Christmas Music

My husband is a very talented musician, and we are both passionate about music regardless of the season, so needless to say, music is a BIG part of our holiday season.

July is a GREAT month to start checking your local library, to see if they have any Christmas music you can check out.

We have built up a pretty substantial collection this way over the years. Our library, which I must admit is fabulous, has a wonderful selection of Christmas CDs that we can check out for a dollar.

(While you're there, don't forget to check out the Christmas books!)


Although I decorate very early, we don't start listening to Christmas music til the day after Thanksgiving, which is also the day we exchange our new Christmas CDs to each other.

My husband always has to work on Black Friday; every year when he comes home, we get in our Christmas PJs first thing, crack a bottle of bubbly, turn off all the lights, and listen to "We Three Kings" by Patti Smith (A Very Special Christmas 3) It is hauntingly beautiful, and never fails to give us both goosebumps after all these years.

We then exchange and listen to the new music we have for the year.

This way of kicking our Christmas music season off is my husband's favorite of all our little traditions, and we both look forward to it every year!


Here are a few of our favorite CDs:


Mellow piano solos:

December (George Winston)

The Vigil (David Nevue)

Emmanuel (David Nevue)


Jazz:

Diana Krall Christmas Songs

A Charlie Brown Christmas, Vince Guaraldi Trio

Oscar Peterson Christmas

A Dave Brubeck Christmas


Flamenco/Classical Guitar:

Poets & Angels, Ottmar Liebert

What Child is This, Esteban


Great party music:

A Very Special Chrsitmas (1st one is till my favorite of the entire series)
Boogie-Woogie Christmas, Brian Setzer Orchestra (I don't think we could get through Christmas without this one!)


What are your favorite Christmas albums? Do you have a lot of music? Do you listen to it all through the year?