Life in Smallville

I love Christmas. Everything that has to do with it is great: giving, candy, family, friends, snow, and second to most of all, Christmas music. (If you don’t know what the first most of all great thing about Christmas is, read the Gospel of Luke chapter 2 verses 1-20.) I don’t know what it is about the Christmas music that I love so much, but I can throw together a few ideas:

1. We only listen to it for 2 months out of the year. This is then representing the idea of supply and demand, and things done in moderation hold a lot of appeal.
2. It is uplifting and encouraging. Save for Grandma got run over by a Reindeer, all the Christmas music I own/listen to is fun and upbeat and life giving.
3. It reminds us of being kids. I don’t know exactly why, but I would be suprised to hear from someone who didn’t feel just a bit more like a kid around the holidays.

With all that thoroughly philosophized by me for all of 10 minutes, we have a real issue to discuss. When do you start listening to Christmas music? Or when is the appropriate time to start listening to it?

I think in the past I have been pretty notorious for starting early; too early some would say. If my memory serves me right, last year, and years prior, I have started listening to music around my birthday (mid-November). I vividly remember friends giving me grief about this, saying “It’s not even Thanksgiving!” to which I wittily replied “Agreed, but until there is Thanksgiving music, I think I can use the next holiday’s music without offending this holiday.” This year I started even earlier – November 1st. This gives me a solid 2 months of Christmas music. I don’t mean “solid” in the sense of listening to only Christmas music, but solid in the sense of not listening to it any other time of year. I hear rumors that some radio stations have started the 24/7 all-day every-day Christmas music playing – that, I think, is a bit much right now and probably shouldn’t even start until the week before Christmas. Once again, moderation is key right now because you will certainly be inundated with the carols playing over every department store speaker as you rush to do your shopping, very soon.

Before I get into a bit more specifics about what I will be listening to this year, I would be curious to know everyone else’s thoughts on when Christmas music should start.

• In high school, I feel in love with the music from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and every year since, have listened to them religiously. If you have not heard their music, you are missing out; stop what you are doing right now and click here and listen to "Christmas Eve Sarajevo," one of my favorite pieces. I would love to go to one of their concerts some day.
  
• Another staple of the holiday season is the music from A Charlie Brown Christmas. I will only excuse you for not having heard it if did not grow up in America.
  
• From there, there are a plethora of other wonderful artists who have done incredible things with holiday cheer. Harry Connick Jr., Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Amy Grant, Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Mariah Carey and yes I even enjoy some of the short lived pop star’s Christmas mixes.
  
• This year I made two purchases so far of Christmas music, one of them being Diana Krall “Christmas Songs.” A friend a few years back introduced me to her music and it has been a great expansion to my cornucopia of genres that grace my ears. I suppose she would be classified under jazz, similar to Norah Jones. Maybe, maybe not. I am not so much a knowledgeable person when it comes to music and being able to tell you what a G note sounds like (is there a G note?) or even really know if someone is singing flat or sharp, but I know good music when I hear it. Diana Krall is good music.

So, let me know when you think the best time to start turning those Christmas CDs (or loading the mp3s onto your iPod), and what your favorites are.

Merry Christmas!

Posted by supermn on Tuesday, November 08, 2005 at 12:19 PM | Permalink