Holiday Music

Have you ever noticed that a little bit of Christmas music can change your mood? I didn't say it always lightens the mood, although that is typically what it does for me. See, my sister works in retail. After Thanksgiving, that is all that is played in the store. She gets to the point that if a certain song is part of the music that is played all day long, she gets sick of it and becomes instantly annoyed when she hears it outside of work.

Me, I love Christmas music. However, I am very picky about my yuletide tunes. I have my favorites and don't think that just every artist should do a Christmas album. Certain versions of songs rather bug me...like Mannheim Steamroller's underwhelming version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I love Mannheim Steamroller and have two of their cds. But I won't buy the one with Rudolph because it bothers me so much.

Currently though, I am thoroughly enjoying my sister's choice in merry music. Much better than my playlist...I just didn't know about some of the songs, or just forgot about them to search for them. She has a blog that she adds too faithfully and so I checked to see if she had added anything today. The music caught me pretty quickly and so I have kept it playing in the background. Tonight it speaks to my soul and brings me peace, which I need after a busy day.

Earlier, I was in a much more playful mood and was listening to How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Looney Tunes Christmas. My parents have a fabulous (an very obscure) album called Christmas Fun Songs. It is so much fun and very silly with songs like Santa Claus Got Stuck in the Chimney, Santa Caught a Cold on Christmas Eve and Monster Holiday (kind of like Monster Mash). In addition to the Chipmunks and Scooby Doo Christmas albums we grew up with it is a lot of fun when we turn on the Christmas music at my parent's house.

The music is one of my favorite things about Christmas. It brings the spirit of the season to my mind and joy to my heart.