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| Our decorated Christmas Tree, plus boys. Ya, that's a Santa hat on the angel. |
I listen to lots of Christmas music starting the day after Thanksgiving until some time between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. I don't really have anything against listening after the new year, but I do try to be thankful for Thanksgiving and give it every day it deserves. So I respectfully wait until I wake up Friday morning to begin listening to my favorite music. It's one of my ways to be thankful for Thanksgiving. But this post is about Christmas!
So I crank the Christmas music for hours every day. We have lots of CDs at my house with a variety of musical goodness. I had my favorites before I got married. They were pretty much what I grew up listening to at home. After I got married I also listened to a bunch of my wife's favorites. Now, with free music sites like Pandora and a host of other sites, the variety of songs keeps me going longer before I feel like I just can't listen to them any more.
When Christmas is over and the cheer wears off a bit, so does my desire to keep hearing the songs. Part of the magic for me is looking forward to Christmas Day. So when the Day is over and thoughts set in of going home from vacation or going back to work, I ease up on the listening until I stop all together. It's just a natural change of focus so there's no set day for me.
Now, fast forward to July. There's a bio-clock that goes off inside me in July to hear more of my favorite Christmas songs. Maybe it's subconsciously bestowed upon me by song Christmas in July. Maybe. But probably not. I'm not sure. But I do hum or sing a few songs to myself in the heat of the summer. Then I tell myself it's just silly and I get on with my non-December, non-Christmas life.
Every year, after the summer ends there is a fun build up of holidays and celebrations. I'm not sure why I get so excited during the fall, but I guess my birthday, Halloween and Thanksgiving are enough to get me over the dreary fact that the days are getting shorter and colder. But the week or two before Thanksgiving I'm chomping at the bit for some happy Merry Christmas tunes.
Aaaaaahhhhhh........
Christmas is coming!
A couple of my favorite albums--
ReplyDeleteSara Groves--O Holy Night. There is a mix of sacred/secular. One really funny song--Toy Packaging. And a couple really nice versions of classics in different settings.
Chicago--Chicago Christmas:What's It Gonna Be Santa. I don't like every song, but I love that they sound so Chicago.
Michael W. Smith--The Ultimate Christmas Collection--I love the orchestrations and the non-classics that sound so classic.
I have tons more. I have different playlists. My secular has some sacred, but my Sunday playlist is strictly sacred. And I have music on my main computer that is not on my laptop, and my phone has a smaller selection than my laptop. It ends up that I don't feel like I'm listening to the exact same music all the time.
I have some Christmas music that is on my regular Sunday playlist, so I end up listening to a little bit all year long. And I start "cheating" before Thanksgiving here and there. I rationalize that the birth of the Savior is one of the things I'm most thankful for. However--I don't want to hear it when I'm out and about shopping or whatever before Thanksgiving. It's ok if I choose to listen to it, but I don't want it inflicted upon me, especially since that is almost always more the Santa Claus side of things.
Wow, way to get specific! I love those suggestions and I'm going to go listen to them right now.
ReplyDeleteWhat music does anyone else like to listen to? :)