December 15, 2008
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Christmas Music
For VaneDaves Christmas Shindig.
Holiday Favorites
We want to know what your holiday favorites are.
What are your favorite songs or albums?
Your favorite holiday movie?
What is your favorite thing to do or see this time of year?
Do a post about it and submit it to Krissy_Cole
or just message her with your favorites.
I am posting favorite things about Christmas Music
CHRISTMAS MUSIC TRADITIONS:
One of my favorite traditions of Christmas has been Caroling.
We make lists of people in the community who are shut-ins
or families who have had a hardship.
We get together at the church to assemble fruit baskets or cookie trays
One group drives to visit the people on the list
and the other group walks from the church down the village road
stopping at every home to sing.
We carry candles,pass out the cookies and pray a blessing on the home.
I love it best when it snows.
I love listening to my favorite recordings while wrapping presents,
baking cookies or sitting by the light of the tree.
My first memory of Christmas music is from when I was about five,helping to wrap presents for my mom while playing 'The Chipmunks'
we all loved when they sang
'The Twelve Days of Christmas'
except my mom...
I am sure by the 100th time she was ready to break that album.
FAVORITE RECORDINGS:
I grew up with this CBS recording of 'The Messiah'.
It is my very favorite Christmas Recording
Our album was so warped I was glad to see it on CD.
I love these songs from 'The Messiah' also,
Stevie Wonder does a moving rendition of
'O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion'
I got this Etta James CD this year and I LOVE it!
She sings 'O Holy Night' in English and then in French,
it is truly beautiful.
Other favorites CD's are:
Motown
AliasUndercover reminded me of this one
Blues
Has a wonderful version of 'Merry,Merry Christmas' by Koko Taylor
Big Band
Bluegrass
Traditional Classic Favorites
Beautiful Classical Christmas Songs
FAVORITE CHRISTMAS SONGS:
1.O Holy Night
2.Breath of Heaven
3.Silver Bells,originally sung in the great classic movie
The Lemon Drop Kid
4. Joy to the World
5.O' Beautiful Star of Bethlehem
Clay Aiken singing Bluegrass,and doing it well.
*HERE is a list Christmas Singles...
check it out and see how many that you remember!!
*Here is a website with a good list of Christmas Songs
What are your favorite
Christmas recordings?
*See my post on Christmas Movies
and a good List of Christmas Movies
Comments (39)
We just saw The Chipmunks a while ago.
Our music is a blend of our past and present, in more than one language, and with different rhythms. I want to put on A Dixieland Christmas today followed by some Villancicos (Christmas songs in Spanish)...and some standards from the 40s and 50s would also be nice...it's like having a fireplace at home. 
back in the 60's when Vietnam was in full tilt someone recorded Silent Night with the news in the background and it was so moving but I don't remember who it was Simon and Garf. comes to mind. It would always make me cry since brother Johnny was wounded over there,
I love your list! I'm going to have to check out Etta James though. Don't believe I've heard it.
We listen to Sarah McLaughlin's, Mariah Carey's, Celine Dion's and Michael W. Simth's several times every year.
I never ever get tired of the music in Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. Love it.
I also listen to Phil Specter's every year and Jon Anderson (of Yes) did a Christmas album that I love and I'll listen to those when I break out the vinyl.
With kids moving out and getting married, we're in the process of developing new traditions, so we're in flux this year.
Great list!!
@AliasUndercover - I love '3 Ships' ! I forgot about that one,'The Holly and the Ivy' is so good !
@seedsower - You never cease to amaze me... I assumed I was the only one in the country that listened to that!
@seedsower - *remembers Olias of Sunhillow and smiles*
@AliasUndercover - I LOVE Jon Anderson! In 1986 I got that cassette on a bargin bin for $1 at 'Record City' at the mall ,I had no clue how it would be but how could ya go wrong with him?
Oh, I have LOTS! I love Christmas songs!
My favorite song is "Little Drummer Boy" and my favorite version of the song is done by a band called the Echoing Green!
Merry Christmas!
you have some excellent choices in this bunch... and surprisingly I know most of them! Great minds!
I have a few Christmas CD's myself, including the Time Life Treasury I got back when I was 11. (except they are on cassette lol)
Now days, as well as the last few years, I haven't taken out the CD's because we have a radio station that plays nothing but Christmas music and also a Seasonal channel provided from my cable company. 24/7 of nothing but Christmas music. I've been in my glory.
I love Holy Night called in French " Minuit, Chrétiens " ( It is midnight, Christians ).
With the choir where I sing , we give concerts only with Christmas songs next Saturday and Sunday .
Love
Michel
The Christmas music I remember most from childhood were the songs from midnight Mass at church, and the ones my mom played on the piano. My dad had an album of Mario Lanza Christmas music, and some by Burl Ives.
Kathi
@fauquet - Etta James sings O Holy Night in French and it is truly lovely!
That Soulful Messiah sounds very interesting. Your list has some that I have never heard. I love finding new things.
Great post!
Here you go recipe for London Broil as ordered. LOL. I am just a credit hog want life time for free. smile. Are you ready for the holidays? Many of those artists are my favorite too.
LONDON BROIL
12 ounces red wine
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons ginger
4 tablespoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoon parsley
2 pinches oregano
1 bay leaf
1 London broil steak
Mix all ingredients together in a dish large enough to cover the mea.t
Refrigerator and let marinate overnight.
THE NEXT DAY:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Position steak about 6 inches from broiler. Broil until the top side is browned, flip, and pour some of the remaining marinade on the other side.
Do the same for the other side until it is cooked to your taste.
Score steak diagonally using slices about 1 cm thick.
Enjoy!
Judi
I do not think that you can get Lifetime with credits anymore.
Thanks for the recipe!
Noel by Josh Groban is the best.
I am a big Josh Grobin fan. Oh what a voice.
Oh your caroling sounds like such an uplifting experience! I want to go!
Ahh... sweet memories! I think one of the hardest things about moving to a new country is that everything that says "It's Christmas!" to you is gone. All the songs, special ornaments for the tree that remind you of people, the way people celebrate, special foods in the stores, etc.... it is all different here. The first few Christmases it was especially hard. Christmas didn't seem like Christmas at all! But now I am more used to the culture and the different way of celebrating. I can sing "En barn var født i Betlehem" along with the best of them, and I eat rødkål and roast duck on Christmas Eve!
P.S. I can see all the pictures now, not just half!
OH. I forgot. We used to listen to that Chipmonks album over and over too... My Grandma Brimmer still has it at her house in Elk Rapids, but now she's in Florida every year at Christmas so we don't get to hear it.
We used her victrola. lol
Hi, Beth! What a wonderful list! I love all of that music. You're inspiring me to write my own little list.
@DanishDoll - rødkål... ROADKILL? LOL.
That is with red cabbage right/
Yep! It is! Du snakker meget fin Dansk!
You speak very fine Danish! Actually, the ø sounds kind of like oooo only in the back of your throat, and å is like a long o sound. Gotta love those extra vowels! We also have æ!
I don't listen to Christmas music that much. Not sure why. But my all time favorite Christmas hymn is Silent Night, and in particular the original German version.
I also like Kemper Crabb's album "A Medieval Christmas".
I also just love Boney M's "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord".
You certainly have eclectic tastes in music!
Once I bought my sister this album for Christmas, and I had it sent to my Grandmother's house so she wouldn't know about it. But my Grandmother thought the S&H was outrageous, and she refused to let me get taken by it, so she bought it for my sister! LOL
http://cgi.ebay.com/CHRISTMAS-WITH-SHIRLEY-AND-SQUIRRELY-AND-MELVIN-TOO_W0QQitemZ190273010757QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusic_on_Vinyl?hash=item190273010757&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50
love the Chipmunks too but my all times fave are by The Ray Coniff Orchestra and Singers
There is a lot of good Christmas music... and there is some pretty bad stuff too. Most of it depends on the circumstances you find yourself in. A quiet evening at home with someone you love requires a different type of music than you would find at a large social gathering.
My personal favorite is The Little Drummerboy that we see and hear in the original claymation special. I like Andy Williams' Christmas music, and of course Bing's White Christams is at the top of the list too.
@DanishDoll - Now is my site fixed? I went back and worked on a post that was too wide.
Wow! What an eclectic collection you have! When my wife and I were first married, we had LPs from her childhood we listened to while we decorated. The one that made us laugh the most was Maurice Chevalier singing "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and "Silent Night." I wish I could do my imitation for you, but the songs were so hilariously Frenchified English.
I absolutely love the Jackson 5 Christmas album.
I love to listen to Christmas music while wrapping gifts, putting up the tree and baking. I like a variety of music.....Mary Did you Know....Kenny Rogers and Wynona Judd, Mariah Carey's ...All I want for Christmas is you, any Christmas song that Elvis sings and this year's new song is Faith Hill's ....A Baby Changes Everything. I believe that one will be very popular.
Have a great week !!
Yes! I can see everything. The videos hang over your border, but they are all there.
I only have one: Ray Conniff and the Ray Conniff Singers We Wish You A Merry Christmas.
elvis christmas and OF COURSE ratpack christmas! and the muppets christmas album! haha
i've made my own very special mix though... it's such a wonderful time of year. =)
Mornin Glorie...
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
but now I really desire that Alligator Album
Too tough to call. I like Christmas music too much. (Love that you included the Lemon Drop Kid!)
The Halleluja Song in Handel's Messiah is an awesome song to hear in person. I suppose the new 5.1 and 7.1 stereo system can almost duplicate the experience....
Then again if you are not spoiled even the car radio playing Christmas songs is nice when you are in the mood.
So seedsower are you a soprano or an alto?
I used to work hard as a tenor but basically I am a baritone...
now I gotta find the etta james record....