Tis the Season

I did it. I couldn't wait any longer. I am currently, as I type this very post, listening to Christmas music. Now, most of you who know me aren't the least bit surprised by this. But let me explain my personal approach to the holiday season...

1) I'm not a big fan of Halloween and it's not a part of the holiday season for me as it is for some people I know. It can be fun to dress up and it was certainly a great time trick-or-treating as a kid. But I don't really get into it.

2) I'm a big fan of Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I think stores should wait to decorate and put up Christmas decor out until closer to Thanksgiving - not the day after Halloween or even before Halloween like this year!

3) Christmas is a really special season for me. Maybe because Sankta Lucia (those of you non-Swedes check here for Wikipedia's explanation of Lucia) falls in December along with my birthday. Decorating too early takes away the specialness of the season. We have fall decor out now and will switch over to Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. This is the same for the radio going All Christmas 24/7 too early. While I love listening to Christmas music now, lots of people don't. Stick with the month of December, or at the earliest the week of Thanksgiving. I know that may seem contradictory to the fact that I am currently listening to Christmas music and it's November 6th - but what can I say? It's the wonder that is me.

One of the reasons I'm so excited to listen to Christmas music now is because of the most fabulous of inventions - Pandora. Thanks to Pandora I no longer have to listen to music I don't like. Such as the local radio station that goes All Christmas (probably pretty soon) playing songs like Dominick the Donkey. What gives with that? (My apologies to anyone who likes that song). Or, the Hippo song. It's cute, it's fun - once or twice. But hearing it every 30 minutes is a little much. There are so many good artists who perform quality Christmas music - why limit it to 3 versions of one song over, and over, and over again? So, now thanks to Pandora, I get to choose what artists I hear and what versions of songs. Of course I have many Christmas CDs and a play list on my iPod. This is just yet one more way for me to revel in all that is Christmas and the holiday season! No commercials and no bad music. Thank you Pandora! (And just to play this safe, Pandora didn't pay me to say great things about them - I just think they are great!)

Of course I also have some favorite songs such as:

Let It Snow - by Vaughn Monroe

White Christmas - by Bing Crosby

Christmas Waltz - Harry Connick Jr.

Sleigh Ride - Boston Pops

12 Days of Christmas - John Denver & The Muppets (that's right, the Muppets, what up?)

Blue Christmas - Harry Connick Jr.

Breath of Heaven - Amy Grant

Basically the entirety of Handel's Messiah

Then there are some of my favorite Christmas hymns:

Come O Come Emmanuel

O Holy Night

God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

Good Christian Men Rejoice

O Come All Ye Faithful

What are your favorites? Do you listen to Christmas music year-round? Only after the last bite of turkey on Thanksgiving - or Thanksgiving leftovers for that matter? Only the week of Christmas? When do you start ringing in the season? Do tell.

C