year, it might be one of my favorite songs ever. It's just perfect. The whole album is wonderful, one of the ultimate must-have Christmas CDs. I would say a close second-best track is "Skating;" it just sounds like snow falling. It's basically my go-to album, the one Aaron never gets sick of during the holidays.

The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole. If only for the title track alone. I would say that if I had to pick one voice as the Voice of All Voices, it would be Nat King Cole's. And just hearing him sing that first bit ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." you know you can hear it in your head) is where that coping mechanism comes in. It's just so nice.

Elvis' Christmas Album - The King. Except for the last 4 songs or so. I can leave those for another mood. I love his "White Christmas" (the only person who does this better is Barry White, seriously) and his "Blue Christmas."

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - Judy Garland. Not an album, but a special enough song to make the list anyway. It's kind of sad.

And so I say to you: the next time you're in the shower, belt out "Holly Jolly Christmas," Burl Ives style. It'll make you feel like you just had a martini (almost).