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Another Thanksgiving has past, which means I can openly listen to Christmas music again!

Time now for my yearly list of Christmas album “must haves”…which is alway last year’s with some tweaks. I mean, you don’t honestly expect my taste in Christmas music to change drastically year-to-year do you?! 🙂

Now…before I unveil this year’s “winners”…I should note that if you love Christmas music as much as I do, every album listed below can be heard on my brand new Countdown2.Christmas Radio station. As of writing this post, it has only been around a couple weeks…and…for instance…at one point today we had 246 listeners all over the world. Give it a listen, will you?

Finally…I realize this list is growing…and if you are starting your collection it might be a bit much to ask you to get them all. So, this year I’m going to give you the top ten-ish in groups of five-ish. Hopefully that will be more helpful than confusing. 🙂

Top 5:

• “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole
• “Christmas Classics” by Bing Crosby (includes “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” with David Bowie)
• “A Winter Romance” by Dean Martin
• “When My Heart Finds Christmas” by Harry Connick, Jr.
• “Christmas With the Chipmunks” by The Chipmunks

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One of the things I love most about Thanksgiving is that I can stop being clandestine about playing Christmas music. 🙂

This year’s list is pretty much last year’s list because, sadly, no new Christmas albums came out in 2013 that interested me greatly. However, this has become an annual list…and I’ll sneak in a couple more MP3 collections you should consider getting (Amazon MP3 has developed an intriguing “The Christmas Classics Album” series)…

First, the "must have" albums:

• “Christmastime” by Michael W. Smith
• “Christmas Portrait” by The Carpenters
• “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole
• “Christmas Classics” by Bing Crosby (includes “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” with David Bowie)
• “A Winter Romance” by Dean Martin
• “Elvis Christmas” by Elvis Presley (no longer available on Amazon MP3, but this might do fine)
• “A Charlie Brown Christmas” by Vince Guaraldi Trio
• “Christmas With the Chipmunks” by The Chipmunks
• “Ultra-Lounge: Christmas Cocktails” Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3 by various
• “A Jolly Christmas” by Frank Sinatra
• “When My Heart Finds Christmas” by Harry Connick, Jr.
• “The Classic Christmas Album” by Andy Williams (this is new)

Some singles:

• “The Christmas Shoes” by Eric Dodge
• “Mary Did You Know?” by The Gaither Vocal Band (basically, Mark Lowry…this is the original and best version of this song)
• “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” by Spike Jones & His City Slickers
• “Christmas at Ground Zero” by “Weird Al” Yankovic
• “Yellow Snow” by Bob Rivers (not available on Amazon MP3)
• “Christmas With a Capital C” by Go Fish

And, new to my collection this year is “The Classic Christmas Album” by Johnny Cash. I have to listen a bit before I decide it belongs in my “must haves.” 🙂

(I am a huge fan of Johnny Cash…but nobody gets a buy into my Christmas music list! :-))

You may also want to see what Ella Fitzgerald, Martina McBride, Louis Armstrong, Carole King (isn’t she Jewish?), Amy Grant, The Jackson 5, Pink Martini, Andre Rieu, and Celine Dione have done.

Well, there you go…what’s on your list? Let me know…I always love a great excuse to buy more music! 🙂

And, if you don’t know Jesus Christ, this would be a great season to find out how a carpenter’s son changed history.  Spoiler: it’s because He wasn’t just a carpenter’s son. 🙂

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

P.S.  With Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis…you just need to find a good collection for the money.  With some of the other ones you’ll want to make sure you get the album I specifically listed…with a couple of them, not all their Christmas albums are good, especially if you like traditional arrangements as I do…

My list of Christmas album “must haves” are pretty much the same as last year. Let’s just say that…err…being under-employed means Ramen Noodles are a better purchase with a few bucks then even the most inexpensive Amazon MP3 download…although I have convinced my wife to at least let me spend a couple dollars. 🙂

First, the "must have" albums:

• “Christmastime” by Michael W. Smith
• “Christmas Portrait” by The Carpenters
• “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole
• “Christmas Classics” by Bing Crosby (includes “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” with David Bowie)
• “A Winter Romance” by Dean Martin (no longer available on Amazon MP3)
• “Elvis Christmas” By Elvis Presley
• “A Charlie Brown Christmas” by Vince Guaraldi Trio
• “Christmas With the Chipmunks” by The Chipmunks
• “Ultra-Lounge: Christmas Cocktails” Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3 by various
• “A Jolly Christmas” by Frank Sinatra
• “When My Heart Finds Christmas” by Harry Connick, Jr.
• “100 Classic Christmas Songs” by various artists (no longer available for purchase on Amazon MP3, but “100% Christmas – The Greatest Artists 100 Hits” looks like it would be a good replacement at only $4.99 right now)

Some singles:

• “The Christmas Shoes” by Eric Dodge
• “Mary Did You Know?” by The Gaither Vocal Band (basically, Mark Lowry…this is the original and best version of this song)
• “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” by Spike Jones & His City Slickers
• “Christmas at Ground Zero” by “Weird Al” Yankovic
• “Yellow Snow” by Bob Rivers (not available on Amazon MP3)
• “Christmas With a Capital C” by Go Fish

A few non-“must haves”…but worth giving a listen (like Michael W. Smith, these four are all Christian artists…which you gotta admit makes sense given the “reason for the season”):

• “Christmas Songs” by Jars of Clay
• “Do You See What I See?” by Todd Agnew
• “Christmas Offerings” by Third Day
• “Wake Up the World” by JJ Heller (and her great husband Dave)

And 2012’s “honorable mention” that might end up on next year’s official list:

• “Christmas Pickins: A Banjo Christmas” by various artists (only $1.29 for 30 great songs)

Now, I probably could have created a decently long list of honorable mentions if I didn’t limit it to what I bought this holiday season, so you may also want to see what Ella Fitzgerald, Martina McBride, Louis Armstrong, Carole King (isn’t she Jewish?), Amy Grant, The Jackson 5, Pink Martini, Andre Rieu, and Celine Dione have done.

Well, there you go…what’s on your list? Let me know…I always love a great excuse to buy more music! 🙂

Now, if you don’t know Jesus Christ, this would be a great season to find out how a carpenter’s son changed history.  Spoiler: it’s because He wasn’t just a carpenter’s son. 🙂

Look past how we Christians have represented our Savior so badly over the ages and instead listen to the voice of One who is truly worthy of your worship…and not only at Christmas…but every day of the year.

Finally…a very Merry Christmas to you and yours…

P.S.  With Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis…you just need to find a good collection for the money.  With some of the other ones you’ll want to make sure you get the album I specifically listed…with a couple of them, not all their Christmas albums are good, especially if you like traditional arrangements as I do…

P.P.S.  The Christmas tree pictured in this post was decorated by none other than my awesome 5 year-old Augie and my beautiful wife Michelle…