Time for...you guessed it! Christmas music!
12.17.2008
Christmas 2004, Chris and I were in Korea. We had moved in August, and my sister Rachel was living with us. We bought a ticket for Rachel to fly home to Louisiana for Christmas, but couldn't afford to fly all three of us since a round trip from Seoul was a cool $1k. Ouch! So, we stayed behind and had our own little Christmas.
It was the very first time I had ever spent Christmas away from my family, and I was a little homesick. I wanted to get in the Christmas spirit by listening to Christmas music, but my grump of a sister and husband both complained LOUDLY every time I turned it on. Rachel had worked retail the Christmas before and said she never wanted to hear any Christmas music ever again. That's understandable - she did have to hear it all the way from Halloween to New Year's. And why was Chris such a grinch? Not sure, but the end result was that eventually I ended up in tears. Of course, then my hubby felt bad! So, he promptly got on the computer and started downloading Christmas music.
He came into the living room a couple hours later and proudly sat me down on the couch to show me. His idea of good Christmas music? Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond. Yep. I gotta tell you, a Johnny Cash Christmas is pretty horrible. No kidding. But I still list Neil Diamond as some of my favorite Christmas music to this day! I mean, it is pretty cheesy, but it makes me smile.
Neil Diamond and Harry Connick, Jr. are about as modern as I can get with Christmas songs. Classic favorites of course are Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland. But my favorite Christmas CD of all time? Radio City Music Hall Presents Songs of Christmas (1991). It is a mix of very traditional carols (Away in a Manger) with some newer songs (It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas). It's a beautiful CD, and I listened to it every year growing up (well every year after '91 of course!). Unfortunately, it seems to be a little hard to find. They do have it on Amazon:
And if you feel like branching out and giving ole' Neil a try:
And for the really adventurous:
What are your Christmas favorites?
Posted bySarah at 8:37 AM
