What's your favorite?

 

Happy Saturday.  Mr. L always teases me because for just about every tune I've ever heard, I have a favorite part. Just a few notes.  I grew up in a musical home. My Dad played the trumpet, and my Mother was a HUGE fan of musicals. I knew all the lyrics to Broadway shows such as West Side Story, Carousel, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, South Pacific, and so many more by the time I hit grammar school. 

When I was a kid, we only had two Christmas albums. One by Andy Williams and one by the Ray Conniff singers.  Is it any wonder that my favorite Christmas song (and 2nd favorite) came from that Ray Conniff album. My absolute FAVORITE Christmas song is Silver Bells. I've heard it from many, many different artists, and no matter who sings it (except for Elvis. *Shudder* I'm NOT an Elvis fa.), I always stop to listen. I should put together a CD of all the various versions I have, I love it so much. (But that would probably drive Mr. L around the bend.)

My second favorite Christmas song was only performed (as far as I've been able to discover)  on that same Ray Conniff album. "Christmas Bride."  (https://www.youtube.com) I got engaged on Christmas Eve, so that song, which I heard when I was just a little girl, had even more importance when it finally happened.

So, what's your favorite Christmas song?
 

Don't we need a little Christmas?

The seasons have changed. The weather is getting dreary (and gloomy--which is saying something). I've already got the SAD light out and using it in the mornings.  That can only mean one thing.

TIME TO BREAK OUT THE CHRISTMAS TUNES.

Unfortunately, Mr. L doesn't believe that last sentence. To him, October is October. Time to think about Halloween, and maybe start considering the Thanksgiving menu. But Christmas? Nah!

Well, he's probably right. But I ran errands the other day and in EVERY store I went to, all the Christmas stuff was out. Okay, I had to walk past the Halloween candy to get to it, but there it was. Slippers up the wazoo. Do you EVER see banks of slippers out at any other time of year? It's like people only buy slippers at Christmas. (That's the only time I've ever received a pair.)

And don't forget the decorations. Faux holly. Faux poinsettias.  Sparkly pinecones. Santa figurines. You name it, the stores have got it.

I have never really decorated the house for the seasons, but this is my first time at it. I've got a few bunches of orange and yellow silk flowers in vases, a few faux leaves on a tray with a couple of faux pumpkins, some gourds, and a sheef of dried corn. Limited and sedate. But I'm thinking already thinking about Christmas. I've got over 200 Christmas figurines that live in a china cabinet, but this year I think I'm going to scatter a few around the house.

And Snow Village! Since we actually bought

furniture for our living room about a decade ago, Snow Village got retired. I have about 20 pieces of it and we had a rather elaborate set-up for a while. Maybe I'll haul a few pieces of that out. I've got the cutest little log cabins and a mirror pond and even The Jingle Bell Houseboat.

But really, Christmas to me is the tunes.

For now, I'll just have to play them before Mr. L gets up -- or resort to the dreaded earphones.

Mind you, we have an unwritten rule in our house. Holiday tunes CAN be played in November, but none with vocals until Thanksgiving. So what's the harm in a little background holiday cheer?

How soon do you start thinking about the holidays?

Now it's okay to play them

I love holiday music. I start sneaking it into the daily repertoire a week or two before Thanksgiving, usually playing it on my computer in my office. Of course, my office is connected to Mr. L's office. He doesn't love holiday music as much as I do, although I will admit that our favorite local soft rock station starts playing it the Friday before Thanksgiving 24/7. That gets REALLY tiresome because you're liable to hear the same song 3 times during the day.  (We have it on in the kitchen just for background noise.)

Last year, one of my readers (and I really wish I could remember who it was), introduced me to Straight No Chaser, an a capella group. They're known for singing some pretty whacky tunes. I first heard their rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas thanks to this Facebook friend. I liked it so much, I went straight to Amazon and bought one of their Christmas albums. (Christmas Cheer.) My favorites? That's a toughie. I think Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer. Why? Because not only have they a changed a few of the words, but it's a unique arrangement. I like different arrangements of familiar tunes. My Dad used to take me to The Arrangers Workshop at the Eastman Theatre From the time I was about 10 until I was in  my mid-20s. Great music from great guest artists.

Another of my favorites is Popular Christmas for a New Age. I got it at Wegmans (grocery store) for about $5 about 10 years ago. It was re-released last year with a new (icky) cover, but it's the same wonderful instrumental CD that I've been enjoying for the past 10 or more years. It's jazz/new age kind of music and, again, it's the arrangement of familiar tunes in a different way that makes it unique and enjoyable for me.

Another artist I like, whose done quite a few holiday CDs, is David Arkenstone. I like his Visions of Christmas (my favorite on this one is Tchaikovsky's Arabian Dance from the Nutcracker. I could listen to that all day and tire of it), Christmas Lounge, and Celtic Christmas, but the one I like most of all is Enchantment: A Magical Christmas. They're all instrumentals and, again, all great arrangements of familiar holiday tunes.

I also have a few piano only DCs that I play over and over again (ad nauseam, Mr. L would say). My favorite is one I picked up at Target a few years back called Relaxing Christmas Piano. For some reason, it's the first one I play every year.  My favorite cut is God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, which is done in a rather somber key--but it's so different from any other version of that tune, that I find myself looking forward to it every time I put on the CD. (Yes, I still use CDs, but I also have everything on my computer or in the cloud, too, just so it's always available.)

In all I must have at least 50 holiday CDs and not all of them get played every year.

Why not share the title of YOUR favorite CD so that many of us can give it a try. It might just become one of my/our favorites, too!

It's the holiday season--haul out your Christmas music!

I don't know about you, but I LOVE Christmas music.  I know, I know -- I blog about it every year, but I can't help myself. 
I've been playing Christmas music in my office since about the first of November. Nothing with singing -- mostly just a plain piano.  I have to admit, I like the jazz or new age ones the best, but I'll take just regular "classic" tunes as well.

It's funny that I should listen to so many piano CDs (yes, I still have a gazillion of them--and CD players scattered around the house, too.  They're hard to find.  I buy most of them at yard sales these days). When I was a kid I took piano lessons, but I could never sight read, which was a huge disappointment to me. I had friends who could sit down at the piano and play any piece of music I put in front of them, but their playing had no soul. It was very mechanical.  So here I had all this soul, but no ability to play without memorizing every note first.  I gave it up.  I never understood how I could take to typing so easily, but not playing the piano. I don't even think when I type...my fingers just know what to do.  But then I'm just thinking the words not trying to read them letter for letter.

I got a lot of my piano Christmas CDs from The Dollar Tree.  (Yeah, a buck a piece.)  I have little notes written on the inside of the sleeve:  Not bad.  Slow tunes.  Okay.   The ones marked "not bad" are ... not bad!  One of them is of Celtic tunes.  That's really good, but is so lively it kind of distracts me when I'm trying to write. And as it happens, while I'm listening to Christmas music, I'm writing about Valentine's Day.  Oh well, at least it's still winter.

Our local radio station has been playing Christmas tunes 24/7 since November 16th.  That's a bit early to be hearing Michael Jackson wail "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" or "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."  Why couldn't they start out with instrumentals (of which you never hear ANY) and gently ease into the singing ones.  They could play just about any tune from A Charlie Brown Christmas and everyone would be happy and tapping their toes.

As for singing ones, my favorite is Celine Dion's These Are Special Times, but I will admit to listening to Der Bingle and The Andrews Sisters, too. (Theirs is my very favorite version of Jingle Bells.)  I've also made a lot of compilation Christmas CDs.  Where else can I hear the Waitresses Christmas Wrapping and the Tran-Syberian Orchestra?

So, what's your favorite Christmas music?
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