Christmas time is here...

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year again. It's time for advent calendars. It's time for excessive peppermint ingestion. It's time for milk and cookies. It's time for red and green to briefly remain an acceptable color combo. It's time to break out your Christmas Vacation DVD. It's time for egg nog and festive hob nobs. And most importantly, it's time for Christmas music.

I know. After getting invaded by terrible Christmas crooning at the malls (they always pick the worst ones to play at department stores), sometimes it's hard to remember how awesome Yuletide songs can be. But when they're good, they're golden.

Here are 12 of my favourite Christmas songs - one for each day of Christmas.

1. "Christmas Time is Here" - Charlie Brown

Classic. Classic. Classic. 

2. "White Christmas" - Otis Redding

This song has been done a million times, but nobody does it like Otis. He makes it so soulful it hurts. Gorgeous.

3. "Baby It's Cold Outside" - Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone (from the Elf soundtrack) 

This is why I fell in love with Miss Deschanel. (P.S. - She & Him are releasing a sequel to "Volume 1"! They better tour.)

4. "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" - U2

I don't know about you, but I like my Christmas with a side of rock n' roll and an extra helping of yearning.

5. "Little Saint Nick" - The Beach Boys

This song is the definition of holiday cheer.

6. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" - Olivia Olsen

I love Mariah's original but this one wins because it was in  the best festive movie of the times, "Love, Actually".

7. "Christmas Wrapping" - The Waitresses 

This one gets my vote for so many reasons, but mostly because it indulges in the fine art of the pun right from the get go.

8. "Sleigh Ride" - Harry Connick Jr. 

Under Harry's guidance, sleigh bells become mighty saxxy. I love.

9. "Last Christmas" - Wham! 

An 80s Christmas classic by a gay icon? Yes, please.

10. "What's This" - Jack Skellington 

The sights, the sounds! They're everywhere and all around! I've never felt so good - before! This empty place inside of me is filling up. I simply cannot get enough. I want it, oh, I want it. Oh, I want it for my own. I've got to know. I've got to know! What is this place that I have found? What is this?

11. "Fairytale of New York" - The Pogues 

A little bit folky. A little bit rock n' roll. A little bit rude. All around wonderful.

12. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - Judy Garland 

After that saucy Saint Nick tune, you'll want to amp up the class again. And who knows classy better than Judy?

Mood Music: "Last Christmas" - Glee Cast

Girl, put your records on..

"...tell me your favourite song. Just go ahead, let your hair down..."

While I was in Nova Scotia, chillaxing with Mama Gagne's side of the fam jam, my cousin Cate and I stumbled upon a musical jackpot.

My grandpa has quite the collection of old vinyl in his living room. I've always seen them laying around every time I've come down to visit, but I never took a genuine gander at them. Usually I'm too busy playing Scattergories or some silly homemade game (think Hedbanz minus the bands and plus some hobo Post-Its) to even think about them. However, this trip Cate and I found ourselves mysteriously drawn to the stacks of vintage tunes.

At first, the collection seemed kinda old-folky (i.e. way too many Barry Manilow and Willie Nelson records). But on further inspection, I started to uncover gem after gem of old-school musical delights. The delish selections included Judy Garland at Carnagie Hall, Dolly Parton's Greatest Hits (UNOPENED!), the My Fair Lady soundtrack, Blondie, The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar and lots of Frank Sinatra. Needless to say, we were in love.

Under a contagious spell of blast-from-the-past euphoria, Cate and I spent most of our days in Wallace dancing around like Lindsay Weir in the presence of a Grateful Dead record, our arms swaying aimlessly and our eyes closed. Of course, we went back to playing our game of Spit or Clue as soon as anyone else entered the room, but we still managed to do some serious head-bobbing while we played.

Just as I thought my love for the Wallace musical library couldn't grow any bigger (my heart was already getting quite crowded just being in Nova Scotia again), I found out how much my grandpa loved that we were getting into the records. My cousin said she overheard him telling someone he had been thinking about selling the property again but after he saw us getting all excited by the vinyl and "getting into the spirit of the place", he realized how stupid he was to even think about selling. How adorable is that? If I had known putting on a Dolly record would get him to see what I've seen in the place my whole life, I would have put down my trashy books and playing cards way sooner.

Mood Music: "Althea" by The Grateful Dead